'  I'O, 


cfol 


fijCSB  LIBRA!?? 

X- 


Brother  Maurelian,  on  behalf  of  all  Catholic  Educators,  greeting 
Monsignor  Satolli,  special  delegate  to  represent  Pope  Leo  XIII.  at  the 
opening  of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition. 

MONSIGNOR  O'CONNELL.  ARCHBISHOP  SATOLLI.  BROTHER  MAURELIAN. 


Worlds  Columbian 
(Latbolte  Congresses 

WITH  AN 

EPITOME  OP  CHURCH  PROGRESS 

CONTAINING 

t 

THREE    VOLUMES    IN    ONE 

EMBRACING 

Official   Proceedings  of  all   the   Chicago   Catholic  Congresses  of   1893,  giving  in  full 
the  Addresses  delivered  by  Monsignor  Satolli,  Apostolic  Delegate;  His  Eminence 
Cardinal  Gibbons;  Archbishop  Ireland;  Archbishop  Corrigan;  Archbishop 
Redwood,  of  New  Zealand;  Bishop  Keane,  of  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity, Washington,  D.  C.;    Monsignor    Nugent,  of 
Liverpool;    Reverend    P.    J.    Muldoon,    and 
Honorable  C.  C.  Bonney,  of  Chicago. 

TO   WHICH    IS    ADDED 

11  EPITOME  OF  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  PROGRESS  IH  THE  UNITED  STITES. 


Furnishing  complete   accounts  of  the  various  Diocesan   Exhibits,  Religious  Teaching 

Order  Exhibits,  Individual   Exhibits,  Classification  of  Exhibits  by 

Dioceses,  Parish  Schools,  Academies,  Colleges,  etc. 

Catbolic  Education  Dap  at  Motto's  Columbian  Exposition 

WITH 

Addresses  by  Most  Reverend  P.  A.  Feehan;    Most  Reverend  John  J.  Hennessy;   Most 
Reverend  P.  J.  Ryan;  Honorable  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,'  of  New  York; 
Honorable  Thos.  J.  Gargan  of  Boston,  and  others. 


EMBELLISHED    WITH    NUMEROUS    ENGRAVINGS. 


Published  -with  the  approbation  of  His  Grace,  The  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of    Chicago. 
Preface  by  Rev.  P.  J.  Muldoon. 


CHICAGO  : 
J.  S.  HYLAND  &  COMPANY. 


IMPRIMATUR : 


*  Ifatriek  J-,  Feehaa, 

of  Chicago. 


Copyright,  1893.  by 

J.  S.  HYLAND  &  CO. 


ROKKER-O'DONNELL  PRINTING  CO., 

PRINTERS  AND  BINDERS, 

CHICAGO. 


'REFACE 


(HE  period  of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  has  been  one  of 
pleasure  and  education.  Shortly,  according  to  present  indications, 
not  only  the  exhibits  will  be  returned,  but  also  the  magnificent 
palaces  on  the  shore  of  the  great  lake  will  be  destroyed.      Those 
who  have  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  a  visit  to  the  wonders  of 
Jackson  Park  will  bear  with  them    a  life-long   blessing.     The 
millions  of  our  countrymen  who  have  been  unable  to  avail  themselves 
of   this   great  educational  exhibition    must  enrich  themselves  by  such 
printed  accounts  as  American  enterprise  may  place  within  their  reach. 

In  the  name  of  these  many  millions  we  hail  with  gratitude,  not  only  the 
volumes  descriptive  of  the  Fair  in  its  exhibits,  its  architecture,  and  its  land- 
scape features,  but  also  the  works  bearing  upon  the  congresses,  and  special 
days  at  the  Fair,  for  these  latter  contain  the  ripest  erudition  of  the  Old  and 
New  World. 

The  present  volume  has  the  worthy  aim  of  giving  a  wider  audience  to 
the  Catholic  Congress  held  during  the  past  summer,  and  of  affording  sound 
instruction  on  that  most  important  subject,  Catholic  education,  through  the 
speeches  of  Education  Day.  The  guides  upon  mountains  have  spoken  wisely 
and  well,  but  save  through  the  instrumentality  of  such  a  volume  how  narrow 
the  audience! 

The  various  congresses  were  watched  with  interest,  attended  in  large 
numbers,  and  reported  in  a  princely  manner,  but  none  received  such  marked 
attention  from  people  and  press  as  the  Catholic  Congress.  From  the  open- 
ing prayer  to  the  last  word  of  the  strong  resolutions,  the  halls  were  filled,  and 
seeds  were  sown  that  no  doubt  will  one  day  bear  rich  fruit.  Notwithstanding 
all  this,  a  feeling  of  sadness  steals  in  the  heart,  when  we  consider  that  the 
congress  convenes  after  many  trials,  difficulties,  and  expense; listens  (without 
discussion)  to  admirable  papers,  and  adjourns,  trusting  to  the  enterprise  of 
publishers  to  continue  the  work  of  the  congress  by  placing  the  essays  before 
the  people.  In  its  sessions,  all  is  vitality,  but  after  adjournment,  there  is  no 


2  PREFACE. 

organization  to  spread  abroad  that  vitality  and  render  practical  the  suggestions 
that  have  been  wisely  made  in  various  channels  of  charity  and  education. 
We  reflect,  how  justly  we  leave  others  to  decide,  would  it  not  be  practical 
and  extremely  beneficial  to  have  as  an  adjunct  of  every  such  congress  a  per- 
manent committee  or  organization  to  nurture  the  good  seeds,  and  make  daily 
more  manifest  the  glory  of  the  spouse  of  Christ  in  her  charity,  strength, 
intelligence,  organization,  and  unity. 

This  volume  will,  in  a  small  way,  supply  such  a  need,  hence  we  most 
affectionately  wish  it  a  godspeed  on  its  apostolate,  for  if  God  blesses  good 
books,  how  fruitful  must  be  the  benediction  bestowed  upon  a  work  avow- 
edly Catholic. 

Besides  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Congress,  this  volume  presents  the 
admirable  speeches  on  Catholic  education  delivered  in  Festival  Hall  on  Catho- 
lic Education  Day.  The  educational  question  is  one  of  the  questions  of  the 
day.  It  can  not  be  thrust  aside.  There  is  a  necessity  for  sound  doctrine  on 
this  important  topic.  In  these  speeches  the  Catholic  will  more  clearly  under- 
stand the  true  reason  for  the  Catholic  school,  and  non-Catholic  will  readily 
perceive  that  conscience  and  not  bigotry  prompts  Catholic  parents,  who  value 
the  souls  of  their  children  above  their  bodies,  to  eagerly  make  every  sacrifice 
to  enrich  their  offspring  with  the  choicest  of  legacies,  the  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ.  After  perusing  these  strong  and  sound  speeches,  Catholics  will  more 
cheerfully  bear  the  double  burden,  and  the  opponents  may  pause  and  question, 
"  Well,  after  all,  is  not  the  position  of  the  Catholic  Church  logical  ?"  To 
Catholics  and  dissenters  these  burning  words  must  have  more  than  transient 
effect. 

The  Columbian  Exposition  gloriously  surpassed  all  former  efforts  in  the 
same  line,  and  unmistakably  the  Catholic  Church  never  worked  so  ener- 
getically or  displayed  herself  so  conspicuously  to  engage  the  respect,  admira- 
tion, and  love  of  the  world  as  in  this  Exposition.  All  classes  and  creeds,  some 
in  praise,  others  in  criticism,  announced  that  the  Catholic  Church  had  caught 
every  inspiration,  and  had  taken  advantage  of  every  opportunity.  We  feel 
that  this  was  nowhere  more  conspicuously  patent  than  in  the  Catholic  Edu- 
cational Exhibit.  Catholics  visited  the  section,  and  beheld  in  astonishment 
the  abundance,  variety,  and  general  perfection  of  the  exhibit.  They  departed 
proud  that  they  were  of  the  fold,  and  silently  promised  to  be  more  generous 
in  the  future  in  aid  of  the  good  cause.  Non-Catholics  found  their  way  to  the 
Catholic  exhibit,  and  some  willingly,  others  spitefully,  pronounced  it  a  revela- 
tion, a  lesson,  and  a  herculean  task  wonderfully  well  accomplished.  The 
Catholic  educational  display  has  advanced  among  Catholics  at  one  bold  stroke 
the  cause  of  Catholic  education  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  among  non- 
Catholics  it  has  undoubtedly  dissipated  prejudices  that  in  the  usual  flow  of 
events  would  not  have  been  obliterated  in  fifty  years. 


PREFACE.  3 

Listen  to  the  statement  of  the  Popular  Educator,  published  in  New 
Vork.  "  The  parochial-school  system  has  scored  a  point  at  the  Fair,  giving 
.nuch  good  reason  for  the  erasure  of  the  past  criticism  that  parochial  schools 
teach  sewing  and  catechism.  Sewing  and  beautiful  embroideries  and  water- 
color  drawings  are  there,  to  be  sure,  making  the  aisle  rich  with  tints,  but 
there  is  also  plenty  of  good  work  in  the  line  and  apparently  according  to  the 
methods  of  the  public  schools."  (Nov.,  1893.) 

The  Chicago  Herald  of  June  5,  1893,  says:  "In  the  southeastern  section 
of  the  Manufactures  Building,  on  the  gallery  floor,  is  an  exhibit  which  should 
attract  the  attention  and  excite  the  admiration  of  all  good  people,  be  they 
Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  or  the  people  who  are  responsible  for  the 
show.  The  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit  is  the  feature  referred  to.  It  is  not 
intended  as  a  religious  propaganda;  it  is  simply  a  material  exposition  of  what 
the  people  of  one  great  faith  can  do  in  the  way  of  promoting  humanity  and 
the  world's  progress.  All  together,  when  fully  installed,  the  Catholic  Educa- 
tional Exhibit  will  be  one  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  great  Fair." 
We  might  quote  indefinitely  from  non-Catholic  sources  the  highest  enco- 
miums passed  upon  the  exhibit,  but  we  refrain,  and  beg  to  place  before  you  the 
kind  and  strong  commendation  of  Dr.  Selim  H.  Peabody,  the  Chief  of  the 
liberal  Arts  Department.  From  his  official  capacity  and  his  intimate  knowl- 
edge with  the  various  exhibits  in  his  department,  his  judgment  implies  far 
more  than  that  of  any  other. 

In  his  speech  of  reception  of  the  exhibit  from  Right  Rev.  John  L.  Spald- 
ing,  D.  D.,  as  president  of  the  Catholic  Exhibit,  Dr.  Peabody  was  frank  and 
generous  to  state  that  he  considered  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit  not  only 
one  of  the  choicest  of  his  department,  and  a  revelation  to  the  American  public, 
but  also  one  of  the  great  features  of  the  Exposition.  At  another  date,  in 
response  to  Most  Rev.  P.  A.  Feehan,  D.  D.,  who  presented  the  Educational 
Exhibit  of  the  Archdiocese  of  Chicago,  he  said:  "It  affords  me  much  pleasure 
to  be  present  to-day,  as  I  stand  before  you,  the  Chief  of  the  Liberal  Arts 
Department,  to  receive  in  the  name  of  the  great  Columbian  Exposition  the 
Chicago  Educational  Exhibit.  None  save  those  who  have  labored  in  this  field 
can  value  the  vast  amount  of  labor  of  such  an  exhibit,  and  one  so  neat,  and  so 
tastefully  arranged.  Without  flattery,  I  can  honestly  say  and  feel  that  the 
compliment  is  justly  given  that  the  Chicago  Exhibit  is  the  gem  of  my 
department.  We  may  have  different  views  in  school  policy,  still  I  feel  that 
all  true  educators  will  be  greatly  benefited  by  our  entire  Educational 
Exhibit.  You  may  see  what  we  are  accomplishing  and  we  may  examine  the 
result  of  your  school  system.  The  result  of  such  intercourse  in  the  Exposi- 
tion will  be  a  broader  conception  of  education  and  a  larger  love  for  all  who 
are  tending  to  one  end,  namely,  to  make  our  youth  holier,  truer  scholars,  and 
better  citizens." 


4  PREFACE. 

We  feel  it  incumbent  upon  us  to  record  the  written  testimony  of 
the  Apostolic  Delegate,  Most  Rev.  Francis  Satolli,  D.D.,  made  after  a  careful 
scrutiny  of  the  exhibit.  It  is  as  follows:  "  I  admire  the  evidences  of  good 
methods  of  teaching  in  so  many  branches  of  instruction,  but  most  particularly 
<jo  I  admire  the  perfection  of  all  the  work  exhibited.  I  regard  the  Catholic 
Educational  Exhibit  as  the  glory  of  the  church  and  Catholic  institutions. 
The  whole  American  country  will  appreciate  it." 

These  encomiums  from  such  eminent  educators  crown  the  Catholic  Educa- 
tional Exhibit  with  laurels  that  years  will  render  more  beautiful  and  sig- 
nificant The  year  1893  will  be  the  turning  point  in  educational  life. 
The  difficulties  of  the  past  for  Catholics  have  been  many  and  severe. 
Thank  God,  as  the  country  has  prospered,  we,  one-sixth  of  its  population,  have 
shared  in  its  prosperity,  and  our  opportunities  were  never  better,  or  our 
difficulties  fewer  than  at  present,  and  hence  we  may  consistently  hold  fast  to 
the  safe-teaching  "  Catholic  education  for  Catholic  children."  Since  we  have 
accomplished  so  much  in  our  infancy  and  with  limited  means,  may  we  not 
justly  cherish  brighter  hopes  for  our  Catholic  schools  in  the  near  future, 
even  if  totally  deprived  of  state  aid,  justly  ours  but  unjustly  withheld?  We 
consider  that  such  hopes  are  well  founded,  because  our  people  are  richer  and 
better  educated,  our  churches  at  least  partly  built,  and  our  schools  throughout 
the  country  partially  in  operation.  Let  us  then  cherish  the  fond  hope  that 
no  very  distant  day  will  behold  free  Catholic  schools,  thoroughly  and  con- 
sistently Catholic,  open  to  every  Catholic  child  in  America.  It  will  be 
accomplished  though,  only  through  the  faith  that  prompts  to  works.  That 
faith  which  teaches  the  wealthy  to  give  generously  of  their  abundance,  and 
inspires  the  poor  to  make  sacrifices  to  put  their  children  within  the  influence 
of  the  best  of  all  knowledge,  the  knowledge  of  God. 

We  trust  that  this  volume  may  aid  in  the  movement  to  render  our 
schools  more  numerous  and  more  finished,  by  imparting  the  true  meaning  of 
education  to  those  who  should  assist  in  the  good  work. 

CHICAGO,  November  16,  1893. 

P.  J.  MULDOON, 

Holy  Name  Cathedral. 


THE   WORLD'S    CONGRESS  AUXILIARY 

OP  THE 

WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN   EXPOSITION 
GENERAL  OFF.CERS:  ^-CHICAQO    1893. 

President — Charles  C.  Bonney. 
Vice-President—Thomas  B.  Bryan. 
Treasurer  — Lyman  J.  Gage 

Secretaries--!  BenJ'  Butterworth. 
1  Clarence  E.  Young. 

Chicago,  June  8,  1894. 
MESSRS.  J.  S.  HYLAND  &  Co.,  Publishers,  Etc., 

323  Dearborn  Street,  City. 
Gentlemen : 

I  have  examined  with  much  interest  the  large  and  handsome  volume 
recently  issued  from  the  press  under  the  title  of  "The  World's  Columbian 
Catholic  Congresses  and  Educational  Exhibit,"  with  the  Imprimatur  of  the 
Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Feehan,  and  a  preface  by  the  Rev.  P.  J.  Muldoon, 
Chancellor  of  the  Archdiocese  of  Chicago.  You  have  by  this  publication 
rendered  an  important  service,  not  only  to  the  Catholic  Church,  but  to  the 
general  American  public  which  manifested  so  deep  an  interest  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Catholic  Congress.  You  have  thus  made  easily  accessible 
the  addresses  delivered  and  the  papers  read  before  the  Congress,  many  of 
which  were  characterized  by  remarkable  eloquence,  liberality  and  learning 
It  is  universally  admitted  that  the  Catholic  Congress  held  at  Chicago  last 
year,  was  one  of  the  most  important  and  commanding  of  the  great  series 
of  World's  Congresses  which  will  make  the  year  1893  illustrious  in  human 
history. 

Containing  as  it  does  the  very  Cream  of  Catholic  thought  it  will  be 
of  even  greater  interest  to  the  Protestant  public  than  to  Catholics,  for  it  will 
show  to  the  former  the  hardships  and  persecutions  through  which  the 
Catholic  Church  of  America  has  come  into  the  perfect,  civil  and  religious 
liberty  which  is  now  enjoyed  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
alike  by  Catholic  and  Protestant,  by  Jew  and  Gentile. 

The  full  account  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit  at  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition,  adds  much  to  the  interest  and  completeness  of  the 
work. 

Wishing  you  a  large  and  satisfactory  circulation  of  your  publication, 
I  am,  with  much  respect, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 


President  of  World's  Congresses,  1893. 


.  .  .  FROM    HIS  GRACE  .  .  . 


Francis    Archbishop  Satolli, 

Delegate  Apostolic. 


Che  Catholic   UntDcrsity, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  October  i5th,  1893. 
MESSRS.  J.  S.  HYLAND  &  Co. 

DEAR  SIRS: 

Allow  me  to  express  my  thanks  for  the  copy  of  the  "Catholic  Congress 
Edition  of  the  Columbian  Jubilee"  you  so  kindly  sent  me.  As  you  have 
received  so  many  other  congratulatory  letters  from  so  many  distinguished 
Prelates,  I  can  do  nothing  better  than  adopt  their  sentiments,  and,  in  con- 
clusion, express  my  deep  appreciation  for  your  work,  and  my  sincere  hope 
for  its  deserving  success. 

Believe  me,  Yours  truly, 


"This  volume  will  supply  a  need,  hence  we  most  affectionately  wish 
it  a  godspeed  on  its  apostolate,  for  if  God  blesses  good  books,  how  fruitful 
must  be  the  benediction  bestowed  upon  a  work  avowedly  Catholic." — Chan- 
cellor Muldoon  in  Preface. 


FIRST  VOLUME. 

The  World's  Columbian  Catholic  Congresses, 


FIRST    DAY'S    PROCEEDINGS. 

Opening  of  the  Congress. 
Rev.  P.  J.  Muldoon's  Welcome. 
Archbishop  Feehan's  Welcome. 
Hon.  C.  C.  Bonney's  Address. 
Address  by  Cardinal  Gibbons. 
Greeting  from  Pope  Leo. 
Chairman  O'Brien's  Address. 
Archbishop    Redwood's    Address.     (New 

Zealand). 

Message  from  Cardinal  Vaughan. 
Paper  by  Dr.  R.  A.  Clark,  LL.  D. 
Paper  by  Miss  Mary  J.  Onahan. 
Paper  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Gans. 
Archbishop  Ryan's  Address.  41 

SECOND    DAY. 

List  of  Delegates. 

Bishop  Watterson's  Address. 

Monsignor  Satolli's  Address. 

Paper  by  E.  O.  Brown,  Chicago. 

Paper  by  John  Gibbons,  LL.  D. 

George  Parson  Lathrop's  Address.  66 

THIRD    DAY. 

Archbishop  Corrigan's  Address. 

Woman's  Good  Work. 

Archbishop  Ireland's  Address. 

Rev.  Patrick  Cronin's  Address. 

Paper  by  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary.  78 

FOURTH    DAY. 

Bishop  Burke's  Address. 

Paper  by  Eliza  Allen  Starr. 

Paper  by  Eleanor  C.  Donnelly. 

Work  of  St.  Vincent  De  Paul. 

Bishop  McGoldrick's  Address. 

C.  Y.  M.  U.  Resolutions.  94 


FIFTH    DAY. 

Bishop  Keane's  Address. 

Paper  by  Brother  Ambrose. 

Paper  by  H.  L.  Spaunhorst. 

Paper  by  Dr.  M.  F.  Egan. 

Paper  by  Katherine  E.  Conway. 

Address  by  Rev.  J.  T.  Murphy,  S.  J. 

Paper  by  W.  E.  Mosher. 

Paper  by  Rev.  F.  J.  Maguire. 

Brother  Azarias'  Paper. 

Future  of  the  Negro  Race  (C.  H.  Butler). 

Paper  by  William  F.  Markoe. 

Paper  by  Richard  R.  Elliott. 

Paper  by  Thomas  Dwight,  M.  D. 

Pope  Leo  on  Labor  (H.  C.  Semple). 

Paper  by  Dr.  A.  Kaiser. 

Rev.  M.  Callaghan's  Address. 

Paper  by  Martin  F.  Morris. 

Trade  Combinations  and  Strikes  (R.  M. 
Douglas). 

Paper  by  Rev.  J.  R.  Slattery. 

"  Prayer  for  America  "  (Rev.  F.  G.  Lentz). 

Paper  by  Frank  J.  Sheridan. 

Paper  by  Anna  T.  Sadlier. 

Paper  by  J.  P.  Lauth. 

Paper  by  E.  M.  Sharon. 

Essay  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Andreis. 

"Pauperism,  Cause  and  Remedy"  (M.  i, 
Elder). 

Paper  by  Elizabeth  A.  Cronyn. 

Address  by  W.  G.  Smith. 

"  Duties  of  Capital "  (Rev.  Dr.  Barry,  Eng- 
land). 

Paper  by  Dr.  C.  A.  Wingerter. 

Paper  by  Thomas  F.  Ring.  198 

SIXTH  DAY. 

Resolutions  of  the  Congress. 

The  Cardinal's  Closing  Address. 

Peace  Memorial  to  All  Nations.  202 


CONTENTS.  ' 

SECOND  VOLUME. 
EPITOME  OF  CHURCH  PROGRESS   IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

COLUMBUS  THE  DISCOVERER. 
Why  Catholics  Should  Proudly  Celebrate. — Columbus  the  Historical  Link. — 

Catholic  Education  and  Practices 9 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  LAND  AND  THE  CROSS. 

Hymns  to  the  "Star  of  the  Sea."— False  Cry  of  "Land !" — The  Mutiny  in  the 
Fleet.— Plotting  to  Slay  the  Admiral.— "Land !  Land!"  at  Last.— Close  of 
a  Bright  Career.— Columbus  Neglected  and  Poor.— Death,  Character  and 

Will.— His  Tomb  and  Poetic  Laurels 26 

CHAPTER  III. 
THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS. 

Proclamation  of  Catholic  Faith. — Attack  by  the  Savages. — Death  of  the  Vener- 
able Pilot. — A  Desperate  March. — The  Venerated  Picture  of  Our  Lady. — 

A  Vow  and  Its  Fulfillment. — Days  of  Darkness 50 

.     CHAPTER  IV. 

CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OP  MEXICO. 

Planning  a  Mighty  Enterprise. — Scenes  of  Blood  and  Terror. — Fighting  Against 
Fearful  Odds. — The  City  Is  Desperately  Won. — Last  Scene  of  All. — Mexico 

Is  Catholicized. — Nine  Million  Converts  in  Twenty  Years 68 

CHAPTER  V. 
UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKIES. 

One  More  Catholic  Navigator. — The  Notion  of  Circling  the  World. — An  Expe- 
dition Begun  with  Prayer.— Baptism  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. — The  Church  in 

South  America 94 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS. 

God's  Hand  in  the  Discovery. — Millions  in  Heathen  Darkness. — Peculiarities  of 
the  Tribes. — Manners  and  Modes  of  Life.— Indian  Dancers  and  Athletes. — 
Low  Condition  of  the  Females. — Men  Born  Only  to  Fight. — The  Nine  Great 
Indian  Families. — "Our  Father"  in  Some  Strange  Tongues. — The  First 

Priest  Ordained  in  America 110 

CHAPTER  VII. 
EARLY  SPANISH  MISSIONS. 

Voice  of  the  Roman  Shepherd. — First  Missionaries  to  the  South.— Friar  Mark 
and  His  Wanderings. — Search  for  a  Lost  Sou. — The  New  Expedition. — 
Founding  of  St.  Augustine.— Jesuits  on  the  Mission. — Letter  of  Pope  St. 
Pius. — Father  Martinez  Wins  His  Crown.— Our  First  Jesuit  Martyr 127 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA. 

Florida  a  Jesuit  Province.— The  Revengeful  Chief. — Various  Missions  Attacked.— 
Two  Franciscan  Victims. — Mass  Before  Martyrdom. — Murder  and  Pillage. — 
Thirty  Hours  in  a  Tree. — Mission  Closed  and  Reopened. — Glances  at  New 

Mexico  and  Texas 142 

CHAPTER  IX. 
SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA. 

First  Church  at  Lapaz.— A  Region  Long  Neglected.— Fearless  Father  Kino. — 
Other  Champions  of  the  Cross. — The  "Black-Gowns"  in  the  Lead.— Expul- 
sion of  the  Jesuits.— Corpus  Christi  in  the  Wilderness. — Murder  of  Father 
Jayme. — Death  of  the  Indefatigable  Serra. — Missionaries  Dying  of  Want. — 
California  Annexed  to  the  States 162 


CONTENTS.  7 

CHAPTER  X. 

FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH. 

An  Adventurous  Master  Pilot. — Blessings  of  a  Bishop. — Dancing  Squaws  and 
Warriors. — The  White  Chief  Builds  a  Fort. — Inviting  Missionaries  of  the 
Cross. — Strife  with  the  Iroquois. — Bringing  Over  the  Jesuits. — Madame 
Cbamplain  in  Canada. — Death  on  a  Christmas  Day. — Character  of  a  Great 
Pioneer 181 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE. 

A  Stripling  from  the  New  World. — Noble  and  Pious  Ladies. — Sailing  of  Two 
Apostles. — Baptism  Works  a  Miracle. — A  Betrayed  Settlement. — Two 
Captive  Priests.-  Burning  the  Chapel  at  Norridgewock. — English  Vandalism 
and  Sacrilege.— Failure  of  a  Boston  Preacher. — Success  of  the  Holy  Jesuit. — 
Murder  of  Father  Rale. — Honors  to  the  Martyr  of  Maine 199 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES. 

Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation. — A  Holy  Childhood  in  Tours. — Trials  of  a 
Young  Wife. — The  Widow  Seeks  the  Cloister. — Vision  from  the  Queen  of 
Heaven. — Vocation  to  the  New  World.— Teaching  Young  Savages  — The 
New  Convent. — A  Holy  Death.— Success  of  the  Order. — Trials  and  Griefs. — 
The  Angel  of  Death ,. 216 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
SAD  HISTORY  OF  ACADIA. 
Father  Biard's  Singular  Fortune. — A  Solitary  Jesuit. — Scorched  by  Two  Fires. — 

The  Missionary's  Vain  Appeals. — A  Loyal  But  Scattered  Race 231 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

HURONS  OP   THE   LAKES.. 

Three  Soldiers  of  the  Cross. — Parting  with  a  Beloved  Missionary.— Teaching  by 
the  Clock. — Painting  the  Mission  Cross. — Massacre  at  St.  Ignatius. — 
Torture  of  the  Fathers. — Two  Glorious  Deaths.— Last  of  a  Great  Nation . . .  272 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  INDIAN  FIVE  NATIONS. 

Romans  of  the  Wilderness. — Father  Jogues  Put  to  the  Torture. — Baptism  from  a 
Cornstalk. — One  Lone  Irishman. — Ragged  at  the  Convent  Gate. — The 
Pope's  Special  Kindness. — The  Blow  That  Made  a  Martyr. — Wonders  of 
Grace  and  Holiness 293 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS. 

Mohawks  on  the  War  Path. — The  Widow's  Harvest. — Father  Poncet  Runs  the 
Gauntlet. — Holy  Mass  in  the  Woods. — First  Catholic  Chapel  in  New 
York. — Another  Massacre  of  Hurons.— Boat-Building  at  Midnight. — Escape 
of  Priests  and  Colonists. — A  Saintly  Indian  Maiden 307 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
IN  THE  LAND  OP  THE  DAKOTAS. 

Martyrdom  on  the  Threshold. — Aged  Father  Renard. — A  Journey  and  a 
Famine. — The  Indian  Woman's  Gift. — Death  in  the  Wilderness. — Father 
James  Marquette. — Sketch  of  a  Noble  Career. — The  Journey  of  the  Cross. — 
Sojourn  at  Chicago. — The  Dying  Missionary.— On  Michigan's  Lonely 
Shore. — Protestant  Appreciation 333 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
CAREER  OP  DE  LA  SALLE. 

Worthy  Scion  of  an  Old  Family.— A  Chapel  for  Father  Hennepin.— Discovery  of 
Niagara  Falls. — Council  of  Indian  Chiefs. — Mass  at  Mackinaw.— Down 
Through  Illinois.— Return  of  the  Explorer. — A  Desperate  Journey. — Dis- 
content and  Revolt.— Murder  of  the  Explorer.— A  Great  Character 358 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

WITH  THE  KINDLY  ILLINOIS. 

The  Indians  of  Illinois. — What  Father  Marquette  Had  Done  for  Them. — 
Ridiculing  the  Missionary.— Teaching  by  Pictures.— Illinois  Finally  Chris- 
tianized.—The  Chief  Chicago.— Indians  Who  Adored  the  Sun 375 

CHAPTER  XX. 
A  MODERN  BLACK-GOWN. 

Youth  of  Peter  John  de  Smet. — The  Call  of  God. — Home  in  the  Wilderness. — 
Drunken  Savages. — Rule  of  the  Great  Black-Gown. — Studying  Strange 
Tongues.— Story  of  the  Mormon  Expedition. — Scenes  of  Peril  and  Death. — 
Graves  of  the  Gold  Seekers. — Characteristics  of  Father  de  Smet. — His 
Lamented  Death . .  , .  386 


THIRD  VOLUME. 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY  AND  EDUCATIONAL  EXHIBIT. 

Catholic  Education— Order  of  Exercises 3 

Archbishop  Feehan's  Address 3 

Dr.  Selim  H.  Peabody's  Address 5 

Archbishop  Hennessy's  Address 6 

Archbishop  Ryan's  Address 16 

Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien's  Address 21 

"Catholicity  and  Patriotism" — Hon.  Thomas  J.  Gargan 28 

Bishop  Spalding's  Address 32 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hooker's  Address 33 

Bishop  Spalding's  Plea  for  Pure  Morals  at  World's  Fair 34 

Bishop  Spalding's  Protest  Against  Exhibiting  Indecent  Pictures 37 

Columbian  Library  of  Catholic  Authors 38 

Appreciation  of  Exhibits , 39 

Letter  from  Director-General  Geo.  R.  Davis 39 

Letter  from  Rt.  Rev.  J.  L.  Spalding 40 

Visitors  on  Catholic  Education  Day 42 

Press  Notes  on  Education  Day 45 

An  Authoritative  Expression 46 

Letter  Expressing  Thanks  by  Brother  Maurelian 47 


WORfeD'S  COfcUJlIJIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


A  LANDMARK  IN  CATHOLIC  PROGRESS.— MOTIVE  OF  THE  COLUMBIAN  CONGRESS. — SER- 
MON OF  WELCOME. — GREETING  OF  THE  CHICAGO  ARCHBISHOP. — CARDINAL 
GIBBONS'  ADDRESS. — THE  OFFICIAL  WELCOME. — JUDGE  MORGAN  J.  O'BRIEN'S 
ADDRESS. — VOICES  FROM  FOREIGN  LANDS. — MISSION  AND  CHARACTER  OF 
COLUMBUS.-  -"  ISABELLA  THE  CATHOLIC." — THE  ANGEL  OF  PHILADELPHIA. — 
BISHOP  WATTERSON  SOUNDS  A  KEYNOTE. — ROUSING  WORDS  FROM  MGR. 
SATOLLI. — THE  RIGHTS  OF  LABOR. — THE  DUTIES  OF  CAPITAL. — ADDRESS  OF 
A  GIFTED  CONVERT. — RELIGIOUS  ORDERS  OF  WOMEN. — CHARITIES  OF  THE 
CHURCH. — MISSIONARY  WORK  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. — THE  CURSE  OF 
INTEMPERANCE.— WOMEN  IN  ART,  LITERATURE,  AND  SOCIETY. — THE  WORK  OF 
ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL. — CATHOLIC  HIGHER  EDUCATION. — WELCOME  TO  THE 
ARCHBISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. — THE  CATHOLIC  EDUCATIONAL  EXHIBIT. — OTHER 
ADDRESSES  FROM  THE  BISHOPS. — PIERCING  INTO  THE  FUTURE. — RINGING 
RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  CONGRESS. — THE  CARDINAL'S  TOUCHING  VALEDICTORY. 


HE  second  Catholic  Congress  of  the  United  States  was  held  in 
the  great  and  prosperous  city  of  Chicago,  Ills.,  September  4-9, 
1893,  and  offers  a  noble  landmark  in  these  outlines  of  the  career  of 
Holy  Church  on  American  soil. 

The  busy  Western  metropolis  had  been  the  theater,  during  the 
summer  months,  of  a  stupendous  "World's  Fair"  of  arts  and  indus- 
tries, held  under  Government  auspices  in  honor  of  the  quarto-centenary 
of  the  discovery  by  Christopher  Columbus.  Visitors  from  all  nations  thronged 
to  this  Columbian  Jubilee — an  appropriate  title  for  such  a  grand  Catholic 
assembly — and  advantage  was  taken  of  the  occasion  to  hold  a  series  of 
congresses  of  more  than  national  interest,  the  beautiful  Art  Palace  provided 
by  the  Exposition  authorities  being  devoted  to  their  sessions.  Here,  accord- 
ingly, was  held  the  Catholic  Congress,  which  was  the  Mecca,  from  day  to 
day,  of  vast  crowds  of  the  faithful,  and  was  honored  by  such  an  attendance  of 
our  prelates  and  clergy  as  were  never  before  present  at  an  assembly  of  the 
kind.  In  many  respects,  indeed,  the  gathering  was  unique  even  in  the  history 
of  the  Church  of  God,  and  in  the -addresses  and  papers  delivered  on  the  occa- 
sion, the  more  relevant  of  which  are  here  presented,  may  best  be  learned  the 

9 


10 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


inspiration,   the    aims,   and    the    glorious    work  of  the  Columbian  Catholic 
Congress,  as  it  was  officially  styled. 

On  the  morning  of  September  4th,  the  first  day  of  the  assembly,  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  was  offered  in  its  behalf  at  St.  Mary's  church — the  oldest  and 
formerly  the  cathedral  parish  of  Chicago — in  the  presence  of  H.  E.  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  the  diocese,  and  many  illustrious 
prelates  and  priests,  besides  the  body  of  the  delegates  who  were  to  participate 
in  the  Congress.  The  Solemn  High  Mass  was  celebrated  by  Rev.  E.J. 
Dunne  of  Chicago,  with  Rev.  J.  Ballman  of  Sag  Bridge  as  deacon,  and  Rev. 
J.  P.  Dore  as  sub-deacon.  The  discourse  of  the  occasion  was  made  by  Rev. 
P.  J.  Muldoon,  Chancellor  of  the  Chicago  archdiocese,  as  follows: 

SERMON    OF    WELCOME. 

Your  Eminence,  Most  Reverend  Archbishops,  Right  Reverend  Bishops,  Very 
Reverend  and  Reverend  Brethren  of  the  Clergy,  Brethren  of  the  Laity:  Through  the 
graciousness  of  my  superior,  the  greatest  pleasure  of  my  life,  and  an  honor  never  to  be 
forgotten,  has  been  placed  within  my 
keeping.  It  surpasses  me  to  rise  to 
the  full  dignity  of  this  occasion,  and 
to  welcome,  in  terms  appropriately 
tender  and  sufficiently  strong,  this 
vast  congregation  of  the  priests  of  the 
Most  High  and  brethren  of  the  laity 
assembled  together,  not  for  self-glori- 
fication, but  to  seriously  discuss 
weighty  and  pregnant  subjects,  and 
to  solve,  as  far  as  possible,  vexatious 
questions  crying  aloud  for  a  solution. 
To  your  Eminence,  to  Archbishops, 
Bishops  from  home  and  abroad,  to  the 
very  reverend  and  reverend  brethren 
of  the  clergy,  and  a  host  of  brethren 
of  the  laity,  in  the  name  of  our  most 
worthy  Archbishop,  I  can  declare  no 
more  than,  brethren  of  the  Faith, 
accept  and  share  our  good  will  and 
our  hospitality;  accept  and  share  the 
hospitality  of  Chicago,  justly  termed, 
by  her  progress  and  generosity,  the 
"  Queen  rf  the  North  and  the  West." 

Genuine  and  broad  as  this  expres- 
sion is,  permit  me  to  briefly  place 
before  you  other  reasons  why  you 
should  recognize  that  you  are  at  home 
here  and  with  your  own  in  numbers, 
in  thought,  and  in  works. 

Chicago,  my  friends,  stands  unique 
in  city  building  and  challenges  the 
w  -rid  in  the  progress  with  which  God 
has  blessed  her.  Sixty  years  ago  Chi- 
cago meant  a  lonely  fort  upon  the 
banks  of  a  muddy  stream;  to-day  she 
is  the  admiration  of  two  hemispheres.  And  forget  not  that  Catholic  hearts  and 
Catholic  hands  have  not  been  inactive  during  these  three-score  years,  and  as  proof 
over  one  hundred  churches  within  the  boundaries  of  our  city  open  wide  their  portals 
and  beg  you,  during  your  stay,  to  make  them  your  own,  and  one-third  of  the  population 
of  this  mammoth  city  joins  in  one  profound  chord  of  proud  welcome  and  extends  to 
you  the  hand  of  fellowship,  saying  "  we  are  one  in  faith,  in  motives,  and  in  interests." 

Yet  more:  not  alone  does  Catholic  Chicago  greet  you,  but  the  entire  commonwealth 
speaks  in  no  uncertain  terms  to  this  as  to  every  other  Congress  to  the  World's  Fair  city,  for 
this  is  our  year  of  jubilee,  this  our  day  of  joy,  this  our  time  of  reception.  But  to  whom 


REV.   P.    J.    MULDOOX,    CHANCELLOR    OF   CHICAGO 
ARCHDIOCESE. 


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WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  n 

more  appropriately  than  to  Catholics  could  the  word  of  good  cheer,  "  Hasten  and  par- 
take," be  extended,  for  Catholics,  and  Catholics  alone,  are  the  only  representatives  of  that 
Church  which  had  being,  when  he  who  to-day  is  revered  with  unheard-of  praise  set  forth 
to  discover  the  Western  world.  Catholics  listened  to  his  projects,  strengthened  his 
hands,  and  made  possible  by  their  aid  and  encouragement  our  meeting  in  Chicago 
to-day.  , 

Besides,  it  seems  you  enter  upon  a  soil  permanently  your  own,  for  hear  you  not  the 
feeble  voice  of  the  humble  Jesuit  missionary  lying  upon  a  rude  couch  in  a  ruder  dark 
hut?  He  appears  to  say  in  dulcet  tones,  "Thank  God  you  follow  where  I  have  led. 
Chicago  chould  be  the  home  of  Catholicity  before  aught  else,  for  I  was  the  first  white 
man  who  looked  upon  its  foundations,  first  blessed  its  soil,  and  from  my  heavenly  home 
I  to-day  bless  and  welcome  you  and  pray  God  that  your  deliberations  may  be  fruitful 
in  the  extension  of  that  Faith  which  two  hundred  years  ago  I  preached  on  this  very 
spot  to  the  red  men  who  were  sitting  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death."  Again, 
sixty  years  ago,  through  the  exertions  of  our  Father  St.  Cyr,  the  first  church  whose 
spire  received  the  kiss  of  the  sun,  rising  out  of  the  bosom  of  Lake  Michigan,  was  Catho- 
lic and  dedicated  as  St.  Mary's  of  the  Lake. 

Yet  more,  the  spirit  of  kinship  entices  you  nearer  and  forbids  a  halt  in  any 
exterior  sanctuary,  for  the  White  City  waves  its  flags  in  joy,  and  Columbus,  the  saintly 
Catholic  mariner,  in  triumphal  chariot  comes  to  greet  you,  and  the  mighty  Exposition 
proclaims  in  power  beyond  ten  thousand  tongues  the  glorious  works  of  Catholic  peoples 
and  individuals.  The  aroma  of  Catholic  life  is  so  clearly  discernible  in  this  greatest 
undertaking  of  the  19th  century  that  every  nook  and  corner  voices  the  sentiment, 
"Rejoice  and  be  glad,  all  Catholics  who  enter  here;  rejoice  and  be  glad,  for  the  same 
genius  that  made  the  Church  the  mother  of  art,  the  fosterer  of  education,  the  protector 
of  the  poor  and  defenseless,  reigns  triumphant  here."  From  the  Catholic  chapel  on  the 
south,  a  picture  of  Catholic  times,  redolent  of  Catholic  life  and  art,  and  surrounded  by 
the  famous  caravels  with  the  Immaculate  Virgin  upon  the  prow  of  the  Santa  Maria,  as 
if  now  keeping  vigil  over  the  destinies  of  the  New  World  as  when  guiding  Columbus  on 
his  first  voyage,  away  to  the  villages  on  the  north,  and  from  the  Liberal  Arts  Building 
on  the  east  to  the  Woman's  Building  on  the  west,  all  manifest  in  grand  unison  by  the 
works  they  contain  the  broadness,  the  liberality,  and  the  genuineness  of  Catholic  teach- 
ing, and  proclaim  anew  the  Church  to  be  the  salvation  of  all  that  is  best  for  man. 

This  unsurpassed  Columbian  Exposition  places  a  new  gem  in  the  crown  of  Mother 
Church,  for  no  object  lesson  of  the  greatness  and  universality  of  the  Church  has  within 
modern  times  been  placed  so  impartially  and  publicly  before  just  and  inquiring  minds. 

Above  all  this,  my  friends,  another  sturdier  reception  awaits  you  from  the  truth- 
seekers  throughout  the  world.  Assembling  for  the  amicable  discussion  of  important 
and  pertinent  subjects,  and  especially  at  this  time,  when  all  avenues  lead  to  Chicago, 
and  when  the  wires  radiate  every  item  of  interest  to  the  extremes  of  the  earth,  you  hold 
the  attention  of  the  entire  truth-seeking  world.  And  no  matter  how  bitterly  at  times 
the  Church  may  be  or  may  have  been  assailed,  she  has  at  all  times  commanded,  and  does 
at  present  command,  the  respect  of  the  majority  of  intelligent  mankind.  This  vast 
audience,  seeking  something  higher  and  more  permanent  than  is  at  present  within  its 
grasp,  wishes  you  Godspeed,  for  it  comprehends  that  your  aim  is  to  better  and  assist 
humanity.  The  poor,  the  rich,  the  educators,  the  American  citizens  all  appear  with 
upturned  faces,  hoping  from  you  for  some  new  inspiration,  appealing  to  you  for 
some  potent  consolation,  awaiting  patiently  the  portrayal  by  you  of  the  richest  ideas 
for  the  man  and  the  citizen.  They  greet  you  with  the  heartiness  of  those  who  have  long 
gazed  wistfully  for  the  white  sails  upon  the  ocean's  bosom,  and  they  pray  with  the  fervor 
of  the  interested  that  God  may  direct  your  thoughts  and  keep  your  words  strong 
for  righteousness,  clean  from  personalities,  healthful  to  the  wounded  and  inspiring  to 
the  negligent. 

What  a  pulpit  to  preach  from,  and  what  an  intelligent,  numerous  audience  to 
listen.  This  is  surely  an  opportunity  of  a  century!  Beg,  then,  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
enlighten  your  minds  and  strengthen  your  hearts  during  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  that  the 
pure  and  undefiled  teaching  of  the  Church,  in  statement  and  in  application,  may 
worthily  proceed  from  your  lips.  None  save  God  can  possibly  count  the  vast  influence 
this  representative  body  must  necessarily  and  naturally  exert,  not  upon  Catholics  alone 
but  especially  upon  our  non-Catholic  brethren.  Leaders  of  one-sixth  of  the  entire 
population  of  America,  spokesmen  of  ten  millions  of  free  people,  assisted  by  worthy 
representatives  from  other  nations,  surely  the  outcome  of  your  deliberations  will  be 
something  extraordinary  in  the  religious  world. 

Purblind  indeed  would  we  be  did  we  not  interpret  the  signs  of  the  age  aright. 


I2  WORLDS  COLUMBIA*  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

A  magnificent,  a  wonder-working  century.  Old  ideas  have  been  torn  asunder,  theories 
made  "principles  or  cast  to  the  winds.  Every  fiber  of  American  life  speaks  of  energy 
and  perseverance,  and  if  not  at  all  times  progress,  at  least  mutation,  generally  indicative 
of  at  least  the  desire  of  progress.  So  much  for  the  material  side,  but  can  we  predicate 
the  same  general  onward  movement  in  the  social  and  moral  life?  We  fear  not.  The 
same  unrest  prevails — the  same  mutation  is  under  way,  but  alas,  how  frequently  does  it 
remain  a  pure  mutation  without  progress.  The  materialism  and  humanitarianism 
have  impregnated  the  spiritual,  and  the  cry  for  light  "which  we  hear  on  all  sides  is  all 
the  more  poignant  and  its  echo  resounds  more  sadly  mournful,  because  we  detect  in  it  so 
much  of  materialism  and  pure  humanity,  unregenerated  by  the  grace  which  makes  the 
human  at  least  in  part  divine. 

We  hear  this  mournful  cry  in  various  forms.  One  blinded  to  higher  things  boldly 
announces  that  no  provident  eye  watches  over  the  poor  and  that  the  poor  man  must  be 
a  providence  to  himself.  Another  asks  what  is  religion, or  is  there  any  religion?  Again 
we  hear  an  unfortunate  shipwrecked  mariner  proclaim  that  we  should  wipe  out  entirely 
the  idea  that  man  can  be  saved  by  dogma,  and  in  its  place  preach  the  eternal  truth  that 
man  is  saved  by  his  character  and  that  creed  and  dogma  dwi-dle  into  insignificance  in 
comparison  with  character.  Who  shall  pour  oil  upon  these  troubled  waters?  Quis 
medicabit?  Who  except  the  sons  of  that  Church  founded  by  Christ  to  heal  the  wan- 
dering, wounded  nations  until  the  consummation  of  the  ages?  New  dogmas  are  not 
necessary.  Within  the  dispensary  of  the  Church  are  medicines  potent  enough  to  heal 
the  ills  of  those  unfortunates,  but  oh,  how  tender,  how  delicate,  must  be  the  hand  that 
will  apply  them. 

The  Church  of  saints  and  martyrs  is  more  than  equal  to  the  delicate  task,  but  only 
through  her  devoted  children  in  the  practical,  everyday  exercise  of  two  virtues,  always 
a  part  of  sanctity — namely,  self -sacrifice  and  activity.  Yes,  my  friends,  self-sacrifice, 
which  signifies  more  than  leading  Christian  lives  and  strict  adherence  to  the  dogmas  of 
the  Church.  This  is  stationary  Christianity.  The  monks  of  old  and  the  confessors  of 
the  Faith  went  forth  and  brilliantly  illustrated  the  beauty  of  Christianity  by  their 
teachings,  and  the  people  converted  their  neighbors  by  their  heroic  acts  of  charity.  Our 
heart  rejoices  at  the  outlook,  for  self-sacrifice  opens  up  an  expansive  field  to  the  mis- 
sionary in  the  United  States,  but  oh,  how  narrow  and  how  galling  to  human  pride  and 
sloth  is  the  path  that  leads  thereto  and  the  paths  that  intersect  this  field  of  gold  in  an 
infinity  of  directions!  To  curb  our  own  passions  is  only  elementary;  we  must  cut 
deeper,  bring  purer  blood;  aye,  we  must  penetrate  to  the  very  center  of  our  life  and 
give  a  portion  of  this  life  to  the  stricken  and  needy,  and  then,  and  then  only,  will  the 
hungering,  inquiring  multitude  turn  to  us  as  guides  and  leaders  in  a  noble  cause,  and 
petition  us  to  know  the  Spirit  that  moves  us  into  such  arduous  fields,  and,  knowing, 
they  will  kneel  and  adore. 

"Such  abnegation  implies  activity.  No  sluggard  can  be  found  within  the  ranks. 
The  watchwords  of  the  age  are  "to  do  and  dare,"  and  since  ours  is  the  merchandise  of 
Heaven,  shall  we  falter  in  the  competition?  The  words  of  the  Spanish  philosopher  may 
be  justly  here  applied: 

"The  little  minds  which  do  not  carry  their  views  beyond  a  limited  horizon;  bad 
hearts  which  nourish  only  hatred  and  delight  only  in  exciting  rancor  and  in  calling  forth 
the  evil  passions;  the  fanatics  of  a  mechanical  civilization,  who  see  no  other  agent  than 
steam,  no  other  power  than  gold  and  silver,  no  other  object  than  production,  no  other 
end  than  pleasure;  all  these  men,  assuredly,  will  attach  but  little  importance  to  the  ob- 
servations which  I  have  made;  for  them  the  moral  development  of  individuals  and 
society  is  of  little  importance;  they  do  not  even  perceive  what  passes  under  their  eyes; 
for  them  history  is  mute,  experience  barren,  and  the  future  a  mere  nothing.  Happily, 
there  is  a  great  number  of  men  who  believe  that  their  minds  are  nobler  than  metal, 
more  powerful  than  steam,  and  too  grand  and  too  sublime  to  be  satisfied  with  moment- 
ary pleasure. ' 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  criticise  the  noble  efforts  of  contemporaries  in  spreading  Faith 
or  to  reflect  upon  the  past.  Their  works  are  their  monuments.  The  past  century  of 
Church  work  is  a  wonderful  foundation;  but  the  future,  what  possibilities!  The  su- 
perb magnificence  of  the  opportunity  turns  the  head,  and  must  set  ablaze  the  heart  of 
every  Catholic.  We  can  not  live  on  the  glory  of  the  past;  ours  it  is  to  raise  the  walls 
upon  the  foundations  and  leave  to  another  generation  the  ornamentation  of  the  edifice. 
When  souls  are  to  be  saved  and  when  generous,  honest  souls  are  hurrying  hither  and 
thither  in  the  shadow  of  death,  following  foolishly  phantom  lights,  who  will  rest,  who 
will  spare  the  sacrifice  and  sit  with  hands  piously  folded  pronouncing  the  idle  word, 
"enough"?  None;  for  we  expect  the  reward  of  the  Master  who  acted  so  generously 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  13 

toward  the  one  who  had  not  folded  the  talent  in  the  napkin.  We  must  labor  valiantly, 
that  those  following  the  deceptive  glare  of  false  teaching  may  be  brought  within  the 
vivifying  influence  of  the  Light  of  the  World,  and  their  gain  will  be  our  reward. 

For  these  various  reasons,  my  dear  brethren,  we  welcome  you;  the  needy  in  moral 
and  intellectual  life  we  welcome,  and  Christ,  who  promised  reward  for  the  smallest  act 
in  His  name,  draws  you  nearer  to  His  Sacred  Heart  and  blesses  and  welcomes  you. 

Ou  the  conclusion  of  the  sacred  services  the  delegates  marched  in  pro- 
cession to  the  Art  Palace,  the  Cardinal  and  other  dignitaries  accompanying 
in  carriages.  These  were  welcomed  at  the  door  of  the  beautiful  edifice  by 
President  Bonney  of  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary,  and  other  officials,  and 
in  a  very  few  moments  the  Hall  of  Columbus,  designated  for  the  larger 
.assemblies,  was  filled  in  every  part.  The  decorations  were  rich  and  appro- 
priate, the  colors  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  being  conspicuous. 

THE    FIRST    DAY'S    PROCEEDINGS 

Were  promptly  inaugurated  by  Hon.  W.  J.  Onahan  of  Chicago,  Secretary 
of  the  Committee  on  Organization,  who  said : 

Gentlemen,  and  I  am  happy  to  add,  Ladies — for  there  are  ladies  among  the 
appointed  delegates  to  the  Catholic  Congress:  It  is  my  pleasant  and  honorable  duty, 
representing  the  committee  on  organization,  to  call  to  order  the  Columbian  Catholic 
Congress,  which  I  now  cordially  do.  The  first  words  to  be  addressed  to  you  are  natur- 
ally words  of  hearty  welcome.  By  no  one  may  those  words  be  more  graciously  or  more 
appropriately  spoken  than  by  the  venerable  and  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of 
Chicago. 

ARCHBISHOP  FEEHAN'S  WELCOME. 

Members  of  the  Catholic  Congress  —both  the  ladies  and  the  gentlemen  composing  it: 
It  is  for  me  a  most  happy  occasion  that  it  becomes  my  duty,  in  the  name  of  the  Catholic 
body  of  this  city,  and  also  in  my  own,  to  welcome  you  to  Chicago.  You  are  assembled 
here  from  various  portions  of  our  country,  not  only  from  the  parts  that  are  near  but 
also  from  the  most  remote.  You  must  have  been  brought  together  by  a  strong,  high 
motive,  as  you  are  bound  together  when  you  come  here  by  the  strongest  of  all  bonds, 
that  of  a  common  Faith.  You  come  in  the  spirit  of  our  Faith,  actuated,  directed  by 
our  Faith.  You  come  not  to  question  or  to  affect,  in  any  way  whatever,  the  ancient 
Faith  and  discipline  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  you  come  to  discuss  some  of  the  great 
questions  and  problems  of  life  and  of  our  time  that  are  intimately  connected  with,  and 
that  spring  from,  the  teachings  of  our  Catholic  Faith.  There  are  no  questions  of  our 
time  more  interesting  or  more  important  than  those  that  are  on  the  programme  of  the 
Catholic  Congress. 

We  have  that  great  question  of  the  independence  of  the  Holy  See:  you  have  that 
great  question — one  of  the  greatest  of  all — that  of  Catholic  education.  Then  you  have 
the  great  social  questions  of  the  day,  the  ideas  of  which  have  been  taken,  in  a  great 
measure,  at  least,  from  the  encyclicals  of  our  Holy  Father,  Pope  Leo  XIII.  You  come 
here  then  with  very  grave  responsibilities.  You  come,  as  it  were,  as  the  center  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  You  come  representing  its  thought,  its  life,  its  interests.  You  do 
not  represent  yourselves  individually,  nor  do  you  represent  any  special  theories  or 
fancies  of  individuals  of  our  times;  but  you  represent  parishes,  congregations,  bishops, 
whole  dioceses,  great  States — you  represent  all  these  vast  and  mighty  interests,  and  as 
a  vast  body  you  represent  at  least  the  ten  million  members  of  the  Catholic  Church,  if 
not  more.  You  come  then  as  if  to  a  great  center.  You  come  as  brave,  wise  men  to  dis- 
cuss great  questions  for  the  interests  of  those  millions. 

You  don't  come  to  please  yourselves;  you  don't  come  for  the  mere  pleasure  of 
coming,  nor  for  recreation,  as  so  many  multitudes  are  coming  just  now  to  our  city, 
though  these  need  not  be  excluded;  but  you  come  principally  for  that  grand,  high  work 
that  has  been  placed  in  your  hands  of  looking  after  the  interests  that  are  involved  in 
some  of  the  great  questions  that  will  be  discussed  and  spoken  of  in  this  assembly.  You 
assemble  here  to  day  in  a  high  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  Catholic  Church,  of  loyalty  to  its 
supreme  pastor.  Pope  Leo  XIII.  You  come  together  as  sons  of  the  great  head  of  the  Faith. 
You  come  mindful  that  God's  Church  is  your  great  mother,  and,  as  the  loyal  sons  in  a 
family  will  always  uphold  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  family,  so  will  this  vast  assembly 


14  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

uphold  before  the  whole  world  the  honor,  the  nobility,  and  the  dignity  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Not  less  are  you  concerned  for  the  interests  of  our  common  country.  The 
men  of  other  lands  are  to-day,  and  to-morrow  will  be,  looking  to  the  results  of  this 
Catholic  Congress  in  Chicago.  The  world  is  full  of  agitation.  Men's  minds  are  every- 
where active,  and  men  in  every  civilized  land  to-day  and  to-morrow  will  be  looking  for- 
ward to  know  and  to  see  what  free  men  in  a  free  land  can  feel  and  think  about  the 
great  questions  that  are  agitating  our  times,  and  that  are  everywhere  pressing  for  a  solu- 
tion. You  have  then  at  heart  the  honor  and  the  dignity  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
whole  Catholic  Faith.  You  will  watch  over  them  carefully  in  your  addresses  and  in 
your  deliberations.  We  know  and  believe,  all  of  us,  earnestly  and  firmly,  that  no  word 
will  go  out  to  the  world  from  this  Catholic  Congress  that  will  wound  or  offend  in  the 
slightest  degree  the  Catholic  conscience  or  Catholic  feeling  of  our  people  throughout 
the  United  States. 

We  know  that  all  your  deliberations  will  be  guided  by  that  Spirit  under  which  you 
have  sat  to-day.  Within  an  hour  or  so  you  have  been  in  God's  presence  and  in  his 
temple,  and  you  have  asked  the  Spirit  of  God  to  come  down  to  your  souls  and  guide 
your  deliberations.  We  all  hope  that  the  Spirit  of  God  and  the  Spirit  of  light  will  be 
with  you,  and  that  everything  you  say  or  do  will  be  guided  by  that  high,  strong  fidelity 
of  Catholic  sons  to  our  Catholic  Faith,  and  that  everything  you  say  or  do  will  be  distin- 
guished by  the  dignity  and  the  harmony  that  we  have  the  right,  as  we  have  every  reason, 
to  expect  from  this  great  representative  body  of  the  Catholic  Faith  and  the  Catholic 
people.  You  will  have  the  pleasure  now  of  hearing  from  Mr.  Bonney,  the  gentleman 
who  has  been  the  life  and  soul  of  all  these  organizations  and  congresses,  except  the 
Catholic  Congress,  connected  with  the  great  Exposition. 

Hon.  Chas.  C.  Bonney,  who  is  a  non-Catholic  lawyer,  then  delivered 
what  may  be  termed  the  "official"  welcome: 

PRESIDENT    BONNEV'S    ADDRESS. 

Officers  and  Members  of  the  Columbian  Catholic  Congress:  In  the  name  of  the 
World's  Congress  Auxiliary,  organized  to  conduct  the  moral  and  intellectual  part  of  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition  of  1893;  and  in  the  name  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  which  invited  all  nations  to  participate  in  the  congresses  to  be  held 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Auxiliary;  and  in  the  name  of  fifty  millions  of  non-Catholics 
who  love  justice  and  believe  in  equal  religious  liberty  for  all  men,  I  salute  you  and 
bid  you  welcome.  This  memorial  building,  and  every  facility  which  the  World's 
Congress  Auxiliary  can  command,  is  most  cordially  offered  for  the  purpose  of  your  Con- 
gress. 

That  a  great  change  has  come  in  the  relations  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  Prot- 
estant churches  with  each  other  is  known  throughout  the  world.  That  this  change 
has  largely  increased  human  happiness  and  has  in  many  ways  promoted  the  cause  of 
peace  and  progress  is  also  widely  acknowledged.  A  brief  reference  to  some  of  the  lead- 
ing causes  of  this  change  seems,  however,  especially  appropriate  to  this  occasion,  and 
may  serve  to  strengthen  the  gracious  bonds  of  charity  and  affection  which  are  now 
gently  drawing  nearer  and  nearer  to  each  other  all  the  various  branches  of  the  great 
family  of  mankind.  Of  those  causes  the  benign  spirit  of  the  new  age  should  first  be 
named. 

Descending  from  the  sun  of  righteousness  this  spirit  of  progress  is  filling  the  whole 
earth  with  its  splendor  and  beauty,  its  warmth  and  vivifying  power,  and  making  the  old 
things  of  truth  and  justice  new  in  meaning,  strength,  and  energy  to  execute  Gcd's  will 
for  the  welfare  of  man. 

Among  the  secondary  causes  of  the  change  to  which  reference  has  been  made  there 
are  several  which  it  seems  a  duty  as  well  as  a  pleasure  to  recall  on  this  occasion.  The 
noble  and  successful  work  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  the  field  of  practical  temperance 
reform,  first  attracted  the  attention  and  won  the  sympathy  of  the  Protestant  people  of 
America. 

The  new  Catholic  movement  for  the  relief  and  elevation  of  the  toiling  masses,  which 
culminated  in  the  great  Papal  encyclical  on  the  condition  of  labor,  deepened  the  interest 
of  the  Protestant  world  in  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  excited  the  love  and 
admiration  of  many  non-Catholics.  The  new  Catholic  activity  in  the  extension  of 
higher  education  is  another  cause  of  the  better  relations  which  have  recently  been 
established.  For  science  and  art  and  literature  are  of  no  sect  or  creed.  They  belong  to 
man,  whatever  may  be  his  political  or  religious  views,  and  are  bonds  of  fraternity  every- 
where. Over  the  grave  in  which  was  buried  the  dead  strife  of  former  generations  the 


J?1W*i  >i 

LEO  XIII. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  15 

apostles  of  the  new  age  have  clasped  hands  in  a  new  pledge  of  fidelity  in  the  pursuit  of 
learning  and  virtue,  and  the  life  that  is  called  charity. 

There  is  one  important  particular  in  which  the  idens  of  Catholic  educational  lead- 
ers are  in  peculiar  accord  with  the  original  American  doctrine  of  popular  education. 
The  third  artic'a  of  the  great  ordinance  of  1787,  for  the  government  of  the  territory  of 
which  Chicago  is  the  metropolis,  declared  that  "religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being 
necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of 
education  shall  forever  be  encouraged." 

Not  knowledge  only;  not  knowledge  and  morality  merely,  but  religion,  morality,  and 
Knowledge,  sacred  trinity  of  the  powers  of  human  progress,  are  essential  to  the  proper 
education  of  the  people. 

The  new  apostles  of  Catholic  progress  have  become  especially  endeared  to  enlight- 
ened Protescants.  Henry  Edward  Manning,  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Westminster,  can 
hardly  be  more  beloved  nor  his  loss  more  sincerely  mourned  within  the  Catholic  Church 
than  without  its  fold.  His  gracious  and  earnest  words  on  "Protestant  Dissenters,'' 
"  Disinherited  Christians,"  "  Blameless  Ignorance,"  and  "Unconscious  Catholics  "  won 
for  him  and  the  Catholic  Church  hosts  of  friends  outside  of  his  own  communion. 

In  America  the  work  of  his  brother  cardinal,  His  Eminence  James,  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  honorary  President  of  this  Congress,  has  been  equally  auspicious.  His  book 
on  "  Our  Christian  Heritage,"  in  which  he  gladly  holds  out  to  Protestants  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship  for  union  against  the  common  foe,  commends  him  eloquently  to 
them  as  well  as  to  his  own  brethren. 

The  burning  words  of  His  Grace  Archbishop  Ireland  in  the  advocacy  of  temper- 
ance, education,  social  purity,  and  every  moral  virtue  have  made  his  name  and  Church 
household  words  in  many  Protestant  homes. 

When  a  Catholic  bishop  like  Bishop  Spalding  of  Peoria,  speaking  for  Catholics, 
says,  "  We  love  liberty,  we  love  knowledge,  we  love  truth,  we  love  opportunity;  and  for- 
getting nationality,  forgetting  sects,  forgetting  all  save  God's  image  in  every  human 
being,  we  would  uplift  men  by  uplifting  humanity,"  millions  of  Protestant  hearts 
respond,  Amen!  Amen! 

But  a  greater  agency  of  union  and  progress  still  remains  to  be  named—  the  illus- 
trious head  of  the  Catholic  Church,  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  than  whom  no  more  able,  enlight- 
ened, and  benign  pontiff  has  borne  the  name  of  Holy  Father  in  a  thousand  years.  Like 
the  morning  bell  of  a  new  age,  his  earnest  words,  in  speaking  of  the  American  people, 
are:  "  I  love  them  and  I  love  their  country.  I  have  a  great  tenderness  for  those  who 
live  in  that  land,  Protestants  and  all.  Under  the  constitution,  religion  has  perfect 
liberty,  and  is  a  growing  power.  Where  the  Church  is  free,  it  will  increase;  and  I  bless, 
I  love  Americans  for  their  frank,  open,  unaffected  character,  and  for  the  respect  which 
they  pay  to  Christianity  and  Christian  morals.  My  only  desire  is  to  use  my  power  for 
the  good  of  the  whole  people — Protestants  and  Catholics  alike.  I  want  the  Protestants 
as  well  as  the  Catholics  to  esteem  me."  Is  it  any  wonder  that  Pope  Leo  XIII.  is 
respected  and  beloved  by  the  Protestants  to  whom  these  words  were  addressed? 

On  the  Protestant  side  similar  causes  have  been  at  work,  producing  similar  results. 
The  time  now  at  command  will  not  permit  a  presentation  of  these  results,  but  it  may 
suffice  to  say  that  it  has  culminated  in  the  arrangements  for  the  World's  Religious 
Congresses  of  1893. 

Blind,  indeed,  must  be  the  eyes  that  can  not  eee,  in  these  events,  the  quickened 
march  of  the  ages  of  human  progress  toward  the  fulfillment  of  the  divine  prophecy  of 
"  one  fold  and  one  shepherd,"  when  ail  forms  of  government  shall  be  one  in  liberty  and 
justice,  and  all  forms  of  faith  and  worship  one  in  charity  and  human  service. 

With  these  sentiments  I  greet  and  welcome  the  Catholic  Congress  of  1893. 

The  most  generous  applause,  which  only  needs  mention  here,  had  accented 
the  various  addresses  so  far,  being  raised  to  the  point  of  enthusiasm  by  the 
following  beautiful 

ADDRESS  OF  H.  E.  CARDINAL  GIBBONS. 

What  an  inspiring  and  consoling  spectacle  is  this  !  Whether  I  consider  the  magni- 
tude of  your  numbers  or  your  representative  character— for  you  represent  almost  every 
State  and  diocese  and  city  of  the  Union — or  whether  I  contemplate  the  intelligence  that 
beams  on  your  faces,  I  can  not  but  exclaim:  This  is  a  sight  well  calculated  to  bring  joy 
and  j'ladness  to  the  heart  of  American  Catholics. 

During  the  past  four  months  millions  of  visitors  have  come  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States,  nay,  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  to  contemplate  on  the  Exposition 


1 6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

grounds  the  wonderful  works  of  man.  They  knew  not  which  to  admire  more— the 
colossal  dimensions  of  the  buildings,  or  their  architectural  beauty,  or  the  treasures  of 
art  which  they  contained.  The  caskets  and  the  gems  were  well  worthy  of  the  19th 
century,  worthy  of  the  nations  that  brought  them,  worthy  of  the  indomitable  spirit  of 
Chicago.  Let  us  no  longer  call  Chicago  the  windy  city,  but  the  city  of  lofty  aspirations. 
Let  me  christen  her  with  another  name— let  me  call  her  Thaumatopoiis,  the  city  of 
wonders,  the  city  of  miracles.  And  the  director-general,  with  his  associates,  deserves  to 
be  called  the  Thaumaturgus  of  the  enterprise. 

But  while  other  visitors  have  come  to  contemplate  with  admiration  the  wonderful 
works  of  man,  with  the  image  of  man  stamped  upon  them,  you  have  come  here  to  con- 
template man  himself — the  most  wonderful  work  of  God,  with  the  image  of  God  stamped 
upon  him.  Others  are  studying  what  man  has  accomplished  in  the  material  world. 
You  are  to  consider  what  man  can  accomplish  in  the  almost  boundless  possibilities  of 
his  spiritual  and  intellectual  nature.  You  will  take  counsel  together  to  consider  the 
best  means  for  promoting  the  religious  and  moral,  the  social  and  economic  well-being  of 
your  fellow-citizens. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  your  deliberations  will  not  be  stamped  with  the  authority 
of  legislative  enactments,  like  the  proceedings  of  Congress  and  the  decrees  of  a  national 
council.  Nevertheless  they  will  go  far  toward  enlightening  public  opinion  and  mold- 
ing and  shaping  public  thought  on  the  great  religious,  moral,  and  social  questions  of  the 
day. 

When  I  look  into  your  earnest  and  intelligent  faces  I  am  almost  deterred  from 
imparting  to  you  my  words  of  admonition.  But  you  know  well  that  we  clergymen  are 
in  the  habit  of  drifting  unconsciously  into  the  region  of  exhortation,  just  as  financiers 
drift  into  the  region  of  dollars  and  cents  and  figures.  I  may  be  pardoned,  therefore,  for 
giving  you  a  word  of  advice.  In  all  your  discussions  be  ever  mindful  of  the  golden 
saying  of  St.  Vincent  Lerins:  "In  necessariis  unitas, in  dubiis  libertas,  in  omnibus 
caritas:  Inessentials, unity;  in  doubtful  things,  liberty;  in  all  things,  charity."  Happily 
for  you,  children  of  the  Church,  you  have  nothing  to  discuss  in  matters  of  faith,  for 
your  faith  is  fixed  and  determined  by  the  divine  Legislator,  and  we  can  not  improve  on 
the  creed  of  Him  who  is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 

But  between  the  calm  and  luminous  region  of  faith  and  the  dark  and  chaotic  region 
of  error  there  lies  a  vast  field  for  free  discussion.  I  should  be  very  sorry  that  any  mem- 
ber of  this  Congress  should  attempt  to  circumscribe  this  free  space  by  erecting  his 
little  fence  of  ipse  dixits,  and  saying  to  all  others :  "  I  am  Sir  Oracle;  thus  far  you 
shall  come  and  no  farther."  Let  all  your  proceedings  be  marked  by  courtesy  and  char- 
ity, and  by  a  spirit  of  Christian  forbearance  toward  each  other.  Never  descend  to  per- 
sonalities. Many  a  delicious  speech  has  lost  its  savor  and  been  turned  into  gall,  because 
a  few  drops  of  vituperation  had  been  injected  into  it.  The  edifice  of  moral  and  social 
improvement  which  you  aim  to  build,  can  never  be  erected  on  the  ruins  of  charity. 

Perhaps  the  best  model  of  courtly  dignity  and  courtesy  that  I  could  set  before  you 
is  W.  E.  Gladstone,  the  Grand  Old  Man.  I  happened  to  be  in  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1880,  when  Mr.  Gladstone  was  Prime  Minister,  as  he  is  to-day.  A  very  long  debate 
was  going  on  regarding  taxation,  The  ministry  were  in  favor  of  transferring  a  tax  from 
the  grain  to  the  malt  and  of  relieving  the  farmer  at  the  expense  of  the  brewer.  It  was 
a  measure  that  would  bring  joy  to  the  heart  of  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Paul.  A  young 
lord  on  the  opposition  side  was  making  a  dreary  speech  to  the  effect  that  it  was  better 
to  let  well  enough  alone,  and  that  the  relations  between  the  tax  collector  and  the  tax 
payer  were  of  an  amicable  character  and  should  not  be  disturbed.  As  soon  as  it  wras 
announced  that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  going  to  speak,  the  house  was  suddenly  aroused 
from  its  lethargy  and  was  inflamed  with  enthusiasm.  He  was  greeted  with  cheers.  He 
had  spoken  but  a  few  words  when  he  was  rudely  interrupted  by  the  young  lord.  Mr. 
Gladstone  gracefully  bowed  to  his  opponent,  receded  a  step,  and  sat  down.  When  his 
lordship  had  finished  he  resumed  his  speech ;  he  dissected  his  opponent  with  his  Damas- 
cus blade;  his  lordship  cheerfully  submitted  to  the  operation  because  the  blade  was 
pointed  not  with  poison,  but  with  honey. 

"  I  have  studied  the  subject  of  finance,"  said  Mr.  Gladstone,  "  under  Sir  Robert 
Peel.  I  have  sat  at  his  feet  like  Saul  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel.  I  am  an  old  man  and 
have  not  the  sanguine  temperament  of  my  honorable  young  friend.  And  as  for  me,  I 
never  expect  to  see  the  day  when  the  tax  collector  and  the  tax  payer  will  rush  into  one 
another's  arms  and  embrace  one  another." 

God  grant  that  our  fondest  anticipations  of  your  labors  may  be  realized,  and  that 
the  invocation  to-day  of  the  divine  blessing,  which  is  so  full  of  hope,  may  be  crowned  at 
the  end  of  your  sessions  by  a  Te  Deum  full  of  joy  and  gratitude  for  the  success  of  this 


JAMES  CARDINAL  GIBBONS. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  17 

convention.  As  an  earnest  of  this  result  I  hold  in  my  hand  ;i  letter  which  I  had  the 
honor  to  receive  the  other  day  from  him  who  has  been  so  beautifully  and  justly  extolled 
by  the  preceding  speakers.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  letter  from  His  Holiness  Leo  XIII., 
and  in  this  letter  he  pours  out  upon  you  all  his  apostolic  paternal  benediction.  Maj 
the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Father,  may  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God— his  God  and  our 
God,  his  Father  and  our  Father — descend  upon  you  all  and  upon  your  deliberations. 
May  his  blessing  enlighten  your  minds  and  inflame  your  hearts  and  be  a  happy  earnes* 
of  the  harmony  and  union  that  will  dominate  all  your  proceedings. 

Following  is  the  translation  of  the  letter  of  the  Holy  Father  referred  to  in 
His  Eminence's  address,  and  which  was  then  read  to  the  Congress  by  Hon 
W.  J.  Onahan: 

POPE    LEO'S    GREETING    AND    BLESSING. 

Leo  XIII.,  Pope:  To  our  Beloved  Son  James  Gibbons  by  the  Title  of  Santa  Maria 
in  Trastevere  Cardinal  Priest  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  Archbishop  of  Balti- 
more, Beloved  Son:  Health  and  apostolic  benediction.  It  has  afforded  us  much 
satisfaction  to  be  informed  by  you  that  in  the  coming  month  of  September  a  large  as- 
sembly of  Catholic  gentlemen  will  meet  at  Chicago,  there  to  discuss  matters  of  great 
interest  and  importance. 

Furthermore,  we  have  been  specially  gratified  by  your  devotion  and  regard  for  us  in 
desiring,  as  an  auspicious  beginning  for  such  Congress,  our  blessing  and  our  prayers. 
This  filial  request  we  do  indeed  most  readily  grant,  and  beseech  Almighty  God  that  by 
his  aid  and  the  light  of  his  wisdom  he  may  graciously  be  pleased  to  assist  and  illume  all 
who  are  about  to  assemble  with  you,  and  that  He  may  enrich  with  the  treasures  of  his 
choicest  gifts  your  deliberations  and  conclusions. 

To  you,  therefore,  our  beloved  son,  and  to  all  who  take  part  in  the  Congress  afore 
said  and  to  the  clergy  and  faithful  committed  to  your  care,  we  lovingly  in  the  Lord  im- 
part our  apostolic  benediction. 

Given  at  Rome,  at  St.  Peter's,  the  7th  day  of  August,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-three  and  of  our  pontificate  the  sixteenth. 

LEO  XIII.,  Pope. 

The  temporary  organization  of  the  Congress  was  then  announced  by  Mr. 
Onahan,  as  follows: 

Temporary  chairman,  Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien  of  New  York. 

Secretaries,  James  C.  Lawler,  Prairie  du  Chien;  Professor  James  F.  Edwards,  Uni- 
versity of  Notre  Dame,  Indiana,  and  James  F.  O'Connor  and  John  M.  Duffy  of  Chicago. 

This  was  speedily  followed  by 

JUDGE  O'BRIEN'S  ADDRESS  AS  CHAIRMAN. 

Gentlemen :  The  official  call  issued  by  the  committee  on  organization,  which  has 
been  printed  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  all  the  members  present,  relieves  me  from 
the  necessity  of  stating  the  objects  of  this  Congress.  That  call  defines  and  limits  its 
scope  to  the  consideration  of  the  social  question,  to  which  has  been  added  that  of  Cath- 
olic education  and  the  independence  of  the  Holy  See.  As  stated  in  that  call,  "  perma- 
nent and  effective  results  and  enduring  benefits  are  looked  for  at  our  hands  as  a  fitting 
outcome  of  this  memorable  assemblage  of  Catholic  intelligence  and  Catholic  earnest- 
ness." No  more  fitting  time  or  place  could  have  been  selected  than  the  present  to  give 
expression  to  those  sentiments  which,  as  Catholics,  we  hold  in  common,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  consulting  upon  those  measures  which  are  of  most  importance  to  our 
Church  and  country.  This  city  has  been  selected  by  the  Nation  as  the  place  to  cele- 
brate by  a  Fair  which,  in  its  proportions  and  beauty,  surpasses  all  that  the  creative 
genius  of  man  has  attempted  or  accomplished,  and  the  event  thus  celebrated  has  been 
fraught  with  such  momentous  results  and  happiness  to  man  as  to  make  it  the  most 
memorable  in  the  history  of  civilization.  Naturally  our  minds  go  back  to  that  event 
through  the  vista  of  years;  we  see  the  march  of  progress,  the  development  of  material 
and  mechanical  triumphs,  and  above  all  the  struggle  for  emancipation  and  freedom, 
which  has  finally  culminated  in  the  freest  government  the  world  has  ever  seen.  When 
we  remember  how,  over  the  trackless  ocean,  Columbus  and  his  little  band  of  followers 
came,  soon  to  be  succeeded  by  others  who,  penetrating  impenetrable  forests,  removed 
the  physical  obstacles  to  development;  how  they  established,  through  their  religion, 
zeal,  and  courage,  society  and  government  and  laws,  and  how  they  finally  threw  off  a 
foreign  yoke  and  established  an  independent  Government  upo"  #  foundation  which 


iS  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

guarantees  the  fullest  and  greatest  freedom  to  the  individual,  and  how  to  these  were 
added  commerce  and  art,  poetry,  eloquence,  and  song,  it  becomes  a  just  subject  for 
pride  to  all  those  who  had  any  hand  in  producing  such  magnificent  results. 

If  any  justification  were  needed  for  our  assemblage  here  to-day  it  is  furnished  by 
the  recollection  that  it  was  a  Catholic  monk  who  inspired  Columbus  with  hope;  it  was 
Columbus  and  a  Catholic  crew  that  first  crossed  the  trackless  main;  that  it  was  a 
Catholic  queen  who  rendered  the  expedition  possible,  and  that  it  was  a  Catholic  whose 
name  has  been  given  to  the  entire  continent.  Ay!  more  than  this,  the  early  history  of 
our  country  is  the  history  of  its  Catholicity.  And  the  Catholic  names  given  to  the  early 
discoveries  in  the  four  quarters  of  our  country  attest  the  fact  that  Catholics  were  the 
discoverers.  And  it  is  impossible  to  read  the  history  of  our  country  without  recalling 
the  exploits  of  Ponce  de  Leon,  Cartier,  Balboa,  Marquette,  De  Soto,  Melendez,  La  Salle, 
Champlain,  and  others  whose  names  can  never  be  obliterated,  because  molded  in  endur- 
ing brass  upon  the  massive  gates  of  the  capitol  at  Washington;  nay,  more,  the  very  soil 
on  which  this  city  stands  was  sanctified  by  the  great  missionary,  Marquette,  who  was 
here  in  1674  to  1675,  and  whose  body  even  now  rests  on  the  opposite  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan.  How  fruitful  of  good  results  his  works  were,  may  be  known  by  recalling  a 
single  fact  that  to-day,  in  Chicago,  the  spires  of  more  than  a  hundred  Catholic  churches 
glisten  in  the  morning  sun.  We  can,  moreover,  truthfully  say  that  not  a  land  was 
found,  not  a  mountain  crossed,  not  a  valley  entered,  or  a  stream  forded,  but  Catholic 
missionaries  led  the  way.  And  wherever  from  the  depths  of  primeval  forests  cities, 
towns,  and  States  sprang  up;  where,  instead  of  the  savage,  there  appeared  men  longing 
for  freedom,  there  will  we  find  the  mark  of  the  missionary's  footsteps.  And  from  that 
time  down  to  the  present,  whether  groaning  under  the  iron  heel  of  despotic  rulers. 
whether  amidst  the  trials  of  our  revolutionary  struggle,  whether  amidst  the  wars  that 
succeeded  wherein  the  autonomy  of  our  nation  was  threatened,  there,  sharing  with  their 
fellow-countrymen  in  the  trials  and  tribulations  and  in  the  subsequent  triumphs,  were 
to  be  found  the  Catholics. 

Our  country,  therefore,  is  doubly  dear  to  us.  We  were  here  at  its  first  discovery,  we 
participated  in  its  struggle  for  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  in  turn  have  participated 
in  its  glories  and  enjoyed  peace,  security,  and  happiness.  It  is  more  dear  to  us,  because 
in  this  land  above  all  others  the  old  Faith  has  fair  play.  Its  schools,  its  churches,  and 
its  cathedrals  are  not  the  result  of  the  contributions  of  unstable  governments,  but  are 
the  gratuitous  offerings  of  more  than  ten  million  of  f  reedmen. 

We  fully  realize,  however,  what  has  been  said  by  a  great  writer,  that  a  nation,  like  a 
man,  may  live  to  the  fullness  of  its  time  or  perish  prematurely  by  violence  or  internal 
disorders. 

The  world  knows  of  but  two  principles  of  government.  One,  the  power  of  the 
sword  sustained  by  the  hand  that  wields  it;  the  other,  the  power  of  the  law  sustained 
by  a  virtuous  people.  Or,  differently  expressed,  there  is  the  principle  of  force  and  the 
principle  of  love.  Our  form  of  government  being  a  republic  is  essentially  founded  upon 
the  virtue  of  its  citizens,  and  this  foundation  can  neither  be  weakened  nor  destroyed 
without  threatening  the  entire  social  structure.  The  early  discoverers  of  America,  as 
well  as  our  revolutionary  forefathers,  were  imbued  with  strong  religious  principles 
upon  which  alone  virtue  can  be  grounded,  and  this,  added  to  their  hardy  and  physical 
natures,  laid  the  foundations  and  gave  the  impetus  to  that  splendid  civilization  which 
is  now  the  heritage  of  all. 

While,  therefore,  glorying  in  our  triumphs  and  proud  of  our  wonderful  develop- 
ment, we  could  not,  if  we  would,  fail  to  discover  those  dark  and  ominous  clouds  which 
hover  over  our  national  firmament  and  which  are  the  inevitable  forerunners  of  a  violent 
storm.  The  presence  of  these  clouds  is  not  difficult  to  account  for.  The  hardy  and  rug- 
ged virtue  of  our  forefathers  no  longer  exists;  for  the  history  of  our  country  will  show 
that  the  moral  decadence  of  our  people  has  kept  rapid  pace  with  the  augmentation  ot 
our  material  prosperity.  That  we  have  steadily  advanced  materially  is  unquestioned; 
pur  towns,  cities,  and  States  have  multiplied,  our  citizens  have  amassed  wealth  running 
into  the  millions  and  hundreds  of  millions;  our  corporations  are  striding  a  continent; 
but  under  the  shadow  of  this  magnificent  prosperity  we  find  incipient  pauperism  and 
discontent;  men,  women,  and  children  without  the  necessaries  of  life,  deprived  of  relig- 
ion and  education,  and  who  are  prevented  from  participating  in  those  blessings  which 
God  seemingly  intended  for  all. 

The  thoughtful  statesman  of  America,  the  hopeful  patriot,  and  the  virtuous  citizen 
knows  and  feels  that  the  evils  that  menace  our  national  prosperity — that  the  apparent 
social  inequalities  and  the  rights  of  capital  and  labor — can  be  reconciled  in  some  way 
consistent  with  the  preservation  of  law  and  order;  in  some  way  consistent  with  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  19 

preservation  of  the  rights  of  all,  so  as  to  prevent  the  outbreak  of  a  class  of  men  who  are 
prepared  to  seize  upon  any  occasion,  and  are  seemingly  mad  enough  in  their  fury  to 
tear  down  the  very  constitution  upon  which  our  peace,  our  happiness,  and  cur  security 
depend. 

We  think  the  remedy  is  to  be  found  alone  in  a  return  to  those  principles  of  virtue 
and  religion  with  which  our  forefathers  were  imbued,  and  upon  which  our  Government 
was  founded,  and  which  we  think  is  alone  needed  to  restore  the  original  vigor  of  the 
nation.  It  must  be  remembered  that  materialism,  infidelity,  agnosticism,  and  other 
forms  of  irreligion  have  never  been  fruitful  either  in  forming  or  perpetuating  a  state. 
Like  all  negative  principles,  there  is  included  within  them  a  principle  of  destruction; 
they  are  powerful  in  the  direction  of  pulling  down,  but  never  of  building  up.  And 
against  irreligion,  the  implacable  foe  to  our  present  civilization — whatever  form  it  may 
assume — all  those,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic,  who  believe  in  the  vital  force  of 
religion  have  a  common  ground  upon  which  they  can  stand.  Not  only  in  this  have  we 
a  bond  of  union  with  our  Protestant  countrymen,  when  in  good  faith  these  are  engaged 
in  disseminating  virtue  and  religion,  but  also  in  general  charities,  which  look  to  the 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the  aged,  as  well  as  measures 
designed  to  suppress  intemperance  and  gambling,  and  prevent  the  desecration  of  the 
Sunday.  These  are  among  the  subjects  which  will  receive  consideration  by  this  Con- 
gress, and  it  is  in  a  spirit  of  generous  rivalry — according  to  all  the  same  religious  free- 
dom which  we  claim  for  ourselves — that  we  endeavor  to  discharge  that  duty  which  we 
owe  to  our  Church  and  to  our  country.  As  stated  in  our  call:  "  All  men  feel  and  admit 
that  the  present  relations  of  labor  and  capital  are  strained  and  unreasonable;  that  civil 
and  social  order  are  seriously  menaced,  trade  and  business  hampered." 

Under  such  conditions,  if  but  true  to  the  principles  which  have  animated  our  past 
and  secured  our  present,  we  Catholics  can  render  a  signal  service  at  this  time  to  our 
country  by  suggesting  the  remedies  for  these  evils  which  threaten  our  national  exist- 
ence, and  which  can  be  applied  in  a  way  consistent  with  vested  rights  and  prevent  out- 
breaks which  would  menace  those  blessings  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  which  our 
constitution  guarantees;  thus  again  emphasizing  our  loyalty  and  devotion  to  that  coun- 
try whose  interests  are  linked  with  every  fiber  of  our  hearts. 

The  deliberations  of  this  Congress,  therefore,  are  pregnant  with  important  conse- 
quences to  our  Church  and  our  country,  and  oar  proceedings  will  be  watched  with 
interest  by  all. 

That  the  solution  of  the  present  social  difficulties  is  to  be  found  in  the  Catholic 
Church  we  know,  for,  as  has  been  well  said,  "  that  Church  is  the  friend  of  the  poor,  the 
champion  of  the  oppressed  and  the  downtrodden,  the  inflexible  enemy  to  injustice  of 
whatever  kind  wherever  found,  and  is  recognized  as  the  synonym  of  authority,  the  foe 
to  lawlessness,  and  the  champion  of  law  and  order."  Over  the  halls  of  this  Congress, 
therefore,  we  will  write  the  poet's  words,  so  that  all  the  ends  we  aim  at  shall  be  "  our 
God's,  our  country's,  and  truth's." 

Opportunity  was  given  at  this  point  to  hear  some  of  the  distinguished  prel- 
ates from  foreign  lands,  the  first  of  these  who  spoke  being  the  Most  Rev. 
Archbishop  Redwood  of  New  Zealand.  He  said  : 

A    VOICE    FROM    NEW    ZEALAND. 

I  shall  ever  consider  this  day  as  one  of  the  happiest  and  most  privileged  of  my  life. 
Some  months  ago  while  I  was  in  my  diocese  in  New  Zealand,  I  learned  through  the 
newspapers  and  through  the  very  modest  advertisements  from  this  great  city  of 
Chicago,  of  the  wonderful  Columbian  Exposition  about  to  be  held.  I  said  to  myself  it 
would  be  a  great  pleasure,  a  great  intellectual  enjoyment,  to  be  present  at  that  great 
event,  to  see  the  marvelous  productions  of  the  human  mind,  to  see  the  variety  that  has 
come  forth  from  the  genius  of  man;  but  I  further  said  to  myself  that  I  have  seen  the 
greatest  expositions  of  Paris  and  of  London,  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  that  while 
no  doubt  this  might  be  on  a  grander  scale,  still  after  all  it  is  chiefly  a  manifestation  of 
man's  progress  in  the  material  world.  Looking  upon  it  in  that  light  I  made  up  my 
mind  not  to  come. 

But  afterward  I  happened  to  hear  that  this  Exposition  was  to  be  suddenly  raised 
far  above  any  other  exposition  ever  known  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  I  learned  of  the 
Auxiliary  Congresses  to  be  attached  to  this  Exposition,  and  that  other  works  of  man  were 
to  be  considered — that  he  was  to  be  viewed  in  his  mind,  in  his  heart,  in  his  soul  ;  that 
man  was  to  be  viewed  as  a  social  being  ;  and  that  in  the  Auxiliary  Congresses  all  the 
most  burning  problems  of  the  day  were  to  be  discussed  by  the  most  distinguished 


20  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC'  CONGRESSES. 

members  of  the  laity  of  the  United  States.  They  were  to  be  brought  together  as  one 
grand  focus,  whose  fight  was  to  be  turned  upon  the  most  burning  and  actual  questions 
of  the  times.  When  I  heard  this  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  should  come.  I  said  to 
myself  that  it  was  like  going  to  school  again.  I  told  my  people  I  was  coming  to  Chicago 
to  meet,  as  it  were,  the  very  elite  of  the  human  mind,  in  the  very  center  of  the  most 
intellectual  life  of  the  great  Republic,  of  the  great  Union  of  man,  governed  by  a  vast 
democracy  that  is  now  wielding,  you  may  say,  the  scepter  of  progress  and  of  the  world. 
But  I  never  thought  I  would  have  the  honor  and  the  privilege  of  addressing  this 
attendance.  I  intended  to  come  as  a  listener.  I  wanted  to  hear  what  was  said  upon  all 
the  great  questions  of  the  day.  I  wanted  to  be  abreast  of  the  times,  for  I  think  every 
bishop  and  archbishop  should  be  abreast  of  the  times,  or  rather  that  he  ought  to  be 
before  the  times. 

Perhaps  some  of  you  may  think  New  Zealand  is  still  a  land  of  cannibalism — a  land 
in  which  you  expect  to  tind  in  every  house  good  provision  of  roast  missionary. 
But  we  are  a  progressive  people  in  that  far-off  land;  there  we  venture  on  experiments 
and  try  issues  very  quickly.  We  are,  in  fact,  the  world's  experimental  country.  Some 
of  those  things  which  you  are  discussing  here — for  instance  the  eight  hours'  day — has 
been  in  existence  in  New  Zealand  for  some  years.  I  said  to  myself  no  doubt  in  that 
wonderful  American  country,  where  there  is  so  much  freedom  and  such  determination 
for  progress,  where  the  characteristic  of  the  people  is  a  horror  of  routine,  I  must 
naturally  hear  suggestions  and  see  new  lines  of  thought  open  before  me— new  solutions 
of  grave  questions,  and  therefore,  if  I  have  to  keep  myself  abreast  of  the  times  and  a 
fortiori,  if  I  have  to  go  before  the  times,  there  is  no  place  I  can  visit  so  appropriate  to 
obtain  correct  information  on  burning  subjects  of  the  hour  as  at  the  Columbian  Expo- 
sition of  Chicago  and  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary.  Then  another  thought  struck 
me — that  such  a  meeting  of  the  elite  of  the  Catholic  intellect,  both  ecclesiastical  and 
lay,  must  prove  a  great  instrument  for  the  progress  of  our  holy  religion  which  every 
missionary  and  every  bishop  has  so  deeply  at  heart.  I  said  what  we  want  in  the  19th 
century  is  to  see  the  Catholic  Church  everywhere,  to  see  her  penetrate  into  all  kinds 
of  assemblies,  to  see  her  make  herself  known;  for  if  she  were  only  known  the  whole 
world  would  be  at  her  feet — that  is,  the  world  worthy  of  our  consideration.  It  is  because 
she  is  not  known  that  she  is  often  maligned  in  good  faith.  Well,  we  have  to  make  her 
known,  and  where  is  it  more  possible  to  make  her  known  better,  to  bring  her  focus  of 
light  into  the  most  progressive  country  in  the  world?  Here  we  meet  to  discuss  the 
different  problems  of  the  day.  We  will  show  her  influence  in  the  great  questions  of 
education  and  labor  and  finance.  I  say  the  Church  should  be  heard  in  every  kind  of 
public  assembly.  When  the  shackles  of  prejudice  are  passed  from  the  human  mind 
she  must  stand  forth  in  her  innate  beauty.  I  have  come  nine  thousand  miles  to  assist 
in  this  assembly,  and  it  is  one  of  the  proudest  privileges  in  my  life  to  take  part  in  it. 

Following  this  Archbishop  from  Britain's  remotest  colony  came  the 
words  of  him  who  is  pastor  in  her  mighty  capital  of  London.  Monsignor 
Nugent  of  Liverpool  was  present  to  act  as  spokesman  for  the  Cardinal  Arch- 
bishop of  Westminster,  and  thus  delivered  the  message  entrusted  to  him: 

FROM    THE    SEE    OF    WESTMINSTER. 

My  Lord  Cardinal  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  stand  here  as  the  messenger  of 
congratulation  and  of  the  deepest  interest  of  Cardinal  Vaughan  in  the  great  Catholic 
work  which  will  take  place  in  this  city  during  this  week;  but  before  I  read  his  letter  I 
wish  to  express  how  much  I  have  felt  those  tender  and  affectionate  references  that  have 
been  made  during  the  last  two  days  to  the  illustrious  and  late  lamented  Cardinal 
Manning.  When  it  was  conceived  of  having  a  Congress  of  English-speaking  people  he 
was  one  of  the  first  who  was  consulted  upon  the  matter.  The  first  proposition  was  that 
it  should  be  held  in  London,  but  he,  with  his  wonderful  grasp  of  character,  knew  that 
with  our  crippled  ideas  and  habits  this  was  the  true  field  for  the  expression  of  the 
Catholic  mind  upon  all  those  great  social  questions  which  are  the  very  root,  not  only  of 
religion  but  of  the  stability  of  society.  It  has  been  my  lot  to  have  worked  with  Cardinal 
Manning,  closely  and  intimately,  and  to  have  shared  his  confidence  since  the  year  1853; 
and  when  I  go  back  I  shall  be  able,  I  trust,  to  place  an  immortelle  upon  his  grave  of  the 
expression,  the  Catholic  expression,  aye,  the  universal  expression,  of  honor  for  the  deep 
interest  which  he  took  in  the  people,  irrespective  of  creed  or  nationality.  Cardinal 
Vaughan  has  been  brought  up,  I  may  say,  under  his  wing,  and  he  has  commissioned  me 
thus  to  convey  his  sympathy. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  2J 

Mgr.  Nugent  then  read  the  following  letter: 

ARCHBISHOP'S  HOUSE,  WESTMINSTER,  S.  W.,  Aug.  15, 1893.  My  Dear  Mgr.  Nugent: — 
As  Mgr.  Gadd  is  not  going  to  the  States,  I  shall  be  much  obliged  if  you  will  kindly 
represent  rne  at  the  Columbian  Catholic  Congress.  Kindly  express  as  publicly  and  as 
heartily  as  you  can  the  deep  interest  with  which  I  follow  the  life  and  conduct  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  The  interest  is  quickened  by  the  personal 
relations  of  friendship  which  I  have  long  since  been  happy  enough  to  establish  for 
myself  among  many  of  the  clergy  and  laity  in  America.  I  rejoice  to  witness  the 
Catholic  Church  entering  thus  deeply  into  the  foundation  and  structure  of  the  great 
civilization,  which  is  covering  so  vast  an  area  of  the  world's  surface.  The  great  social 
problem,  which  is  the  problem  of  our  day,  can  only  be  solved  by  the  action  of 
Christianity.  The  American  Church  knows  this,  and  the  efforts  which  its  cardinals  and 
archbishops  and  bishops  are  making  in  this  direction  are  most  instructive  to  us  here  in 
England,  who  pursue  our  way,  perhaps,  rather  more  slowly,  though  traversing  the  same 
path,  amid  similar  difficulties.  Pray,  therefore,  express  my  own  admiration  and  appre- 
ciation of  the  noble  Catholic  efforts  which  are  being  made  at  the  present  moment  in 
Chicago.  The  Church  has  only  to  be  known  in  order  to  be  esteemed.  A  great  service 
to  religion  and  to  the  American  people  and  to  the  advance  guard  of  modern  civilization 
is  rendered  by  the  determination  of  the  American  hierarchy  to  present  the  Catholic 
Church  as  distinctively  modern  in  character,  as  she  is  venerable  and  ancient — to  pre- 
sent her  to  the  people  as  "  of  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  Believe  me,  dear  Mgr. 
Nugent,  your  faithful  and  devoted  servant, 

HERBERT  CARDINAL  VAUGHAN, 

Archbishop  of  Westminster. 

Continuing,  Mgr.  Nugent  said: 

My  Lord  Cardinal,  I  have  been  asked  to  say  a  few  words,  but  this  is  not  the  time, 
when  that  clock  already  tells  me  it  is  ten  minutes  after  one;  but  if  I  might  express  my 
feelings  briefly  I  would  say:  Gentlemen,  you  have  come  from  the  different  parts  of  this 
country  and  have  before  you  a  high  mission.  All  over  the  world  the  struggle  at 
present  is  how  to  lift  up  our  people  and  to  make  them  take  their  social  position,  and, 
just  as  they  rise  in  the  social  scale,  to  remember  they  have  duties  to  perform.  If  we 
have  to  build  up  our  people  and  to  save  them  from  the  terrible  dangers  that  surround 
them  in  modern  life,  it  must  be  by  successful  laymen  remembering  their  social  duties, 
and  that  after  success  cornea  terrible  responsibilities,  and  that  the  more  we  succeed  in 
the  world  the  heavier  and  deeper  are  those  responsibilities. 

This  ended  the  introductory  exercises,  when  the  following  committee 
was  appointed  on  organization  : 

D.  B.  Bremner,  111.;  William  P.  Breen.  Ind.;  Francis  T.  Furey,  Pa.;  Jeremiah 
Fennessy,  Mass.;  M.  Smith  Brennan,  Del.;  L.  V.  O'Donoghue,  N.  Y,;  Michael  Brennan, 
Mich.;  P.  P.  Connor,  Mo.,  and  John  B.  McGorick,  N.  Y. 

From  the  many  able  papers  read  in  the  Congress  during  this  first  day,  the 
place  is  given  to  that  of  Dr.  R.  A.  Clarke  of  New  York,  on 

COLUMBUS;  HIS  MISSION  AND  CHARACTER. 

Because  of  his  exalted  mission  and  character,  America  and  the  world  honor  Colum- 
bus. Not  the  least  of  these  honors  is  this  assembly  of  the  second  Catholic  Congress  of 
the  United  States  at  this  fair  city  of  Chicago. 

That  Columbus  had  a  high  and  mighty  mission  is  proved  by  four  grand  and  salient 
facts  in  his  wonderful  career.  First,  he  foresaw  and  foretold  his  mission;  secondly,  he 
trained  himself  especially  for  it  throughout  his  life;  thirdly,  he  undertook  it— the  most 
startling  of  human  enterprises;  fourthly,  he  achieved  it. 

The  mission  and  character  of  Columbus  are  so  thoroughly  blended  and  interwoven, 
yet  so  admirably  composed  of  varied  and  divergent  forces,  all  united  in  a  grand  entirety, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  view  them  separately— I  shall  treat  them  as  an  unique  and 
majestic  unit.  They  are  one  in  origin,  nature,  kind,  and  caste,  and  mutually  dependent 
in  their  harmonious  action  and  great  results.  They  are  like  a  vast  and  graceful  celestial 
rainbow,  spanning  the  heavens,  resting  upon  hemispheres,  analyzing  yet  blending  the 
beautiful  rays  of  the  sun,  and  sustained  by  the  moisture  from  land  and  ocean.  Such  a 
phenomenon  is  not  so  beautiful  in  its  parts,  as  grand  and  majestic  in  its  whole.  Such 
are  the  mission  and  character  of  Columbus,  containing  like  the  seven  radiant  prismatic 
colors,  seven  transcendent  features:  First,  the  inspiration;  second,  the  preparation; 


22  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

third,  the  faith;  fourth,  the  apostolate  or  mission;  fifth,  religious  zeal;  sixth,  the  under- 
taking; seventh,  the  accomplishment. 

Systems  of  worlds  and  universes,  moving  and  harmonizing  in  boundless  space,  are 
grand  and  majestic  evidence  of  creative  and  almighty  power  and  glory.  But  what  is 
the  physical  universe,  what  are  countless  centers  and  systems  of  universes,  to  that 
incomparable  creation,  that  moral  and  intellectual  being,  superior  to  all  matter— man? 
What  are  they  to  man,  the  lord  of  planets,  worlds,  and  systems,  and  under  whose  domin- 
ion and  for  whose  use  they  have  been  created  by  the  Omnipotent?  Regent  of  the  King 
of  Kings?  Viceroy  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  Minister  of  the  supernatural?  United 
to  the  Godhead  by  a  Savior  becoming  man;  the  price  of  a  Savior's  blood;  himself  both 
patriarch  and  prophet,  priest  and  crusader! 

Human  history  shows  how  man's  genius,  courage,  intellect,  ambition,  powers  of 
conquest,  have  explored,  discovered  the  earth,  and  adorned  with  every  culture  this 
planet-inheritance  he  received  from  his  heavenly  Father.  But  what  would  mankind 
have  been  without  that  heroic  caste  of  character  and  achievement,  which  the  leaders 
and  heroes  of  the  race  have  exerted  to  best  and  greatest  results?  What,  without  those 
venerable  patriarchs  of  old  who,  standing  midway  between  heaven  and  earth,  have  been 
the  law-givers  of  the  soul — a  Noah,  to  rescue  the  race;  a  Moses,  to  lead  it  to  the  prom- 
ised land;  a  Solomon,  to  guide  it  by  his  wisdom;  a  David,  to  teach  the  royal  road  of 
penance;  a  Peter,  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Papacy,  a  Paul,  to  convert  the  nations; 
a  Thomas  Aquinas,  to  expound  the  mysteries  of  Christian  theology;  a  Patrick,  to  con- 
vert a  nation  of  saints  and  scholars;  a  Thomas-a-Becket,  to  uphold  the  law  and  die  for 
it;  an  Ignatius,  to  create  the  link  between  the  old  monasticism  and  the  modern  relig- 
ious; a  Leo  XIII.,  to  expound  the  higher  and  the  social  law  to  men?  And  what  with- 
out a  Constantino,  to  see  the  cross  and  believe;  an  Alfred  the  Great,  to  found  the 
Christian  commonwealth  on  the  unwritten  law;  a  St.  Louis,  to  show  how  a  ruler  can  be 
a  saint;  a  Washington,  to  emancipate  his  country? 

The  heroes  of  the  race  ennobled  it  by  their  works  until  a  world  seemed  explored 
and  conquered  in  its  vast  proportions.  Mankind,  in  the  midst  of  such  achievements 
and  conquests  and  in  the  fulness  of  time,  produced  a  type  of  the  race,  a  hero,  a  leader,  a 
true  Christian  gentleman;  a  link  between  the  middle  ages  and  the  new  epoch  which  he 
himself  inaugurated;  the  blended  representative  of  ages  medieval  and  modern;  science 
and  faith,  united  in  him,  harmonized;  child  of  the  Church;  antagonist  of  every  popular 
superstition;  crusader,  ambitious  to  redeem  the  holy  sepulcher;  a  sailor  who  voyaged  to 
every  corner  of  the  known  earth  and,  with  true  genius,  declared  that  there  was  more  to 
know  and  more  to  discover.  So  vast  had  been  his  travels  and  voyages  that  I  might 
apply  to  him  the  verses  of  those  English  poets,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher: 

There  is  a  traveler,  sir;  knows  men, 

Mariners,  and  has  plowed  the  sea  so  far 

Till  both  the  poles  have  knocked:  he  has  seen  the  sun 

Take  coach,  and  can  distinguish  the  color 

Of  his  horses,  and  their  kinds. 

He  was  a  man  almost  without  scholastic  or  scientific  learning,  grasping  the  pro- 
foundest  knowledge  and  revealing  the  most  hidden  truths  to  the  incredulous  learned;  a 
man  who  united  in  himself  the  prophet  and  the  explorer;  a  man  who  bravely  lived  down 
an  ocean  of  reproach,  ridicule,  denial,  and  calumny;  a  man,  from  his  boyhood,  with  a 
marked  mission,  which  he  religiously  embraced,  with  an  inevitable  destiny,  for  which  he 
sedulously  trained  himself;  a  man  who  believed  in  his  destiny,  who  announced  his  mis- 
sion and  rested  not,  amid  appalling  obstacles,  until  he  had  fulfilled  them  both — Christo- 
pher Columbus! 

Had  he  a  mission?  Yes,  a  mission  of  unequaled  grandeur  and  beneficence.  Every 
fact  I  am  about  to  mention  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the  mission  and  character  of 
Columbus.  Was  he  not  born  and  reared  in  poverty,  obscurity,  and  labor?  A  sailor  from 
boyhood,  the  child  of  the  seas  for  over  twenty  years,  tempest-tossed,  battle-scarred,  ship- 
wrecked, a  voyager  over  the  earth  and  encompassed  by  every  temptation  to  crime — he 
emerged  from  such  a  life  with  his  faith  und-immed,  his  soul  unsullied,  his  piety  as  ten- 
der as  a  mother's  love,  his  filial  affection  and  sense  of  duty  unbroken,  his  whole  charac- 
ter enriched  with  grace.  Twenty-one  years  of  utmost  exposure  to  prevailing  sin  and 
profanity  failed  to  tarnish  the  purity  of  his  soul,  and  it  was  never  known  during  his 
entire  life  that  a  profane  or  immodest  word  ever  passed  his  lips.  Father  Arthur  George 
Knight,  the  English  Jesuit,  said  of  him:  "  Few  men  indeed,  perhaps  only  saints,  have 
escaped  like  Columbus,  with  unwounded  conscience  from  such  turbulent  scenes." 
When  he  arrived  at  Lisbon  to  commence  his  mission,  a  man  of  thirty  years,  his  hair  was 
gray  with  toil,  hardship,  danger,  contact  with  peril  and  death,  with  sudden  reverses  and 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  23 

persona]  escapes;  but  his  heart  was  young  and  tender;  his  cheeks  bore  the  blush  of 
youth  and  modesty;  his  voice  and  speech,  eloquent  and  melodious;  his  carriage,  manly 
and  graceful;  his  eye,  vivacious;  his  stature,  robust;  his  manners, dignified ;  his  presence, 
engaging;  his  conversation,  grave  yet  attractive;  his  presence  inspired  interest,  inquiry, 
respect,  sympathy,  veneration,  awe.  Did  he  acquire  these  graces  from  a  sailor's  life  on 
the  Mediterranean  in  the  15th  century,  when  a  sailor's  life  was  spent  in  strife  with 
pirate,  corsair,  Mohammedan?  This  man  of  the  sea,  deprived  of  chapel,  priest,  sacra- 
ment at  Lisbon,  was  early  and  late  before  the  altar  and  the  tabernacle;  his  form  devoutly 
bent  in  prayer  became  familiar  to  the  worshipers  at  the  Lisbon  Cathedral  and  the 
chapel  of  the  Convent  of  All  Saints.  Was  this  the  training  he  received  amid  the  strug- 
gles and  exposures  of  naval  warfare  and  adventure  on  the  seas?  Did  he  arrive  at  Lis- 
bon, after  twenty  years  of  seafaring,  laden  with  the  booty  of  captured  pirates  or  of  the 
merchant  marine?  No,  he  was  poor  and  friendless.  He  met  at  Lisbon  not  a  friend  or 
acquaintance,  except  his  younger  brother  Bartholomew,  who,  poor  and  friendless  as 
himself,  like  him  gained  a  precarious  livelihood  by  the  art  of  drawing  maps  and  charts. 

But  there  was  something  marvelous  in  Columbus,  which  proved  his  mission.  This 
stranger,  sailor,  dreamer,  without  an  introduction  received  a  welcome  into  the  good  old 
social  circles  of  the  capital ;  in  centers  of  nautical  and  maritime  experience,  science  and 
distinction,  he  was  welcomed  and  listened  to ;  he  became  allied  by  marriage  with  three 
ancient  and  distinguished  families — the  Perestrellos,  the  Monizes,  and  the  Aranas.  But, 
stranger  than  all,  this  obscure  mariner  associated  with  the  learned  and  the  scientific  men 
of  his  age,  corresponded  with  scholars  and  scientists  in  different  lands  and  harangued 
universities,  prelates,  ministers,  and  cabinets  The  palaces  of  capitals  opened  to  him;  he 
appeared  at  court  and  was  tho  equal  of  kings  and  princes.  He  dictated  terms  to  kings, 
and,  with  sybilline  mysticism,  repulses  only  enhanced  the  value  of  bis  secrets.  There 
was  a  nobility,  a  royalty  in  his  presence,  in  his  associations,  aspiration,  and  purposes  of 
which  history  gives  us  no  parallel  in  the  lives  of  men.  What  is  the  mystery  ?  What 
the  secret  of  this  interesting  and  progressive  stranger  ? 

Everything  about  Columbus,  his  striking  personal  appearance,  which  was  imposing; 
his  poverty,  which  never  detracted  from  his  dignity;  his  acquired  and  practical  learning, 
which  never  affected  him  with  the  pretentious  of  pedantry;  his  affability,  which  never  im- 
paired a  reserve  that  was  ever  remarkable  and  pleasing  in  his  intercourse;  his  social  quali- 
ties, which  harmonised  with  his  characteristic  gravity;  his  thoughtfulness,  which  never 
disappeared  in  the  busy  intercourse  of  the  world;  his  marked  purpose,  which  gave  to  his 
movements  the  energy  of  immediate  undertakings  ;  a  physiognomy,  which  seemed  to 
reveal  and  yet  conceal  the  inner  movements  of  an  ever  active  yet  meditative  mind  ;  a 
profound  and  mediasval  cast  of  religious  devotion  and  contemplativenees,  which  inspired 
veneration  and  won  for  him  the  friendship  of  pious  laymen,  of  dignified  prelates,  of 
secluded  monks,  and  of  sovereign  pontiffs. 

In  him  also,  according  to  a  tradition  recorded  by  the  Count  de  Lorgues,  the  five 
senses  were  trained  to  acuteness  in  a  fine  degree,  as  witnessed  by  the  most  acute  hearing 
which  enabled  him  to  catch  the  first  sounds  of  danger  on  the  sea  and  of  approaching 
storms.  By  the  keenness  of  his  sight,  which  enabled  him  to  meet  mary  a  direful  crisis 
on  sea  and  Jand  and  to  discern  the  minutest  shades  and  differences  and  to  measure 
distances  in  his  pursuit  of  continents  and  worlds;  by  the  refinement  of  his  taste,  which 
enabled  him  to  study  the  qualities  and  properties  of  nature;  by  the  delicacy  of  his 
sense  of  smell,  which  enabled  him  to  scent  in  advance  the  odors  of  continents  he  was 
seeking,  the  perfume  of  their  flowers,  fruits,  and  forests,  and  the  ozone  of  their  atmos- 
phere; by  the  nicety  of  his  touch,  which  aided  his  studies  in  physics,  and  at  nrght  in 
sleep  protected  him  from  sudden  personal  danger,  and  enabled  him  to  know  of  perils  at  sea 
from  every  movement  of  his  ship.  Of  him  it  has  been  said:  "Columbus  possessed 
visibly  the  three  theological  virtues;  he  practiced  constantly  the  four  cardinal  virtues: 
the  seven  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  were  apparent  in  his  life,  and  we  find  God  admirable 
in  him  as  he  is  always  in  his  eaints."  Frugality,  abstemiousness,  neatness,  purity  of 
language,  utter  subjection  of  i  temper  naturally  violent,  charity  in  word  and  deed,  and 
profound  piety  were  ainong  tae  qualities  which  marked  him  as  a  man  with  a  high 
mission  and  which  fitted  him  for  its  accomplishment.  Such  was  his  religious  character 
and  life  that  he  spent  nmch  time  in  prayer,  studied  the  Scriptures  and  the  fathers  with 
profound  astuteness,  observed  the  fasts  and  vigils  of  the  Church,  attended  mass  on 
shore  every  day,  practiced  vows,  pilgrimages,  and  votive  offerings,  recited  daily  to  the 
entire  canonical  office  of  the  cloister,  and  wore,  sometimes  publicly  and  at  others  under 
the  gaudy  insignia  of  office,  the  coarse  habit  and  girdle  of  St.  Francis,  and  he  was  versed 
io  theological,  patristic,  and  ecclesiastical  lore.  He  was  subject  to  violent  and  excruciating 
attacks  of  illness,  to  a  profound  lethargy,  and  to  visions  occurring  at  periods  and  in 


24  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

times  of  extraordinary  disaster,  misfortune,  and  illness— caused  by  excessive  vigils, 
labois,  and  exhaustions  of  mind  and  body — occurring,  as  they  did,  in  many  of  the  most 
critical  crises  of  his  eventful  life  and  career,  and  during  these  mental  and  physical 
prostrations,  from  his  couch  of  illness  and  apparent  death,  he  directed  and  navigated 
fleets  in  unknown  seas,  prosecuted  voyages  of  momentous  consequences,  made  and 
recorded  observations  and  thoughts  on  the  most  new  and  startling  phenomena  of 
nature,  and  conducted  enterprises  of  the  utmost  importance  to  mankind.  He  arose 
from  such  crises  of  health  and  approaches  of  death  with  a  marvelous  recuperation, 
which  he  and  some  of  his  biographers  have  regarded  as  miraculous. 

The  mission  of  Columbus  was  manifold,  as  is  shown  by  his  many  transcendent 
achievements  and  services;  by  the  services  he  rendered  to  religion,  to  science,  and  to 
humanity.  His  mission  is  proved  by  the  absence  of  chance  and  by  the  manifest  assump- 
tion by  him  of  a  great  task;  by  his  preparation  and  fitness  for  it;  by  its  achievement. 
Strike  from  the  history  of  mankind  and  from  the  present  development  of  human  affairs 
what  Columbus  undertook  and  achieved,  the  world  will  go  back  four  hundred  years; 
four  hundred  years  of  unprecedented  progress  in  human  culture,  in  civilization,  in  the 
humanities,  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  the  Christian  missions  and  apostolate,  in  the 
practical  application  of  the  great  principles  of  government  and  liberty,  in  commerce;  in 
the  arts  of  war  and  peace,  in  the  efforts  and  approaches  to  the  benign  substitution  of 
peaceful  arbitration  for  human  warfare,  of  progress  in  testing  the  inherent  power  of  re- 
ligion and  of  Christianity.  As  types  only  of  all  this,  compare  a  caravan  of  camels  loaded 
with  Oriental  products  crossing  the  deserts  for  twelve  months— compare  it  with  the  voyage 
of  the  modern  steamship  around  the  world,  accomplished  now  in  sixty -five  days.  Com- 
pare the  slowly  pacing  camel  itself  with  our  modern  steamship,  now  called  the  camel  of 
the  seas!  Compare  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus — three  months  and  eight  days  in  crossing 
the  Atlantic — compare  it  with  the  same  voyage  accomplished  now  in  five  days,  nineteen 
hours,  and  twenty -five  minutes!  From  these  pass  to  the  comparison  of  higher  and 
holier  things;  to  the  progress  of  mind,  and  soul,  and  humanity.  It  was  Columbus  who 
brought  together  those  two  great  currents  of  human  life  which  had  run  in  different 
hemispheres,  had  never  known  each  other,  had  never  worshiped  at  the  same  altar. 
To  achieve  all  this  he  had  to  discover  a  new  world.  Such  was  his  mission.  Such  was 
his  fulfillment. 

Not  only  had  Columbus  such  a  mission  in  the  design  of  Providence,  but  he  was  him- 
self a  firm  and  unswerving  believer  in  that  mission;  that  his  mission  came  from  God; 
that  he  was  commissioned  to  do  the  work  of  heaven  on  earth.  He  announced  his  mis- 
sion to  the  world,  and  he  offered  himself  an  ardent  missionary  to  the  apostolate  of  Chris- 
tendom in  bringing  new  and  boundless  realms,  buried  in  ignorance  of  Christ  and  in 
heathenism,  into  the  Christian  fold.  He  announced  a  further,  and  what  he  esteemed  a 
paramount  purpose,  of  devoting  his  expected  immense  revenues  from  the  Indies  to  the 
recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulcher  and  the  Holy  Land  and  restoring  them  to  the  Christian 
world.  These  great  objects  he  never  lost  sight  of  and  he  never  ceased  to  aim  at  their 
accomplishment.  In  that  solemn  and  characteristic  act  of  his  life,  his  last  will,  he  com- 
mences with  these  self-dedicatory  words:  "  In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  who 
inspired  me  with  the  idea  and  afterward  made  it  perfectly  clear  to  me  that  I  should 
navigate  and  go  to  the  Indies  from  Spain,  by  traversing  the  ocean  westwardly." 

This  avowal  of  his  mission  is  repeated  in  many  letters  and  writings  of  the  illustrious 
admiral.  The  most  solemn  and  sublime  self-dedication  to  God  and  his  work  and  to  the 
Christian  apostolate  that  a  Christian  layman  could  possibly  make  was  that  which 
Columbus  prepared  and  addressed  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns  before  sailing  on  his  fourth 
voyage,  which  was  based  upon  a  profound  study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  whose  remark- 
able title  was  in  itself  a  self-ordination:  "Collection  of  Prophecies  Concerning  the 
Recovery  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Indies."  Therein  he  solemnly 
announced  himself  as  one  chosen  of  God  from  his  earliest  years  for  the  discovery  of  the 
New  World  and  the  redemption  of  the  Savior's  tomb;  that  Providence  had  inspired  him 
with  study  that  educated  himself  for  this  work  by  leading  him  to  embrace  a  sailor's  life 
from  the  age  of  fourteen,  to  observe  and  ponder  over  the  phenomena  and  secrets  of 
nature  and  of  the  earth,  and  to  study  with  eagerness  the  greatest  work  and  chron- 
icles in  geography,  cosmography,  navigation,  astronomy,  and  philosophy.  He  said  that 
by  those  studies  God  had  opened  his  mind  "  as  by  a  hand,"  an  invisible  hand,  and  that 
he  was  thus  inspired  and  consumed  with  the  idea  of  discovering  the  New  World  and  of 
opening  the  way  to  all  Christendom.  He  reminds  Ferdinand  and  Isabella:  "  I  spent  ten 
years  at  your  august  court  in  discussions  with  persons  of  great  merit  and  profound 
learning,  who,  after  much  argument,  ended  by  declaring  my  projects  to  be  chimerical. 
Your  Majesties  alone  had  faith  and  constancy.  Who  can  doubt  that  it  was  the  light 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  25 

derived  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures  that  enlightened  your  minds  with  the  same  rays  as 
mine  ?  "  In  this  remarkable  letter  he  extols  the  wondrous  methods  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
guiding  the  chosen  instruments  of  Providence  and  educating  them  for  their  vocation  and 
its  accomplishment.  He  displays  great  learning  in  setting  forth  definite  canons  for 
scriptural  interpretation,  based  upon  St.  Augustine,  St.  Thomas,  St.  Isidore,  and  Gerson. 

He  claims  that  his  mission  to  discover  a  new  world  and  its  fulfilment  was  predicted 
by  the  inspired  prophets;  quotes  the  prophecies  themselves,  and  then  follows  them  up 
with  cogent  arguments,  interpretations,  and  citations  from  the  Fathers  of  the  Church. 
This  "  ambassador  of  God,"  as  the  Count  de  Lorgues  calls  Columbus,  self -dedicated  by 
the  very  prayer  with  which  he  commenced  every  act  of  his  life,  and  every  writing  of 
his  pen,  "Jesu  cum  Maria,  sit  nobis  via,"  proves  that  he  was  always  on  the  way,  forever 
journeying  toward  a  goal,  an  end,  an  achievement,  perpetually  laboring  in  his  great  mis- 
sion. He  chose  for  the  companions  of  his  sublime  mission  the  immaculate  Mother  and 
divine  Son  ;  Jesu  cum  Maria  ! 

Columbus,  in  the  benign  economies  of  Providence,  and  of  Christian  policy,  and  in 
the  profound  studies  of  philosophic  history,  has  been  likened  to  the  patriarchs  and 
prophets  of  old  and  the  founders  of  states  and  nations.  It  is  thus  that  he  has  been 
compared  with  Moses  and  David  and  with  other  patriarchs.  The  extraordinary  and 
symbolical  names  he  received  in  baptism  and  significantly  bore  and  cherished,  were  both 
emblematic  of  his  mission  and  prophetic  of  his  vocation.  Columbo,  which  means  a 
dove,  indicated  his  mission  of  peace,  good-will,  and  salvation  between  the  old  Christian 
world  and  the  new  heathen  world,  which  he  discovered  and  went  to  convert.  And 
Christopher  means  Christ-Bearer — not  the  ordained  eucharistic  priest,  but,  in  another 
and  exceptional  sense,  one  who  carries  the  living  and  teaching  Christ,  the  brother, 
Redeemer,  and  Savior  of  man  in  his  human,  divine,  and  missionary  personality,  across 
continents  and  over  oceans  to  other  continents  and  oceans  to  the  utmost  boundaries  of 
the  earth.  There  was  an  ancient  legend  in  Christian  hagiography  which,  whether  a 
reality  or  an  ideality,  derives  its  chief  significance  and  value  from  its  being  prophetic  of 
Christopher  Columbus  —the  legend  of  St.  Christopher,  the  patronal  saint  of  Columbus, 
whose  pagan  name  was  Opheus. 

Tradition,  including  Dr.  Alban  Butler's  "  Lives,"  makes  St.  Christopher  a  Syrian  by 
nationality,  a  giant  in  stature,  strength,  and  in  prayer,  miraculously  converted  from 
paganism  and  choosing  the  name  of  Christopher  or  Christ-Bearer,  and  after  bearing 
Christ,  symbolized  in  the  Christian  Faith,  through  Palestine,  Asia  Minor,  and  crossing 
oceans,  with  Christ  upon  his  shoulders,  he  finally  won  the  crown  of  martyrdom  under 
the  Emperor  Deems.  So  truly  prophetic  was  this  legend  of  Columbus  that  after  the 
latter  had  carried  Christ  across  the  Atlantic  to  unknown  countries  he  had  discovered, 
the  legend  seemed  to  loom  up  in  sacred  literature  on  account  of  the  achievement  of  the 
great  Christopher  and  then  became  merged  in  the  reality.  Even  the  image  of  the  saint 
thenceforth  bore  the  features  of  Christopher  Columbus  instead  of  the  legendary  saint, 
as  was  the  case  in  the  celebrated  vignette  in  the  map  of  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  in  which  also 
the  literal  name  of  Columbus  was  omitted,  because  it  was  rather  represented  by  the 
image  of  the  saint  crossing  the  ocean  with  the  Christ  upon  his  shoulders,  the  features 
being  those  of  Christopher  Columbus,  for  it  was  he  who  carried  the  Redeemer's  name 
across  the  ocean,  as  divinely  expressed,  "  to  them  that  have  not  heard  of  Me  and  not 
seen  my  glory." 

The  parallel  between  Columbus  and  Moses  is  equally  or  more  striking.  Both  were 
living  patriarchs  of  living  races  of  men  believing  in  the  true  God.  Fifteen  hundred  years 
before  the  coming  of  Christ,  Moses  delivered  the  law  of  God  to  his  people;  fifteen  hundred 
years  after  the  birth  of  Christ,  Columbus  delivered  the  law  of  Christ  to  other  worlds  and 
continents  which  he  discovered.  Moses  and  Columbus  were  each  forty  years  of  age  when 
they  began  the  active  missions  they  received  from  the  same  God.  Both  Moses  and 
Columbus  left  wife  and  family  heroically  to  perform  the  will  of  God.  While  the  sea 
opened  a  passage  for  Moses  to  pass  over,  the  ocean  of  darkness  and  storms,  the  then  dread 
Atlantic,  gave  Columbus  a  first,  a  safe  and  gentle  passage  over  its  bosom.  Moses  gave 
the  law  of  the  covenant;  Columbus  announced  the  law  of  the  New  Testament.  Moses 
appealed  prophetically  to  the  cross  in  the  Greek  Tau  on  the  gateposts  of  the  chosen 
people;  Columbus  carried  the  cross  of  Christ  with  him,  saluted  it,  and  planted  it  in  the 
virgin  soil,  the  cross  made  of  mighty  trees  cut  from  primeval  forests.  Moses  received 
repulses  and  even  violence  from  his  own  people;  Columbus  endured  the  mockery  and 
ingratitude  of  those  he  served.  Both  died  in  poverty— outcasts.  Both  reached  the 
promised  land  and  saw  it.  Moses  was  never  permitted  to  enter  it;  Columbus  never 
reached  and  never  saw  or  entered  the  Indies  which  he  sought,  but,  unlike  Moses,  he 
raised  up  new  kingdoms  and  empires  to  Christ,  planted  the  seeds  of  Faith  over  conti- 


26  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

nents,  and  in  his  tracks  have  followed  knowledge,  Faith,  civilization,  free  republics,  and 
human  liberty.  Unlike  Moses,  he  entered  the  promised  land.  Columbus  felt  an  inward 
resemblance  to  Moses  and  to  David,  for,  after  likening  himself  to  Moses,  he  said:  ''Let 
them  give  me  what  name  they  will,  for,  in  fine,  David,  the  wise  king,  was  a  shepherd, 
and  he  became  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  I  serve  the  same  Lord  who  raised  him  to  such 
high  estate." 

He  was  compared  to  St.  Thomas  the  Apostle,  who  carried  the  Faith  of  Christ  to  the 
same  peoples  of  the  East,  whom  Columbus  sought  to  visit  and  evangelize,  and  whom  he 
believed  he  had  discovered.  According  to  traditions,  St.  Thomas,  under  sacred  Indian 
names,  evangelized  the  Indian  tribes  of  America.  Scholars  point  to  distinct  traditions 
and  fragmentary  creeds  of  Christian  origin,  and  the  Spanish  missionaries  of  the  16th 
and  17th  centuries  were  amazed  at  finding  among  the  Indians  of  North  and  South 
America  the  prevalence  of  crucicultus  and  the  attribution  of  miraculous  qualities  to 
ancient  crosses,  preserved  and  venerated  from  remote  antiquity  by  the  American 
Indians. 

Christian  scholars  of  four  hundred  years  have  found  nine  different  passages  in  the 
Old  Testament  which  they  recognize  as  prophetic  of  Columbus,  his  missior,  and  his 
discovery.  Some  have  traced  in  sacred  verses  descriptions  of  his  ships,  the  very  caravels 
he  commanded  and  reproductions  of  which  even  here  you  have  seen,  and  allusions  to 
his  armorial  ensigns.  Illustrious  contemporaries  of  Columbus  recognized  his  divine 
mission.  The  great  Cardinal  Ximenes  and  the  learned  Archbishop  Diego  de  Deza  of 
Seville,  openly  favored  or  advocated  the  project  and  mission  of  Columbus  at  the  very 
time  he  was  claiming  to  be  the  chosen  missionary  of  heaven.  And  the  great  scientist 
of  Spain,  Jayme  Ferrer,  said  of  Columbus  to  Isabella:  "  I  believe  that  in  its  deep 
mysterious  designs  divine  Providence  selected  him  as  its  agent  in  this  work,  which  I 
look  upon  as  the  introduction  and  preparation  of  things  which  the  same  divine  Provi- 
dence has  determined  to  make  known  to  us  for  its  own  glory  and  the  salvation  and 
happiness  of  the  world."  And  again:  "  I  behold  in  this  a  great  mystery."  And 
addressing  Columbus  himself,  he  says:  "  In  your  mission,  senor,  you  seem  an  apostle,  a 
messenger  of  God,  to  spread  his  name  in  unknown  lands." 

The  Count  de  Lorgues,  in  presenting  the  cause  of  Columbus  to  Rome  for  canoniza- 
tion, exclaims:  "  Evidently  God  chose  Christopher  Columbus  as  a  messenger  of  salva- 
tion." And  while  our  own  Washington  Irving  says  that  he  was  led  to  know  how  much 
of  the  world  remained  unknown  and  was  led  to  meditate  on  the  means  of  exploring  it. 
says  that  "  The  enthusiastic  nature  of  his  conception  gave  an  elevation  to  his  spirit  anc! 
a  dignity  and  loftiness  to  his  whole  demeanor,"  and  that  "  his  views  were  princeh  ana 
unbounded,"  I  can  not  pass  over  the  high  tribute  of  the  English  Jesuit,  Father  Arthur 
George  Knight,  to  his  genius,  his  learning,  and  his  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  and  for  bringing  "  the  nations  in  willing  homage  to  the  feet  of  Jesus  Christ, 
reigning  once  more  in  the  Jerusalem  of  the  Christians." 

Typified  by  his  symbolical  names,  foretold  in  ancient  prophecy  and  sacred  song,  be- 
lieved in  and  announced  by  himself,  the  mission  of  Columbus  was  providential.  Even 
from  the  standpoints  of  skepticism,  of  the  utter  denial  of  the  supernatural,  and  of  agnos- 
ticism; Columbus,  in  fact,  by  his  aspirations,  his  self-preparation,  and  his  very  enterprise, 
in  the  natural  order,  as  a  man,  he  made  a  mission  for  himself.  His  contemporaries  also, 
men  of  learning,  intellect,  and  religion,  acknowledged  his  mighty  vocation  to  great  and 
stupendous  achievements.  Such  men  in  every  age,  down  to  our  own  time  and  country. 
have  paid  homage  to  his  recognized  and  acknowledged  mission.  There  was  something 
that  marked  Columbus  out  from  other  men — there  was  in  him  not  only  those  traits  of 
character  which  I  have  mentioned,  that  learning,  that  zeal,  that  courage,  that  faith, 
that  unbounded  zeal — but  there  was  in  his  whole  mental  and  moral  structure,  in  his  pro- 
found studies  and  deep  reflection,  his  familiarity  with  sciences,  and  his  quick  seizure  of 
the  mysteries  and  secrets  of  nature,  and  of  the  physical  world,  in  his  very  visions  and 
dreams,  his  constant  intercourse  with  the  supernatural — such  a  combination  of  qualifi- 
cations as  placed  him  on  a  higher  plane  than  ordinary  men.  There  is  in  revealed  and 
supernatural  religion  a  spirituality,  a  religious  mysticism  in  which  the  saints  alone 
seemed  to  move  and  soar. 

lu  this  sense  Columbus  was  a  true  mystic — one  who  saw  in  the  fall  of  the  sparrow, 
in  the  raiment  of  the  lily  and  the  rose,  the  mystic  and  ever-provident  hand  of  God.  an\ 
in  every  turn  in  his  own  eventful  and  dramatic  career  he  recognized  his  own  immediate 
touch  with  the  ever-present  Deity.  He  was  a  pilgrim,  staff  in  hand,  of  religion  and 
science,  recognizing  perfect  union  and  accord  between  them.  He  was  a  pilgrim  in  the 
flesh,  staff  in  hand,  wending  his  way  to  shrine  and  altar,  to  fulfill  a  vow  made  at  sea  o" 
to  take  a  votive  offering  in  return  for  many  a  deliverance  from  the  perils  of  the  se? 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  27 

He  was  a  crusader,  and  he  bequeathed  a  crusader's  injunction  upon^his  heirs,  never  to 
rest  until  the  Holy  Sepulcher  was  redeemed  and  restored  to  Christendom.  He  was  a 
rigid  observer  on  land  and  sea  of  the  fasts,  vigils,  and  feasts  of  the  Church.  With  all 
this,  he  was  a  man  among  men.  Conceiving  a  high  estimate  of  his  services,  insisting 
on  providing  title,  offices,  and  estates  for  himself,  and  his  posterity  and  successors: 
worthy  of  his  position  as  the  discoverer  of  the  New  World,  he  was  a  man  in  touch  with 
earth  and  heaven. 

The  part  he  took  in  that  momentous  act,  when  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  in  1493,  just 
after  the  discovery  of  America,  was  called  upon  to  arbitrate,  for  the  preservation  of 
the  peace  of  the  world,  between  the  two  leading  maritime  powers  of  the  world,  Spain 
and  Portugal,  then  struggling  for  the  supremacy  of  the  unknown  half  of  the  earth,  was 
such  participation  in  the  crucial  events  in  the  history  of  mankind  as  no  man  was  ever 
before  or  since  culled  upon  to  perform,  second  only  to  his  own  discovery  of  the  New 
World.  Then  there  was  but  one  known  hemisphere,  and  even  its  hemispherical  form 
was  not  then  known,  Columbus,  Dr.  Toscanelli,  and,  perhaps,  a  few  other  learned  ones 
being  the  sole  expounders  of  the  sphericity  of  the  earth.  Portugal  was  claiming  distant 
lands;  discovered  by  a  southern  and  eastern  route,  and  Spain  was  claiming  distant  lands, 
discovered  by  Columbus  by  a  western  route.  No  line  had  been  drawn  to  mark  off  the 
east  or  the  west.  The  character  of  a  crusade  had  been  bestowed  upon  these  explora- 
tions and  discoveries  by  the  bestowal  of  papal  blessings  and  indulgences.  The  nations 
appealed  to  Pope  Alexander  VI.  In  the  then  confused  condition  of  geographical  knowl- 
edge, where  and  how  could  a  line  be  drawn?  It  was  Columbus  that  gave  this  mystic 
line  that  preserved  the  peace  of  nations. 

On  his  first  voyage,  on  September  13th,  just  a  month  before  land  was  discovered, 
Columbus,  who  had  watched  incessantly  the  magnetic  needle  and  its  variations  in  those 
unknown  seas,  and  to  whom  the  mysteries  of  heaven  and  earth  then  centered  in  that 
little  magnet,  observed  that  the  needle  ceased  for  a  moment  to  vibrate,  and  pointed  tc 
the  true  north.  This  mysterious  meridian  was  west  of  the  Island  of  Flores.  Immedi- 
ately the  mystery  was  solved.  The  east  and  the  west  were  separated  by  a  mystic  line. 
When  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  came  to  divide  the  unknown  world  between  the  maritime 
nations,  after  the  return  of  Columbus  to  Europe  in  the  following  year,  the  critical 
embarrassment  of  the  situation  was  relieved  through  the  remarkable  discovery  by 
Columbus  of  the  line  of  no  variation  of  the  needle,  and  this  line,  by  a  singular  coinci- 
dence, passed  from  pole  to  pole  without  touching  the  land,  and  without  dividing  an  island. 
From  these  facts  resulted  the  celebrated  bull  of  demarkation,  issued  by  Pope  Alexander 
VI.,  on  May  3,  1493.  Now  for  the  first  time  an  east  and  a  west  were  recognized  and 
demarkated.  The  line  was  accepted.  Afterward  diplomacy  of  jealous  nations  effected  a 
change  of  the  papal  line  farther  to  the  west.  Under  this  change  Portugal  acquired  the 
immense  empire  of  Brazil;  but  for  this  change  Spain  would  have  preserved  her  claim  to 
the  New  World  entire.  The  bull  of  demarkation  served  the  great  purpose  of  preserving 
peace.  Neither  the  Pope  nor  Columbus  would  ever  consent  to  change  it.  Columbus,  on 
his  death-bed,  inserted  a  clause  in  his  will  repudiating  the  new  line,  which  had  cost 
Spain  the  loss  of  more  territory  than  she  now  owns  on  the  earth,  and  she  then  solemnly 
reaffirmed  the  original  line  of  no  variations  of  the  magnetic  needle  as  the  true  line 
which  God  had  established  to  separate  the  eastern  and  the  western  hemispheres. 

The  mission  and  character  of  a  man  who  achieved  so  much,  relying  solely  on  his 
genius  and  on  heaven,  are  marked  out  and  sustained  by  every  word  I  have  said  of  his 
humble  origin,  his  poverty,  his  maritime  education,  his  studies,  his  correspondence  with 
learned  men,  his  personal  bearing,  appearance,  and  magnetism,  his  profound  sense  and 
practice  of  religion,  the  broaching  of  his  new  theory  of  the  earth,  his  appeals  to 
nations,  his  inflexible  maintenance  of  it,  his  prophecy  of  the  result,  the  prophecies  of 
sacred  Scripture,  the  apostolic  character  which  he  infused  in  the  enterprise,  his  dedica- 
tion of  all  to  the  conversion  of  heathens,  and  the  redemption  of  Jerusalem,  his  poverty 
in  the  midst  of  grandeur,  his  wrongs  and  his  sorrows,  the  bestowal  of  another's  name 
upon  the  world  he  had  discovered,  the  ingratitude  of  his  king,  and  now,  the  contrast, 
the  reverse  current  of  honor  and  praise,  which  the  world  unites  in  bestowing  upon  his 
memory. 

Columbus  foresaw  and  predicted  much;  and  much  that  he  predicted  was  fulfilled. 
Errors  of  detail  in  so  vast  a  field  of  new  ideas,  undertakings,  and  results,  in  which  he 
was  the  pioneer,  enhance  the  grandeur  of  his  real  achievement.  His  promise  to  lead 
Christian  Europe  with  its  missionaries  to  the  boundless  empires  of  Oriental  potentates, 
which  would  embrace  the  Faith,  has  been  more  than  realized  by  the  rise  and  growth  of 
Christian  empires  and  republics  in  the  world  which  he  discovered.  His  offer  to  carry  urls- 
eionaries  to  the  mythical  Christian  prince  of  the  Orient,  the  Prester  John,  who  tradi- 


aS  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

tion  said  had  sent  ambassadors  to  Rome  in  the  middle  ages  to  ask  Christian  missionaries, 
has  been  realized  in  the  many  delegations  of  the  red  men  sent  to  ask  that  Catholic 
priests  be  sent  among  them,  and  by  the  acceptance  of  the  Faith  of  the  black  gowns,  by 
the  Indian  tribes  of  North  and  South  America. 

Let  us  recall  the  first  visit  of  the  Catholic  missionary  to  the  Indians  of  this  State, 
in  whose  great  and  justly  proud  metropolis  we  are  assembled  this  day  to  honor  Colum- 
bus. It  was  the  famous  Jesuit  black  gown,  Father  Marquette.  When  he  saluted  the 
chief  and  his  tribe  they  called  out  the  word  Illinois.  The  meaning  of  the  Indian  name 
Illinois  is,  "We  are  men."  Well  does  this  name  describe  the  present  men  of  Illinois,  and  of 
Chicago,  our  hosts,  who  have  .given  us  such  a  welcome  to  this  Catholic  Congress. 

When  Father  Marquette,  with  the  mute  but  appealing  symbol  of  the  cross, 
announced  his  mission  to  the  Illinois  Indians,  Hiawatha,  in  the  language  of  our  poet 
Longfellow,  said: 

Beautiful  is  the  sun,  oh  strangers, 

When  you  come  so  far  to  see  us: 

Never  bloomed  the  earth  so  gayly. 

Never  shone  the  sun  so  brightly 

As  to-day  they  shine  and  blossom 

When  you  came  PO  far  to  see  us ! 

Then  Father  Marquette  made  answer  to  the  chief: 

Peace  be  with  you,  Hiawatha, 
Peace  be  with  you  and  your  people. 
Peace  of  prayer,  and  peace  of  pardon, 
Peace  of  Christ  and  joy  of  Mary. 

So,  too,  was  the  prophecy  of  Columbus  answered  and  fulfilled  by  the  touching 
appeal,  which,  after  the  establishment  of  our  independence  as  a  nation,  the  Catholics  of 
this  country  made  to  Rome  for  the  appointment  of  a  bishop  and  for  missionaries  to  be 
sent  to  the  infant  Republic,  and,  by  the  action  of  Rome,  in  appointing  to  the  exalted 
position  of  first  bishop  an  American  priest  in  the  person  of  John  Carroll,  the  patriarch 
of  Catholicism  in  America,  and  by  the  growth  of  that  august  hierarchy  which  he 
founded,  and  which  is  now  composed  of  seventeen  archbishops,  in  one  of  whom  we 
recognize  with  pride  the  worthy  bearer  of  the  princely  honors  of  the  Roman  cardinalate, 
whose  august  body  is  completed  by  an  eighteenth  archbishop  in  the  person  of  the  dis- 
tinguished papal  delegate;  of  seventy-five  bishops,  two  archabbots,  and  ten  abbots,  and 
of  nearly  ten  thousand  priests,  all  carrying  before  them  the  very  cross  which  Columbus 
was  the  first  to  plant  in  American  soil.  He  promised  popes  and  kings  that  his  dis- 
coveries would  lead  to  the  spread  of  the  Catholic  Faith  among  millions  of  human 
beings;  look  around  you  and  see  the  fulfillment  of  this  promise  in  nearly  one  hundred 
millions  of  Catholics  in  North  and  South  America.  If  the  southward  flight  of  birds  had 
not  induced  Columbus  to  change  his  course  to  the  south,  he  would  have  landed,  first  of 
all,  on  the  soil  of  our  own  Republic,  where  there  now  worship  before  the  cross  which  he 
brought  over  the  Atlantic  fourteen  millions  of  Catholics,  true  and  loyal  sons  of  the 
Church;  yes,  fourteen  millions  of  Catholics,  represented  here  and  now  in  this  hall  by 
their  appointed  delegates,  assembled  in  the  second  Catholic  Congress  of  America,  in 
honor  of  the  name,  the  virtues,  the  achievements,  in  recognition  of  the  exalted  charac- 
ter and  mission  of  Christopher  Columbus. 

Asa  fitting  pendant  to  Dr.  Clarke's  beautiful  paper,  and  also  as  being  in 
line  with  the  subject  matter  of  "  The  Columbian  Jubilee,"  may  well  appear 
here  a  paper  by  Miss  Mary  J.  Onahan  of  Chicago,  on 

"ISABELLA    THE    CATHOLIC." 

Ideals  are  the  great  exemplars  of  the  world.  Inasmuch  as  men  and  women 
have  high  ideals,  inasmuch  as  they  have  lived  up  to  them,  insomuch  have  they  been 
great,  insomuch  have  they  been  good,  insomuch  have  they  been  glorious. 

That  the  ideal  of  womanhood  which  called  to  Isabella  in  the  15th  century  was 
a  great  and  a  high  one,  and  her  life  with  but  few,  if  any,  missteps,  gradually  evolved 
toward  it,  this  many  biographers  have  shown,  but  it  remains  for  the  Catholic  biographer 
uo  prove  that  this  ideal,  inasmuch  as  it  was  great  and  good  and  glorious,  was  the  logical 
outcome  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  which  was  her  heritage.  If  she  was  pure  in  an  age  of 
impurity,  if  she  was  brave  in  an  age  of  cowardice  and  oppression,  if  she  was  womanly 
when  the  type  of  womanhood  was  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  she  was  all  of  these 
things  because  of  the  Faith  that  was  in  her,  for  by  it  she  patterned  her  life,  by  it  she 
must  be  judged  now. 

The  19th  century  hugs  to  itself  many  delusions,  none  greater  than  the  claim  that  it 
has  discovered  woman — woman  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  Adam  all  the  way! 


MAHY  .).  ONAHAN. 

CHICAGO. 


ANNA  T.  SADLIEK. 

NEW  YORK. 


ELIZA  ALLEN  STAliK. 

CHICAGO. 


LOUISE  IMOGEN  GUINEY. 

BOSTON". 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  29 

JEsop's  fly,  perched  upon  the  axle  of  the  chariot  wheel,  and  exclaiming  exultingly, 
"What  a  dust  I  do  raise!"  is  but  the  symbol  of  a  universal  weakness.  The  present  age 
always  seems  the  most  glorious  age,  its  progress  the  most  wonderful  progress,  and  its 
importance  far  greater  than  the  importance  of  any  that  has  preceded  it.  So  in  the 
glamor  of  this  delusion  we  almost  forget  that  woman  was  a  power,  morally,  socially, 
and  intellectually,  in  the  15th  century  as  in  the  19th;  that  the  doors  of  universi- 
ties were  open  to  her,  that  she  not  only  studied  but  actually  taught  within  their  sacred 
precincts.  In  the  University  of  Salamanca  she  had  a  place,  and  when  Isabella,  on 
ascending  the  throne,  set  about  the  acquisition  of  the  Latin  tongue  it  was  to  a  woman 
that  she  turned  to  be  her  tutor.  Nay,  we  can  go  further  back  than  the  15th  century, 
and  to  other  parts  of  the  world  than  Spain.  In  Italy,  in  the  13th  century,  a  noble  Flor- 
entine lady  contended  for  and  won  the  palm  of  oratory  in  a  public  contest  in  that  city 
with  learned  doctors  from  all  over  the  world.  Further  back  still,  in  the  4th  century,  St. 
Catherine,  of  Alexandria,  standing  in  the  great  hall  of  the  royal  palace,  in  the  presence 
of  the  emperor  and  the  assembled  notables  of  his  kingdom,  converted  by  her  learning 
and  her  wisdom  the  forty  venerable  philosophers  arrayed  against  her.  Plato  and 
Socrates  this  modest  Christian  maiden  could  quote,  and  she  knew  by  heart  the  books  of 
the  Sibyls. 

The  age  of  woman  dates  not  from  the  19th  century,  but  from  the  1st;  is  due  not  to 
modern  civilization,  not  to  modern  progress,  but  to  something  grander  than  either — the 
mainspring  of  both — the  religion  of  Christ  and  of  his  Church. 

The  greatness  of  Isabella  need  not,  therefore,  be  looked  upon  as  something  extraor- 
dinary and  unaccountable.  She  was  merely  the  logical  outcome  of  the  country  in 
which  she  was  born  and  the  religion  in  which  she  was  bred— Catholic  Spain  of  the  15th 
century.  To  understand  the  character  of  Isabella  it  is  necessary  to  at  least  outline  the 
political  condition  of  the  country  in  which  she  lived.  Spain  in  the  15th  century  was 
not,  as  it  afterward  became,  one  of  the  greatest  powers  of  Europe.  It  was  divided  into 
petty  states,  of  which  Navarre,  Aragon,  and  Castile  were  the  most  important.  Overrun 
by  the  Moors  and  tyrannized  by  numerous  factions  of  the  nobility,  no  wonder  that  Spain 
seemed  to  many  a  desolated  country.  And  yet  there  was  a  spirit  of  freedom  and  of  that 
modern  shibboleth — democracy — among  its  people  which  no  other  country  of  Europe 
could  match.  "  We,  who  are  each  of  us  as  good  as  you,"  ran  the  oath  of  allegiance 
taken  by  the  Spanish  Cortes  to  a  new  king,  "and  who  are  all  together  more  powerful 
than  you,  promise  obedience  to  your  government  if  you  maintain  our  rights  and  liberties, 
but  not  otherwise." 

It  was  over  this  people  that  Isabella  was  to  reign.  The  court  of  her  brother,  King 
Henry  of  Castile,  was  a  debauched  one,  the  king  himself  a  coward  and  worse,  who 
drained  the  already  meager  royal  treasury  by  his  luxury  and  extravagance.  Fortun- 
ately for  Isabella  her  youth  was  not  destined  to  be  spent  amid  the  glitter  and  frivolity 
of  the  court.  Like  the  great  majority  who  in  after  life  have  attained  distinction,  her 
youth  was  almost  a  solitary  one — for  solitude  vivifies  the  powers  of  the  soul.  Until  the 
age  of  sixteen  she  lived  in  retirement  in  the  little  town  of  Arevalo,  under  the  care  of  her 
mother.  Here  this  young  Castilian  girl  came  to  understand  the  great  heritage  of  her 
Faith  and  the  responsibilities  which  were  involved  in  her  future. 

The  Church  in  the  15th  century  was  indeed  in  the  shadow  of  desolation,  though 
here  and  there  were  wondrous  bursts  of  light.  The  See  of  Rome  was  in  continual 
turmoil,  sometimes  usurped  by  men  whose  lives  only  proved  the  gospel  saying  that  the 
"  gates  of  hell  could  not  prevail  against  it."  But  however  weak  and  unworthy  her 
rulers,  the  Church  of  Christ  was  still  there  unfolding  the  wisdom  of  her  Founder.  Her 
great  sacraments  were  being  administered,  sacraments  which  change  the  whole  meaning 
of  life  Isabella,  too,  received  them;  her  young  soul  pondered  over  them;  her  young 
heart  grew  richer  and  sweeter  in  their  graces.  Baptism,  marking  with  its  chrism  the 
child  of  a  king  and  the  child  of  a  peasant  as  equal  before  God,  inheritors  of  the  Most 
High;  penance,  teaching  that,  no  matter  how  great  the  sin,  how  despairing  the  sinner, 
the  mercy  of  God  is  greater;  confirmation,  making  of  him  a  soldier  valiant  and  true;  the 
Holy  Eucharist  outrivaling  in  the  estimate  it  puts  upon  man  all  the  theories  of  the 
most  ultra  of  optimists,  outshining  their  wildest  dreams.  These  and  the  other  great 
sacraments  of  the  Church  were  the  heritage  of  this  young  Spanish  princess  in  the  15th 
century,  as  they  are  the  heritage  of  so  many  other  young  souls  here  and  now  in  America, 
and  all  over  the  world  in  the  19th. 

Religion  is  the  atmosphere  of  the  soul.  It  vivifies,  colors,  gives  strength  and  light 
and  beauty.  (The  inner  spirit  of  religion  is  more  than  an  intellectual  question — it  is  a 
question  of  conduct,  of  self-government.)  This  inner  spirit  of  religion,  of  law,  perme- 
ated the  whole  life  and  character  of  Isabella.  The  Faith  that  had  been  handed  down 


30  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

to  her  from  ages,  the  faith  for  which  saints  had  lived,  and  martyrs  had  died — it  was  her 
faith,  too.  It  filled  her  soul  with  radiance,  it  made  life  great,  full  of  meaning,  sublime. 
When  the  girl  became  a  woman  her  hand  ^yas  sought  in  marriage  by  numerous  suitors. 
She  wras  present  with  her  brother  at  an  interview  with  King  Alphonso  of  Portugal, 
who  sought  her  hand,  but  neither  threats  nor  entreaties  could  induce  her  to  accede  to 
a  union  so  unsuitable  from  the  disparity  of  their  years.  The  Marquis  of  Calatrava,  a 
fierce  and  licentious  nobleman,  next  pressed  his  claim,  whereupon  Isabella  shut  herself 
up  in  her  room  and,  abstaining  from  food  and  sleep,  implored  heaven  to  save  her  from 
the  dishonor  of  such  a  union.  Among  her  other  suitors  were  the  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
infamous  forever  under  the  title  of  Richard  III.,  and  the  Duke  of  Guienne,  brother  of 
Louis  XL,  of  France.  They  were  all  of  them  unsuccessful.  For  once  old  heads  and 
young  hearts  were  in  unison.  Statecraft,  as  well  as  youthful  preference,  pointed  to  Fer- 
dinand of  Aragon.  The  superior  advantages  of  a  connection,  which  should  be  the  means 
of  uniting  the  people  of  Aragon  and  Castile,  were  indeed  manifest.  Yet  Isabella  was 
too  true  a  woman  to  be  moved  to  so  important  a  step  by  purely  political  reasons.  She 
dispatched  her  chaplain  to  the  courts  of  France  and  Aragon,  and  when  he  returned 
with  the  report  that  the  Duke  of  Guienne  was  a  feeble,  effeminate,  watery-eyed  prince 
and  that  Ferdinand  on  the  other  hand  was  possessed  of  a  comely  figure,  a  graceful  de- 
meanor, and  a  spirit  that  was  up  to  everything,  Isabella  was  not  slow  to  decide.  She 
resolved  to  give  her  hand  where  she  felt  that  she  could  give  her  heart.  Owing  to  the 
intrigues  of  King  Henry  and  his  persistent  efforts  to  thwart  the  marriage,  the  lovers 
were  obliged  to  resort  to  subterfuge.  Disguised  as  a  mule  driver,  Ferdinand  set  out  at 
the  dead  of  night  from  the  court  of  Aragon  accompanied  by  a  half-dozen  of  his  follow- 
ers, supposed  to  be  merchants,  while,  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  Castilians,  another 
cavalcade  proceeded  in  a  different  direction  with  all  the  ostentation  of  a  public 
embassy,  from  the  court  of  Aragon  to  King  Henry.  Ferdinand  waited  on  the  table,  took 
care  of  the  mules,  and  in  every  way  acted  as  servant  to  his  companions.  In  1his  guise, 
with  no  oiher  disaster  save  that  of  leaving  at  an  inn  the  purse  which  contained  the 
funds  for  the  expedition,  Ferdinand  arrived  late  at  night  at  one  of  Isabella's  strong- 
holds, cold,  faint,  and  exhausted. 

On  knocking  at  the  gates  the  travelers  were  saluted  with  a  large  stone  rolled  down 
from  the  battlements,  which  came  within  a  few  inches  of  Ferdinand's  head,  and  would 
doubtless  have  put  an  end  once  and  for  all  to  his  romantic  enterprise.  Expostulations 
were  followed  by  explanations;  when  the  voice  of  the  prince  was  recognized  by  friends 
within  great  was  the  rejoicing,  and  trumpets  proclaimed  the  arrival  of  the  adventurous 
bridegroom.  Arrangements  were  at  once  made  for  a  meeting  between  the  royal  pair. 
Ferdinand,  accompanied  by  only  four  of  his  attendants,  was  admitted  to  the  neighbor- 
ing city  of  Valladolid,  where  he  was  received  by  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  con- 
ducted to  the  apartment  of  his  mistress.  Courtly  parasites  had  urged  Isabella  to 
require  some  act  of  homage  from  Ferdinand  in  token  of  the  inferiority  of  the  crown  of 
Aragon  to  that  of  Castile,  but  with  true  womanly  dignity  she  refused  to  do  so.  She 
never  forgot  that  she  was  a  woman  even  though  a  queen,  and  would  not  allow  a  sign  of 
inferiority  from  one  who  was  to  be  her  husband.  The  interview  lasted  two  hours.  Fer- 
dinand was  at  this  time  eighteen  years  of  age,  Isabella  a  little  older.  His  complexion 
was  fair  ihough  bronzed  by  constant  exposure  to  the  sun;  his  eye  quick  and  bright. 
He  was  active  of  frame,  vigorous  of  muscle,  invigorated  by  the  toils  of  war  and  the 
exercises  of  chivalry,  and  one  of  the  best  horsemen  in  the  kingdom.  His  voice  was 
sharp  and  decisive,  save  when  he  wished  to  carry  a  point.  Then  his  manners  were  cour- 
teous, even  insinuating.  Isabella  was  a  little  above  the  middle  size,  her  blue  eyes 
beamed  with  intelligence,  her  hair  was  light,  inclining  to  red,  her  manners  dignified  and 
modest. 

When  the  preliminaries  of  the  marriage  were  adjusted,  so  great  was  the  poverty  of 
the  parties  that  they  had  to  borrow  money  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  ceremony.  But 
in  spite  of  all  opposition,  in  spite  of  such  humiliating  obstacles,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
were  married  on  October  19,  1469,  in  the  presence  of  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  the 
Admiral  of  Castile,  and  all  of  the  nobility  that  espoused  the  cause  of  the  youthful  pair. 

The  first  few  years  of  married  life  were  uneventful,  but  on  the  death  of  the  king,  in 
1474,  and  the  accession  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  country  was  plunged  into  the 
war  of  the  succession.  The  royal  pair  had  refused  from  the  beginning  to  be  put  in  lead- 
ing-strings by  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo,  and  the  haughty  prelate,  disgusted  with  treat- 
ment to  which  he  had  not  been  accustumed.  withdrew  from  their  court  and  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  unfortunate  Joanna,  boasting  that  "  he  had  raised  Isabella  from  the 
distaff  and  he  would  send  her  back  to  it  again."  The  death  of  the  King  of  Aragon 
at  this  time  called  Ferdinand  to  the  throne,  thus  uniting  the  two  crowns.  It  would  b« 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  31 

useless  to  dwell  upon  this  long  and  stormy  period.  At  one  time,  indeed,  all  parties  were 
so  worn  out  by  the  war  that  the  King  of  Portugal,  who  had  been  affianced  to  Joanna, 
offered  to  resign  all  claims  to  the  throne  of  Castile  upon  the  cession  of  certain  provinces. 
Ferdinand  and  his  ministers  were  willing  to  accede  to  his  proposal,  but  Isabella  proudly 
replied  that  "  she  would  not  consent  to  the  dismemberment  of  a  single  inch  of  Castile." 
After  a  struggle  of  nearly  live  years,  a  treaty  was  at  last  arranged,  the  King  of  Portugal 
resigned  his  pretentious  to  the  throne,  Joanna  entered  a  convent,  and  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  relieved  from  the  pretentious  of  ambitious  rivals,  were  allowed  to  turn  their 
attention  to  the  internal  welfare  of  their  kingdom. 

One  of  their  first  acts  was  to  reform  the  laws,  to  prohibit  the  adulteration  of  money, 
and  to  gradually  lessen  the  overbearing  power  of  the  nobility  by  the  elevation  of  the 
Cortes.  On  certain  days  of  the  week  the  king  and  queen  presided  personally  at  the 
court  of  justice,  and  so  prompt  and  so  just  were  their  decisions,  that  it  came  to  be 
said  that  it  was  more  difficult  and  more  costly  to  transact  business  with  a  stripling  of  a 
secretary  than  with  the  queen  and  all  her  ministers. 

There  are  many  stories  told  of  Isabella's  promptness  and  heroism  in  the  presence  of 
danger.  When  news  was  brought  to  her  of  the  revolt  of  the  city  of  Segovia,  she  at  once 
mounted  her  horse  and,  accompanied  by  a  band  of  her  followers,  effected  an  entrance 
through  one  of  the  gates.  Riding  direct  to  the  citadel,  where  the  tumult  was  at  its 
height,  she  demanded  of  the  enraged  populace  the  cause  of  the  insurrection. 

"  Tell  me  what  are  your  grievances,"  said  she,  "  and  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  to 
redress  them,  for  I  am  sure  what  is  for  your  interest  must  also  be  for  mine  and  for  that 
of  the  whole  city." 

Such  conduct  won  the  respect,  admiration,  and  love  of  her  subjects.  The  insurrec- 
tion was  put  down  and  the  mob  dispersed,  shouting  "  Long  live  the  queen." 

One  of  the  stumbling-blocks  of  the  biographer  in  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  is  the  inquisition.  Volumes  have  been  written  about  it — they  need  scarcely  be 
added  to.  Primarily  a  political  rather  than  a  religious  institution,  as  Prescott,  a  Prot- 
estant authority,  says,  it  had  origin  partly,  it  is  true,  in  a  misguided  zeal,  but  far  more 
largely  in  avarice  and  greed.  It  was  aimed  at  the  Jews,  whose  position  in  Spain  had 
long  been  a  humiliating  one,  the  outcasts  of  society,  but  whose  wealth  excited  the 
cupidity  of  the  nobles.  To  hold  Isabella  responsible  for  the  injustices  of  the  inquisition 
would  be  as  absurd  as  to  blame  Washington  for  the  evil  of  slavery,  as  absurd  as  to 
expect  in  the  15th  century  the  enlightenment  of  the  19th.  All  history  is  a  record  of 
progress  from  ignorance  to  knowledge,  from  weakness  to  strength,  from  bondage  to 
freedom.  The  history  of  the  Moors  in  Spain,  the  recital  of  the  splendors  of  their  stately 
capital  of  Grenada  and  of  its  gradual  overthrow,  and  of  the  subversion  of  the  Arabian 
empire  in  Europe  is  a  more  alluring  subject.  Irving  has  dwelt  upon  it  in  his  own 
picturesque  and  fascinating  style.  The  Moors  were  as  fierce  and  terrible  in  battle  as 
they  were  luxurious  and  effeminate  in  peace.  Cordova,  with  its  narrow  streets  that 
seemed  to  whisper  nightly  of  strange  adventures,  its  lofty  houses  with  turrets  of 
curiously  wrought  larch  or  stone,  its  marble  fountains  and  white  columned  mosques, 
its  airy  halls  fragrant  with  the  perfume  of  the  orange,  the  olive,  and  the  pomegranate — 
all  this  has  a  peculiar  fascination  for  the  student  and  the  traveler. 

In  these  wars  with  the  Moors,  as  in  all  other  wars,  Ferdinand  assumed  the  com- 
mand of  the  army,  while  Isabella  directed  the  internal  arrangements  of  the  kingdom, 
and  supplied  the  sinews  of  battle.  She  held  herself,  indeed,  ever  in  readiness  to  go  to 
the  front,  and  in  some  cases  was  called  by  her  husband  to  do  so  when  the  spirits  of  the 
soldiers  were  flagging,  and  he  wished  to  infuse  new  ardor  into  the  struggle.  She  always 
responded  with  the  greatest  alacrity,  and  it  was  due  to  her  wisdom  that  many  reforms 
in  camp  life  were  instituted.  She  was  the  first  to  establish  what  were  then  known  as 
"queen's  hospitals"— tents  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  She  was,  in  the  words  of  Pres- 
cott, "  the  soul  of  this  war,"  and  her  ever-present  motive  was  zeal  for  religion.  When 
the  army  lay  encamped  before  Grenada,  she  appeared  on  the  field  superbly  mounted 
and  dressed  in  complete  armor;  she  visited  the  different  quarters  and  reviewed  the 
troops.  Everywhere  she  aided  the  king  by  her  wise  counsel,  her  consummate  manage- 
ment, and  her  inalienable  purpose.  In  1492  Grenada  fell,  and  with  it  the  Moslem  em- 
pire of  Spain. 

The  traveler  can  still  see  the  rocky  eminence  in  the  Alpuxarras  from  which  the  Moor- 
ish king  took  his  last  farewell  of  the  scenes  of  his  departed  greatness,  as  the  gleaming 
turrets  of  Grenada,  crowned  with  the  victorious  ensigns  of  Spain,  fad«d  in  the  distance. 
The  spot  is  called  to  this  day  the  "  Last  Sign  of  the  Moor." 

1492  brings  us  the  most  important  event  in  the  reign  of  Isabella,  the  discovery  of 
America.  How  Colum'  us  had  vainly  importuned  his  native  city  of  Genoa,  had  sought 


3C  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

the  aid  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  all  the  weary,  fruitless  years  that  passed  waiting  at 
the  court  of  Spain,  and  how  finally,  in  direst  poverty  and  despair,  he  sought  at  the  con- 
vent of  La  Rabida  for  food  and  drink  for  himself  and  his  little  son — all  this  there  is  no 
need  to  tell.  The  first  astronomer  who  advanced  the  theory  that  the  stars  were  worlds 
like  our  own  was  probably  met  with  no  more  incredulity  than  the  Genoese  visionary, 
who,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  Spanish  court,  pleaded  for  this  land  of  the  Western 
sphere. 

His  learning,  we  are  told,  took  all  by  surprise,  but  it  convinced  few.  Isabella  alone, 
who  from  the  first  seems  to  have  been  favorable  to  him,  was  won  by  his  enthusiasm,  and 
when  there  was  some  question  of  the  means  necessary  to  equip  the  ships,  royalty 
declared  that  she  assumed  the  undertaking  for  her  own  crown  of  Castile,  and  was  ready  to 
pawn  her  jewels  if  the  funds  in  the  treasury  were  found  inadequate.  Thus  did  the 
belief  of  a  Franciscan  monk  and  the  unfaltering  enthusiasm  of  a  woman  prevail  over 
the  arguments  of  men  of  science  and  the  incredulity  of  statesmen.  No  need  to  tell  of 
that  voyage,  the  three  small  ships  setting  out  so  dauntlessly,  guided  by  one  who  had  a 
dauntless  heart — 

Over  the  wide  unknown 

Far  to  the  shores  of  Ind, 
On  through  the  dark  alone. 

Like  a  feather  blown  by  the  wind; 
Into  the  West  away. 

Sped  by  the  breath  of  God, 
Seeking  the  clearer  day 
Where  only  his  feet  have  trod. 

Beautiful  as  are  those  lines  they  scarce  equal  in  grandeur  and  simplicity  that  sen- 
tence of  Columbus,  written  in  his  log-book:  "  To-day  we  sailed  westward,  which  was 
our  course." 

Woman's  faith,  called,  until  proved,  woman's  credulity,  once  more  rose  triumphant, 
and  Isabella  has  no  fairer  crown  than  that  woven  by  her  trusted  and  valiant  admiral. 
"  In  the  midst  of  the  general  incredulity,"  wrote  Columbus,  "  the  Almighty  infused 
into  the  queen,  my  lady,  the  spirit  of  intelligence  and  energy,  and  whilst  everyone  else 
was  expatiating  only  pu  the  inconvenience  and  cost,  her  highness,  on  the  contrary, 
approved  it,  and  gave  it  all  the  support  in  her  power." 

Religious  zeal  had  dictated  the  war  against  the  Moors;  religious  zeal  urged  Isabella 
to  sanction  the  seemingly  hopeless  voyage  of  Columbus,  and  when  these  voyages  were 
crowned  with  success  her  first  solicitude  was  the  welfare  of  the  benighted  and  helpless 
natives.  In  view  of  Isabella's  known  principles  and  her  many  stringent  measures,  it  is 
a  little  singular  that  her  attitude  on  the  subject  of  slavery  of  the  Indians  should  ever 
be  questioned.  When  the  most  pious  churchmen  and  enlightened  statesmen  of  her 
time  could  not  determine  whether  it  was  or  was  not  lawful  and  according  to  the 
Christian  religion  to  enslave  the  Indians;  when  Columbus  himself  pressed  the  measure 
as  apolitical  necessity,  and  condemned  to  slavery  those  who  offered  the  slightest  opposi- 
tion to  the  Spanish  Invaders,  Isabella  settled  the  matter  according  to  the  dictates  of 
her  own-  merciful  and  upright  mind.  She  ordered  that  all  the  Indians  should  be  con- 
veyed back  to  their  respective  homes,  and  forbade,  absolutely,  all  harsh  measures 
toward  them  on  any  pretense.  Her  treatment  of  Columbus  was  equally  generous. 
When,  owing  to  various  mistakes  and  misunderstandings,  the  reaction  set  in  against 
him,  and  he  was  sent  to  Spain  in  irons,  Isabella  indignantly  ordered  that  he  be  set  free  at 
once,  and  herself  sent  him  the  money  to  come  in  state  and  honor  to  her  court.  He  came 
accordingly,  "  not  as  one  in  disgrace,  but  richly  dressed,  and  with  all  the  marks  of  rank 
and  distinction.  Isabella  received  him  in  the  Alhambra,  and  when  he  entered  her 
apartment  she  was  so  overpowered  that  she  burst  into  tears  and  could  only  extend  her 
hand  to  him.  Columbus  himself,  who  had  borne  up  firmly  against  the  stern  conflicts  of 
the  world  and  had  endured  the  injuries  and  insults  of  ignoble  men,  when  he  beheld  the 
queen's  emotion  could  no  longer  suppress  his  own;  he  threw  himself  at  her  feet  and  for 
some  time  was  unable  to  utter  a  word  for  the  violence  of  his  tears  and  sobbings." 

It  was  under  her  special  protection  that  he  set  sail  on  his  fourth  voyage,  from  which 
Isabella  did  not  live  to  see  him  return. 

The  isses  of  suffering!  They  have  often  been  dwelt  upon;  possibly  they  can  never 
be  learned  by  hearsay.  AB  a  queen,  Isabella  attained  the  greatest  glory;  as  a  mother 
she  was  called  upon  to  endure  the  deepest  sorrow.  The  anguish  of  a  father's  or  mother's 
heart  at  the  loss,  the  ruin  of  a  loved  child — that,  indeed,  must  be  something  that  only 
they  who  have  felt  in  all  its  anguish  and  all  its  bitterness  can  ever  fathom.  While  her 
husband  was  engaged  in  his  brilliant  wars  in  Italy,  and  the  great  captian,  Gonsalvo  de 
Cordova,  was  daily  adding  new  glories  to  the  crown  of  Spain ;  while  the  fame  of  that 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  33 

great  prince  of  the  church,  Cardinal  Ximenes,  was  spreading  throughout  Europe,  Isa- 
bella's life,  clouded  by  domestic  misfortune,  began  gradually  to  decline.  One  after 
another  her  children  had  been  taken  from  her  by  death  and  by  misfortune  worse  than 
death.  Her  only  son,  Don  John,  died  three  months  after  his  marriage.  Her  favorite 
daughter  and  namesake  lived  but  a  year  after  her  nuptials  with  the  King  of  Portugal, 
and  their  infant  son,  on  whom  were  founded  all  the  hopes  of  the  succession,  survived 
her  but  a  few  months.  Isabella's  second  daughter,  Joanna,  married  to  Philip,  Prince  of 
the  Netherlands,  became  insane,  and  there  can  be  no  sadder  history  than  that  of  her 
youngest  child,  Donna  Catalina,  memorable  in  history  as  Catherine  of  Aragon. 

These  and  other  misfortunes  clouded  Isabella  s  years.  When  she  felt  the  end  to  be 
not  far  distant  she  made  deliberate  and  careful  disposition  of  her  affairs.  Even  on  a 
bed  of  sickness  she  followed  with  interest  the  affairs  of  her  kingdom,  received  dis- 
tinguished foreigners,  and  took  part  in  the  direction  of  affairs. 

41 1  have  come  to  Castile,"  said  Prosper  Colonna  on  being  presented  to  King  F"erdi- 
nand,  "  to  behold  the  woman  who  from  her  sick-bed  rules  the  world." 

There  was  no  interest  in  her  kingdom,  her  colonies,  or  her  household  that  she 
neglected.  In  her  celebrated  testament  she  provided  munificently  for  charities,  for 
marriage  portions  to  poor  girls,  for  the  redemption  of  Christian  captives  in  Barbary. 
Patriotism  and  humanity  breathed  in  its  very  line — she  warned  her  successor  to  treat 
with  gentleness  and  consideration  the  natives  of  the  New  World  added  to  Spain;  warned 
them  also  never  to  surrender  the  fortress  of  Gibraltar. 

"  By  her  dying  words,"  says  Prescott,  "  she  displayed  the  same  respect  for  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  nation  that  she  had  shown  through  life,  striving  to  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  her  benign  administration  to  the  most  distant  and  barbarous  regions  under  her 
sway." 

The  woman  whom  life  had  not  daunted,  death  could  not  dismay.  On  the  26th  of 
November,  1504,  Isabella  the  Catholic  breathed  her  last,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  her 
age,  and  thirteenth  of  her  reign.  She  had  ordered  that  her  funeral  be  of  the  simplest, 
and  the  sum  saved  by  this  economy  be  distributed  in  alms  among  the  poor;  that  her 
remains  be  buried  in  the  Franciscan  Monastery  in  the  Alhambra  of  Grenada,  in  a  grave 
level  with  the  ground  and  trodden  down,  and  that  her  name  be  engraved  on  a  flat 
tombstone.  "But,"  she  added,  " should  the  king,  my  lord,  prefer  a  sepulcher  in  some 
other  place,  then  my  will  is  that  my  body  be  transported  and  laid  by  his  side,  that  the 
union  we  have  enjoyed  in  this  world,  and  through  the  mercy  of  God  may  hope  again 
for  our  souls  in  heaven,  may  be  represented  by  our  bodies  in  the  earth." 

True  queen  and  true  woman  she  had  proved  herself  through  life,  true  queen  and 
true  woman  she  proved  herself  in  death.  The  Catholic  Church  is  not  ashamed  of  the 
ideal  in  womanhood  that  it  presents — an  ideal  that  it  has  upheld  for  centuries,  an  ideal 
that  is  still  shining  as  a  new-risen  star  serene  and  beautiful  in  the  summer  sky.  The 
queenly  scepter  of  Isabella  was  laid  aside,  the  womanly  frame  had  long  since  crumbled 
into  dust,  but  the  Church  of  which  she  was  so  valiant  a  daughter,  the  Church  that  crowns 
her  with  that  fairest  of  her  titles,  is  not  dead.  It  lives.  The  light  of  the  eternal  is  in  its 
eyes,  life-blood  courses  in  its  veins,  its  strong  arm  reaches  out  now  as  it  did  in  old  Castile 
to  the  peasant  in  his  hut,  to  the  queen  upon  her  throne.  It  stands  to-day  as  it  stood 
nineteen  hundred  years  ago— logical,  strong,  consistent,  serene.  It  is  all  of  these  things 
and  more.  It  is  dowered  with  immortality. 

Therefore  we  hail  rot  merely  one  of  the  many  myriad  of  its  daughters,  but  we  hail 
the  religion  that  made  Isabella  possible — the  religion  of  the  future,  the  religion  that 
was  taught  by  Christ  himself  in  the  purple- crowned  hills  of  Galilee. 

One  more  paper  from  the  first  day's  proceedings  is  so  important  to  the 
American  Catholic  as  to  demand  admission  to  these  pages.  Its  full  title  is: 
"  The  Relations  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  the  Social,  Civil,  and  Political  life 
of  the  United  States."  It  was  furnished  and  read  by  a  distinguished  Mary- 
land lawyer  and  soldier,  Mr.  E.  H.  Gans  of  Baltimore.  Let  us  condense  the 
title  into 

CATHOLICITY     AND     THE     STARS     AND    STRIPES. 

In  this  Columbian  year  all  Americans  are  meeting  together  to  celebrate  the  glories 
of  the  Republic.  Within  a  domain,  continental  in  its  vast  expanse,  has  been  worked  out 
on  a  stupendous  scale  the  experiment  of  popular  government,  and  now,  after  a  century 
of  trial,  we  assemble  together  to  show  the  world  how  successful  that  experiment  has 
been. 


34  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  palpable  evidences  of  our  material  prosperity  lie  all  about  us.  Would  you  have 
a  portrayal  of  our  boundless  wealth,  our  diversified  and  inexhaustible  resources,  the 
marvelous  results  of  our  inventive  skill,  our  triumphs  over  matter,  go  to  yonder  White 
City.  Within  its  walls  will  be  received  impressions  more  vivid  than  those  which  any 
tongue,  however  eloquent,  can  create. 

Material  prosperity,  however,  does  not  make  a  nation  truly  great,  nor  is  it  the  true 
measure  of  its  success.  There  are  many  things  in  a  nation's  life  more  important  than 
its  wealth  and  power.  It  is,  therefore,  meet  and  proper  that  the  spiritual  and  moral 
forces,  which  move  and  control  this  great  confederation  of  States,  should  receive  atten- 
tion, and  of  these  forces  none  is  more  deserving  of  examination  than  the  gentle,  benign, 
all-prevailing  influence  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

We  Catholics,  sons  of  the  republic,  come  to  her  in  her  hour  of  triumph  to  say,  All 
hail!  to  recall  with  pride  the  share  which  our  forefathers  had  in  establishing  her  insti- 
tutions, and  the  equally  important  share  we  have  in  maintaining  them  in  their  integrity, 
and  making  them  permanent.  Yet  'tis  passing  strange  that  though  we  yield  to  no  set, 
or  class  of  men  in  our  loyalty  to  free  government,  there  are  those,  and  the  number  is 
not  inconsiderable,  who  would  fain  make  it  appear  that  we  are  not  true  and  loyal  citi- 
zens; that  there  is  something  in  our  belief  inimical  to  the  spirit  of  American  institu- 
tions; that  we  are  a  transplanted  foreign  growth  not  indigenous  to  the  American  soil. 
The  Catholic  Church,  they  say,  is  a  powerful,  compact  organization,  the  most  wonderful 
the  world  has  ever  seeo,  through  which  its  absolute  ruler,  sitting  upon  his  throne  by 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  exerts  an  influence,  which,  if  unchecked,  will  change  the  ordin- 
ary channels  of  our  national  life  and  subvert  our  liberties.  These  false  notions,  often 
boldly  proclaimed,  but  more  frequently  insidiously  disseminated  through  the  commun- 
ity, are  gradually  melting  away  under  the  sunlight  of  the  truth.  They  broke  out  into 
overt  acts  of  violence  during  the  feverish  malignity  of  knovvnothingism,  and  even  at  this 
time  hold  potent  sway  over  a  large  number  of  our  fellow-citizens.  There  is  an  abund- 
ance of  arrogance  in  these  pretensions.  They  are  born  and  nourished  by  an  ignorance 
of  the  nature  of  the  Church,  and  by  false  conceptions  of  the  true  spirit  of  our  American 
institutions.  Their  pet  theories  are,  forsooth,  the  only  American  theories,  and  their 
methods  the  exclusive  American  methods.  All  who  oppose  them  are  un-American. 
America,  how  many  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name!  It  is  time  to  strip  the  mask 
from  these  pretenders,  and  here  in  the  full  brightness  of  this  centennial  celebration  to 
show  the  true  relations  between  the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  political,  civil,  and  social 
institutions  of  the  United  States. 

We  come  in  no  apologetic  attitude.    It  was  to  the  genius  and  bold  intrepidity  of  a 
Catholic  navigator  that  we  owe  the  discovery  of  this  continent.    The  bones  of  Catholic 
Americans  whitened  every  battlefield  of  the  Revolutionary  War;  Catholic  Americans 
bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  establishment  of  our  institutions,  and  the  names  of  noble 
Catholics  have  from  that  time  to  the  present  been  woven  in  our  national  traditions. 
We  stand  not  upon  the  defensive.    We  claim  that  a  man  may  not  onlv  be  a  Catholic 
id  a  true  American  citizen,  but  that  if  he  is  a  good  Catholic  he  is  the  best  and  most 
loyal  of  citizens. 

The  Church  has  no  direct  relations  with  any  special  form  of  civil  government 

Forms  of  government  are  the  creations  of  man.    The  organization  of  the  Church  comes 

rom  (jrod  himself.    Her  empire  is  over  the  soul  and  the  conscience;  her  power  a  moral 

at  a  physical  power.    Her  kingdom  is  a  spiritual  kingdom  and  not  of  this  world     Her 

ission  of  saving  souls  is  a  mission  to  the  whole  of  humanity,  and  wonderfullv  is  her 

organization  adapted  to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  her  Divine  Founder.    Bein-/for  the 

whole  race,  she  is  Catholic  in  space.  She  takes  to  her  bosom  the  duskiest  inhabitants  of 

wildest  Africa,  the  dwellers  on  Asiatic  plains,  the  Siberian  exile,  the  people  of  cultivated 

*«trr°aPne;aS  *™  as  the  free  American  citizen.    Under  no  form  of  government  is  she 

stranger.    The  Church  is  the  direct  representative  of  God  himself,  and  she  is  at  home 

wherever  she  finds  a  beating  human  heart. 

•     Bei.nS  f°r  the  whote  race,  she  is  Catholic  in  point  of  time.     She  has  seen  the  begin- 
nings of  all  the  modern  civilized  governments  of  the  world,  has  witnessed  their  rise 
their  various  mutations,  and  their  development  to  the  present  time.    She  alone  stands' 
^    nu    \l??Chang*abla    The  emPire  of  to-day  may  be  the  republic  of  to-morrow. 
ie  unurch  lives  among  them  all,  always  the  same  and  the  same  to  all  men.    She  speaks 
ce,  emperor,  and  king,  as  well  as  to  the  people,  and  with  the  same  voice.     Before 
'  altars  there  is  no  recognition  of  nationalities.     A  man  becomes  subject  to  her  min- 
s  not  as  an  Englishman,  Russian,  or  American,  but  as  a  man,  a  member  of  the 
umanrace.    Of  other  church  organizations,  some  ally  themselves  to  the  State 
ie  part  and  parcel  of  the  civil  power,  as  in  England  and  Russia;  others  finding 


ARCHBISHOP  FEEHAN. 

CHICAGO. 

ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND, 

ST.  PAUL. 


CARDINAL  GIBBONS, 

BALTIMORE. 


ARCHBISHOP  CORRIGAN, 

NEW  YORK. 

ARCHBISHOP  RYAN, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  35 

their  home  among  the  people  of  certain  countries.  All,  however,  receive  their  special 
tendencies  from  their  environment,  are  of  necessity  local  and  national,  and  change  in 
character  from  time  to  time  with  the  changes  in  their  surroundings.  The  Catholic 
Church  alone  embraces  the  entire  world  and  works  out  her  mission  irrespective  of  the 
special  forms  of  civil  government  under  which  her  members  may  live. 

Such  being  the  nature  and  such  being  the  mission  of  the  Church,  it  is  idle  to  talk 
of  her  being  foreign,  or  un-American.  These  terms  can  be  properly  applied  to  those 
organizations  which  have  for  their  subject  a  participation  in  the  civil  government  of 
the  world. 

What,  then,  are  the  relations  of  the  Church  to  our  free  institutions?  How 
does  she  exert  her  influence?  In  what  way  and  by  what  means  does  she  affect  our 
national  life? 

The  fundamental  idea  of  the  American  system  of  government  is  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people.  It  is  a  government  by  the  people  and  for  the  people.  The  halls  of  Congress 
and  of  the  State  legislatures  are  rilled,  not  with  rulers,  but  with  representatives  of  the 
people,  elected  to  carry  out  their  ideas.  Many  political  problems  are  of  necessity  solved 
by  the  independent  judgment  of  our  legislators,  but  the  voice  of  public  opinion  is  very 
potent,  and  the  decisions  of  all  great  questions  are  ultimately  referred,  by  means  of  fre- 
quent elections,  to  the  people  themselves.  They  make  and  unmake  administrations. 
Their  policy  ultimately  becomes  the  policy  of  the  Government.  They  are  in  reality  the 
rulers;  the  true  sovereigns.  They  govern  themselves. 

This,  however,  is  true  of  every  democracy.  There  are  found  in  the  American  sys- 
tem other  principles  almost  as  fundamental  as  the  one  we  have  been  considering.  We 
have  a  number  of  independent  sovereign  States  and  one  sovereign  nation.  The  powers 
which  may  be  exercised  by  the  States  and  those  vested  in  the  general  Government  of  the 
United  States  are  carefully  defined  by  written  constitutions.  To  each  government  the 
people  have  surrendered  only  so  much  of  their  sovereign  power  as  in  their  judgment  is 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  law  and  order,  and  the  promotion  of  the  general  wel- 
fare; and  against  the  abuse  of  power  they  have  protected  themselves  by  constitutional 
restrictions.  No  one  can  be  deprived  of  life  or  liberty  except  by  the  judgment  of  his 
peers,  nor  can  his  property  be  taken  from  him  except  by  due  process  of  law.  Freedom 
of  speech  and  of  the  press,  the  right  of  peaceable  assemblage  to  petition  government  for 
a  redress  of  grievances  are  all  fully  secured. 

Above  all,  the  Government  can  not  pass  any  law  respecting  the  establishment  of 
religion,  nor  interfere,  in  any  way,  with  the  liberty  of  every  man  to  worship  God  in 
such  manner  as  his  conscience  may  dictate.  The  powers  of  Government  are  divided. 
The  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  departments  are  made,  as  far  as  possible,  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  and  a  number  of  other  checks  and  balances  are  provided,  to 
the  end  that  power  shall  not  be  abused.  Not  only  is  provision  made  against  the  abuse 
of  power  on  the  part  of  the  Government  but  the  people  are  protected  aginst  them- 
selves. No  sudden  gusts  of  folly  or  passion,  even  on  the  part  of  the  sovereign  people 
can,  except  by  revolution,  make  an  absolute  change  in  the  Government.  Under  con- 
stitutional methods,  such  a  change  can  only  be  worked  out  in  such  a  length  of  time  as 
will  necessarily  bring  with  it  reflection,  and  the  sober  second-thought. 

The  American  people  secure  to  themselves  their  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness  by  creating  their  own  governments,  managing  them  by  their  own 
representatives,  and  limiting  their  powers  by  fundamental  constitutions.  Their  liber- 
ties are  secured  by  law,  the  law  is  framed  and  executed  by  the  Government,  and  the 
Government  is  controlled  by  the  people.  Each  man  is  the  equal  of  his  fellows,  and  has 
an  equal  voice  in  the  conduct  of  affairs. 

This  is  the  American  system.  The  relations  of  the  Church  are  therefore  discerned 
in  her  relations  to  the  sovereign  people;  the  influence  she  exerts  is  over  their  minds 
and  hearts,  and  she  affects  our  national  life  by  fashioning  and  directing  their  lives  and 
conduct. 

Instead  of  finding  in  the  potent  moral  influence  which  the  Church  exerts  over  the 
people,  anything  hostile  to  American  institutions,  the  candid  inquirer  will  discover  in 
her  teaching  and  tendencies,  the  strongest  safeguards  for  their  permanence  and 
stability. 

Government,  according  to  the  Catholic  Church,  is  ordained  by  God.  Man  is  by 
nature  social  and  must  live  with  his  fellows.  This  is  impossible  without  government, 
and,  therefore,  Government  is  a  necessity  found  in  the  nature  of  man  as  created  by  God 
himself.  We  further  believe  that  no  man  has  any  inherent  right  to  rule  over  other  men, 
but  every  nation,  taken  as  a  collective  moral  unit,  is,  by  the  very  fact  that  it  is  a  nation, 
sovereign.  This  sovereign  nation  has  the  right  to  establish  any  form  of  civil  government 


36'  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

which  in  its  judgment  is  best  suited  to  its  character,  and  the  form  of  government  it 
adopts  is  sacred  by  the  ordinance  of  God.  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher 
powers,  for  there  is  no  power  but  from  God,  and  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God. 
Therefore  he  that  resisteth  the  power  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  they  that 
resist  purchase  damnation  to  themselves." 

The  Catholic  is  loyal  to  the  American  Government  as  the  legitimately  established 
Government  of  this  country,  not  because  it  is  stronger  than  he.  His  principle  of  sub- 
mission is  not  founded  upon  the  idea  of  physical  force,  nor  yet  entirely  upon  his  strong 
affection  and  patriotic  predilection  for  its  great  principles.  He  is  of  necessity  loyal 
because  it  is  his  conscientious  duty.  Patriotism  is  sublimated  and  becomes  a  religious 
obligation.  Is  there  anything  un-American  in  this?  Does  this  teaching  not  tend  to 
make  good  citizens? 

If,  now.  instead  of  viewing  the  citizen  distributively  as  a  subject  of  the  Government, 
bound  by  the  virtue  of  obedience,  we  examine  his  relations  to  the  Government  as 
one  of  the  sovereign  people,  we  will  perceive  the  influence  of  the  Church  to  be  equally 
salutary. 

Among  the  many  evils  that  afflict  the  body  politic,  none  is  more  deplorable  than 
the  frequency  with  which  the  will  of  the  people  is  frustrated  by  frauds  in  elections. 
This  has  been  the  theme  of  statesmen  and  political  moralists  for  years.  All  recognize 
it  as  the  cancer  which  has  been  insidiously  attacking  the  very  life  of  the  nation,  which 
must  be  eradicated  and  destroyed  if  we  are  to  preserve  our  institutions  in  their  integ- 
rity. Not  only  in  the  less  important  elections  held  in  the  various  States  has  this  malign 
influence  been  felt  but  upon  the  larger  field  of  our  national  elections  it  succeeded,  at 
one  time,  in  placing  the  title  of  an  American  President  in  doubt,  and  in  bringing  the 
whole  country  to  the  verge  of  civil  war. 

Here,  again,  the  Church  intervenes.  According  to  the  teachings  of  our  learned  doc- 
tors, the  political  sovereignty  which  is  vested  in  a  nation,  under  the  ordinance  of  God, 
is  vested  so  that  it  may  be  used  for  the  public  good.  When  the  people  exercise  sovereign 
political  power,  they  exercise  a  power  given  to  them  by  the  Great  Sovereign,  in  trust, 
and  they  are  bound,  in  conscience,  to  perform  the  trust  honestly  and  with  fidelity. 

Thus  another  fundamental  political  duty  is  transformed  into  a  conscientious  obli- 
gation. As  no  man  can  be  disloyal  to  his  Government  and  be  a  good  Catholic,  so  no  man 
can  be  a  good  Catholic  and  pollute  the  ballot-box,  or  in  any  other  way  fraudulently 
frustrate  the  electoral  of  the  people.  Is  this  teaching  un-American? 

But  our  American  liberty,  our  freedom,  the  theme  of  our  song  — 

My  country,  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty. 

Of  thee  I  sing- 
How  can  an  organization  so  despotic  as  the  Church  of  Rome  be  anything  but  hostile  to 
this,  the  very  essence  and  spirit  of  our  institutions?    To  what  lengths  do  not  prejudice 
and  ignorance  go  in  binding  the  eyes  of  men! 

All  the  hostile  criticism  of  the  Church  in  this  connection  rests  upon  an  ignorance 
of  the  real  nature  of  liberty.  To  many  unreflecting  persons  the  word  liberty  conveys 
no  meaning  except  the  absence  of  restraint,  the  absence  of  any  external  power  controll- 
ing the  will.  For  them  liberty  means  the  right  to  follow  their  own  wills  and  inclina- 
tions without  let  or  hindrance.  This,  however,  is  the  liberty  of  anarchy;  it  is  not 
American  liberty.  We  are  free  American  citizens,  but  may  we  do  as  we  like?  May  a 
man  make  a  contract  with  me  and  break  it  with  impunity?  May  he  injure  my  prop- 
erty, infringe  my  rights  or  personal  security,  obstruct  the  conduct  of  my  legitimate 
business,  steal  my  goods,  put  a  bullet  through  my  brains,  without  becoming  a  subject 
for  the  coercive  discipline  of  the  law  of  the  land? 

Men  can  not  live  together  without  government,  and  government  implies  the  restrain- 
ing influence  of  law. 

These  ideas  are  not  only  obvious  but  they  are  very  American.  We  find  them 
incorporated  in  the  fundamental  charters  of  our  liberties. 

In  the  Declaration  of  Independence  we  read:  "We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self- 
evident:  That  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness. That  to  secure  these  rights  governments  are  established  among  men."  The 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  declares  in  its  preamble:  "  We,  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  in  order  to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do 
ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America." 

Therefore,  by  the  highest  American  authority,  for  the  security  of  liberty,  govern- 
ments are  instituted  and  constitutions  ordained  and  established.  Liberty  can  not  exist 
without  the  authority  of  government  exercised  under  the  forms  of  law. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  37 

But  in  order  that  the  citizen  may  possess  true  civil  liberty  it  is  not  only  necessary 
that  he  should  be  subject  to  government  but  that  government  itself  be  restrained 
within  proper  limits;  it  must  be  just,  and  its  sole  end  must  be  the  public  good.  Any 
other  governmental  control  would  be  despotic  and  tyrannical.  It  was  to  secure  this 
kind  of  government  that  all  the  efforts  of  our  forefathers  were  directed.  Therefore  it 
was  that  they  insisted  upon  a  government  by  the  people  themselves  through  their  own 
representatives;  for  this  reason  the  government  agencies  which  they  created  were  lim- 
ited in  their  powers  by  written  constitutions  and  fundamental  rights  reserved  to  the 
people;  to  secure  this  end  the  powers  were  divided  into  independent  departments — the 
legislative,  executive,  and  judicial.  In  a  word,  all  the  checks,  balances,  and  guaran- 
tees devised  by  the  f ramers  of  our  Government  were  intended  to  secure  to  the  people 
subjection  to  no  laws  except  those  which  were  necessary  for  the  peace,  good  order,  and 
prosperity  of  society. 

This  is  the  true  spirit  of  our  American  freedom,  and  by  no  one  has  it  been  more 
aptly  and  eloquently  portrayed  than  by  Daniel  Webster,  the  great  expounder  of  the 
constitution.  "All  governments  of  law,"  he  says,  "  must  impose  numerous  limitations 
and  qualifications  of  authority,  and  give  many  positive  and  qualified  rights.  In  other 
words,  they  must  be  subject  to  rule  and  regulation.  This  is  the  very  essence  of  free 
political  institutions.  The  spirit  of  liberty  is  indeed  a  bold  and  fearless  spirit,  but  it  is 
also  a  sharp-sighted  spirit;  it  is  a  cautious,  sagacious,  discriminating  intelligence.  It  is 
jealous  of  encroachment,  jealous  of  power,  jealous  of  man.  It  demands  checks;  it  seeks 
for  guards;  it  insists  upon  securities;  it  entrenches  itself  behind  strong  defenses  and 
fortifies  itself  with  all  possible  care  against  the  assaults  of  ambition  and  passion.  It 
does  not  trust  the  amiable  weakness  of  human  nature,  *  *  *  and  therefore  it  will 
not  permit  power  to  overstep  its  prescribed  limits.  Neither  does  it  satisfy  itself  with 
flashy,  illegal  resistance  to  illegal  authority.  Far  otherwise.  It  seeks  for  duration  and 
permanence.  This  is  the  nature  of  constitutional  liberty,  and  this  is  our  liberty  if  we 
will  understand  and  preserve  it." 

The  Catholic  Church  welcomes  this  bright  and  beautiful  spirit  and  takes  it  to  her 
bosom,  for  she  is  its  foster-mother.  With  tender  devotion  she  nourished  it  through  the 
ages.  Time  and  again  she  has  rescued  it  from  the  bold  and  impious  hands  of  despots, 
whether  they  be  kings,  emperors,  or  a  popular  majority  enthroned. 

With  the  Church  God  is  the  only  true  sovereign  and  the  source  of  all  power.  The 
sovereignty  of  the  people  comes  from  him  as  a  sacred  trust,  and  they  must  use  this 
trust  for  the  common  weal.  The  Government  called  into  being  by  them,  in  framing  and 
executing  laws,  is  but  echoing  the  voice  of  the  King  of  Kings,  and  obedience  to  it  is 
obedience  to  God  himself.  Here  is  the  ultimate  sanction  for  human  liberty.  Subjec- 
tion to  no  power  except  the  power  of  the  ruler  of  the  universe — this  is  true  liberty. 
Therefore,  a  government  executing  laws  dictated  by  passion,  personal  ambition,  greed  of 
power,  working  injustice,  is  acting  beyond  the  scope  of  its  delegated  power,  and  has  not 
the  sanction  of  God  for  its  acts.  It  is  tyrannical.  And  the  Church  condemns  it  and  its 
authorized  acts.  Power  without  justice  she  will  not  recognize;  and  authority  without 
right  she  deems  usurpation. 

Our  American  institutions  are  justly  deemed  the  masterpiece  of  human  contrivance 
for  securing  government  which  will  rule  only  for  the  general  good.  It  is  in  accomplish- 
ing precisely  this  result  that  the  Church  uplifts  and  sustains  the  weak  hands  of  men  by 
her  potent  spiritual  power. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  been  the  only  consistent  teacher  and  supporter  of  true 
liberty.  In  her  spiritual  empire  over  the  souls  of  men,  she  is  a  government  instituted 
and  established  not  by  the  people,  but  by  God  himself.  She  administers  laws;  but  they 
are  divine,  not  human  laws.  Her  children  are  protected  from  spiritual  despotism,  not 
by  checks  and  balances  of  human  contrivance,  but  by  the  sacred  guarantee  of  the  divine 
promise. 

"Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it." 

The  Catholic  Church  has  been  divinely  commissioned  to  teach  the  truth;  and  in 
the  possession  of  the  truth  her  children  alone  have  true  liberty.  "  You  shall  know  the 
truth  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  With  the  Church  spiritual  freedom,  as  well 
as  civil  liberty,  is  possible  only  with  law  and  government. 

Is  there  anything  un-American  in  this?  Is  it  un-American  to  say  that  there  is  a 
sovereignty  higher  than  the  sovereignty  of  the  people?  Is  it  un-American  to  acknowl- 
edge subjection  to  God  and  his  government?  The  American  people  are  not,  we  think, 
prepared  to  admit  that  atheism,  infidelity,  and  irreligion  are  part  and  parcel  of  their 
institutions. 


38  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Would  that  our  countrymen  should  cease  to  view  the  Church  through  the  dark 
mists  of  prejudice.  If  they  observed  her  in  the  bright  sunlight  of  truth  they  would 
see  her  sitting  at  the  very  fountains  of  their  liberties,  as  their  guardian  spirit,  preserv- 
ing those  bright  and  sparkling  waters  from  pollution  as  they  flow  in  copious  and  salu- 
tary streams  over  the  green  fields  of  our  national  life. 

But  from  whatever  point  of  view  we  examine  our  American  institutions,  we  find 
them  supported  and  sustained  by  the  Church.  The  Declaration  of  Independence 
declares  that  "  All  men  are  created  equal,"  and  we  have  endeavored  to  follow  the  spirit 
of  this  truth  in  the  practical  workings  of  our  Government,  by  giving  each  man  an 
equal  voice  in  the  conduct  of  affairs,  by  discouraging  ranks  and  classes,  and  by  insist- 
ing upon  perfect  equality  before  the  laws  of  the  land. 

But  this  democratic  equality  pales  into  insignificance  before  that  taught  and  prac- 
ticed by  the  Church.  In  her  eyes  all  men  are  equal  because  they  are  sons  of  the  same 
father  and  joint  heirs  of  the  heavenly  treasure.  Before  her  altars  there  is  no  precedence. 
The  laborer  on  our  streets  has  for  companion  the  financial  magnate;  the  lowly  negro, 
once  a  slave  in  our  Southern  clime,  bows  with  reverential  awe  side  by  side  with  the 
refined  chivalric  scholar,  once  his  master,  and  the  magdalen  mingles  her  penitential 
tears  with  the  chaste  aspirations  of  the  white-souled  nun.  No  such  real  democracy  can 
be  found  outside  the  Catholic  Church. 

And  finally  let  us  consider  another  striking  characteristic  of  our  American  life.  We 
boast  with  proper  pride  of  the  equal  opportunity  which  every  citizen  has  of  rising,  by 
his  own  merit,  to  the  highest  position  of  political  honor.  Any  poor  boy  in  the  land  has 
the  right  to  aspire  to  a  seat  in  Congress,  to  be  vested  with  the  judicial  ermine,  or, 
supreme  honor,  to  occupy  the  chair  once  filled  by  Washington.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  our  institutions  which  will  make  the  fulfillment  of  his  ambitious  hopes 
impracticable.  The  brightest  names  in  our  history  are  the  names  of  men  who  have 
sprung  from  an  origin  as  lowly  as  his  own. 

Do  you  find  this  characteristic  in  Holy  Church?  Listen  to  the  language  of  an 
eloquent  Spaniard,  a  priest,  one  who  lived  in  a  monarchy  and  whose  only  practical 
acquaintance  with  democracy  was  with  the  democracy  of  the  Church. 

"  In  the  Church,  birth  and  riches  are  of  no  importance.  If  you  are  a  man  of  high 
merit,  untarnished  by  misconduct,  and  at  the  same  time  conspicuous  by  your  abilities, 
your  knowledge — that  is  enough — she  will  look  upon  you  as  a  great  man;  will  always 
show  you  extreme  consideration,  and  treat  you  with  respect,  and  listen  to  you  with 
deference.  And  since  your  brow,  though  sprung  from  obscurity,  is  radiant  with  fame, 
it  will  be  held  worthy  to  bear  the  mitre,  the  cardinal's  hat,  or  the  tiara." 

The  history  of  the  Church  justifies  this  beautiful  tribute.  Many  of  our  most 
famous  pontiffs  have  been  taken  from  the  lowly  walks  of  life,  whilst  the  college  of  car- 
dinals have  received  their  honors,  as  a  rule,  solely  as  the  award  of  merit  and  learning. 

Have  we  not  in  this  beautiful  land  of  ours  a  most  notable  illustration  of  this  truth? 
An  humble  American  citizen  is  an  august  prince  of  the  Church.  In  him,  we  have  a  liv- 
ing proof  of  all  the  principles  for  which  we  have  been  contending.  He  is  a  prince  of  the 
Church;  and  yet,  is  he  hostile  to  democracy?  He  is  infused  with  the  very  quintessence 
of  the  Catholic  spirit;  and  yet,  is  he  not  the  very  incarnation  of  true  Americanism?  He 
knows  full  well  the  plenitude  of  his  spiritual  power,  its  high  dignity,  its  wonderful 
authority;  and  yet,  is  he  an  enemy  of  American  liberty?  The  whole  country  knows 
and  acknowledges,  that  within  the  entire  confines  of  the  Republic  there  is  no  more 
ardent  patriot,  no  more  enthusiastic  supporter  of  our  American  institutions  than  the 
gentle,  modest,  illustrious  James  Gibbons,  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

As  the  various  special  relations  of  the  Church  to  the  social  institutions  of  the 
United  States  have  been  selected  as  the  themes  of  other  papers  to  be  read  at  this  Con- 
gress, I  have  deemed  it  best  to  make  them  the  subject  of  no  special  comment.  In  her 
relations  to  them  the  constant  aim  of  the  Church,  in  addition  to  the  benevolent  work 
of  alleviating  distress,  is  to  constantly  augment  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the 
people.  To  this  end  she  sanctifies  the  home,  inculcates  the  principles  of  justice,  and 
educates  not  only  the  intellectual  but  also  the  moral  and  religious  faculties  of  the  soul. 

An  acute  and  profound  critic  of  our  American  institutions  has  recently  said:  "It 
may  be  thought  that  a  nation  which  uses  freedom  well  can  hardly  have  too  much  free- 
dom; yet  even  such  a  nation  may  be  too  much  inclined  to  think  freedom  an  absolute 
and  all-sufficient  good — to  seek  truth  only  in  the  voice  of  the  majority,  to  mistake  pros- 
perity for  greatness.  Such  a  nation,  seeing  nothing  but  its  own  triumphs,  and  hearing 
nothing  but  its  own  praises,  seems  to  need  a  succession  of  men  like  the  prophets  of 
Israel  to  rouse  the  people  out  of  their  self-complacency,  to  refresh  th«ir  moral  ideas,  to 
remind  them  that  the  life  is  much  more  than  meat  and  the  body  more  than  raiment, 
and  that  to  whom  much  is  given,  of  them  shall  much  also  be  required." 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  39 

We  have  among  us  our  prophets  of  Israel,  divinely  commissioned,  as  were  the  holy 
men  of  old,  to  guide,  instruct,  ennoble,  and  elevate  the  nation;  and  the  American  people 
will  have  achieved  their  highest  glory  when  they  seek  the  words  of  wisdom  and  truth 
from  their  lips— when  they  voluntarily  submit  to  the  gentle  ministrations  of  the  priests 
and  bishops  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church. 

The  evening  session  of  this  opening  day  resolved  itself  into  something  like 
a  grand  jubilation,  so  eager  were  the  faithful  to  honor  and  to  listen  informally 
to  their  illustrious  Pastors.  The  occasion  was  marked  by  the  foil  wing: 

ADDRESS     BY     ARCHBISHOP     P.    J.     RYAN    OF     PHILADELPHIA. 

When  the  secretary  of  the  Columbian  Congress  informed  me  this  morning  that  I 
was  expected  to  speak  to  you  this  evening,  I  should  not  have  dared  to  slight  you  by  com- 
ing before  you  with  a  few  thoughts  jotted  down,  if  he  had  not  assured  me  that  these 
addresses  were  to  be  informal — that  they  were  not  expected  to  be  prepared  like  the 
papers  of  the  morning;  they  were  to  be  addresses  encouraging  you,  doing  all  that 
would  be  in  our  power  to  explain  to  you,  perhaps  more  in  detail,  the  objects  of  this  great 
Congress.  Therefore  I  come  this  evening  to  speak  to  you  in  an  informal  manner,  possi- 
bly in  a  very  desultory  manner,  but  I  hope  the  words  I  have  to  say  to  you  will  not  be 
entirely  without  fruit.  I  feel  that  I  am  in  my  place  when  speaking  at  this  Columbian 
celebration,  because  I  feel,  as  a  Christian  bishop,  that  the  discovery  of  Columbus  was  a 
triumph  of  Christianity,  because  whoever  will  examine  the  philosophy  of  his  life,  his 
motives  for  action,  will  find  that  the  inspiration  to  spread  Christian  truth  and  with  it 
Christian  civilization,  the  civilization  of  our  day,  the  charity,  the  tenderness,  the  advances 
in  every  direction, on  the  civilization  of  the  past  —  that  all  these  came  from  the  deep  relig- 
ious principle  within  his  nature;  and  as  a  Catholic  I  feel  a  just  pride  in  thinking  of  the 
origin  of  this  great  country,  which  is  to  be  in  the  future  so  marvelous  in  its  effects  upon 
human  happiness,  upon  human  progress,  upon  the  intellect  and  the  heart  of  man.  And 
I  remember  that,  warmed  by  Catholic  feeling,  illumined  by  Catholic  faith,  and  clothed 
by  Catholic  love  for  our  Lord,  he  came  here  to  plant  this  civilization,  and  that  he,  the 
navigator  of  Genoa,  came  before  the  pilgrims  from  England,  and  the  Santa  Maria 
arrived  long  before  the  Mayflower. 

I  speak  not  this  in  boasting.  It  would  not  be  his  spirit,  and  on  a  great  occasion 
like  this,  when  all  party  lines  should  disappear,  when  in  that  magnificent  and  uni- 
versal Christianity  we  meet  to  commemorate  this  great  event,  it  is  not  a  sectarian 
feeling,  but  it  is  in  a  Catholic  and  universal  feeling  in  which  I  would  find  sympathy 
even  in  the  non-Catholic  descendants  of  these  great  pilgrim  fathers.  If  we  could 
imagine  him  as  the  patriarch  Jacob  when  he  fell  asleep,  and  between  earth 
and  heaven  there  was  the  luminous  avenue  with  angels  ascending  and  descending;  if 
Columbus,  in  his  weary  journeys  looking  for  the  means  to  prosecute  his  great  dis- 
covery, should  sleep  and  an  angel  of  the  Lord  would  point  out. to  him  the  luminous 
pathway  between  the  Old  and  the  New  World — point  out  the  great  future  to  him,  the 
conversion  to  Christianity  and  civilization  of  the  people  of  the  New  World;  the  cities 
that  should  rise  in  the  future,  the  marvelous  progress,  the  home  for  the  exile  and  the 
persecuted — how  his  heart  would  throb  with  gratitude!  Some  of  the  things  of  which 
he  may  have  dreamed  were  realized  in  his  day.  You  remember  that  he  returned  to 
Spain,  and  when,  with  some  of  the  docile  Indians,  he  appeared  at  the  court  of  Isa- 
bella the  Catholic,  and  when  he  stooped — he,  with  the  royalty  of  intellect  before 
earthly  royalty — with  uplifted  heart,  and  trusting  not  in  the  splendor  of  that  intellect, 
but  in  Him,  the  "  light  of  light "  that  had  illumined  it;  when  he  spoke  of  the  New 
World  and  its  possibilities,  physical  and  moral,  and  his  heart  glowed  and  his  eyes 
glistened  as  in  inspiration,  and  the  heart  of  Isabella  the  Catholic  went  out  to  the 
glorious  navigator,  and  the  assembled  court  heard  the  words  from  the  distant  land, 
they  all  prostrated  themselves,  and  from  the  palace  chapel  came  the  song  of  the  Te 
Deum,  "  We  Give  Thanks."  As  they  praised  God  in  that  Te  Deum,  it  rang  upon  the 
soul  of  the  navigator  with  a  deeper  significance  than  even  upon  the  soul  of  Ambrose 
and  Augustine,  when  they  sang  it  a  thousand  years  before.  Now  they  could 
sing:  "Thee  Father  Everlasting  all  the  earth  doth  worship,  Thee  the  Holy 
Church  throughout  all  the  world  doth  acknowledge."  This  was  the  beginning  of  his 
consolation,  and  as  he  looks  down  from  glory — for  we  believe,  as  Catholics,  that  the 
dead  take  cognizance  of  the  things  that  occur  upon  the  earth — he  sees  this  country 
advancing  year  after  year  in  physical  advancement,  intellectual  advancement,  religious 
advancement.  And  now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  particularly  you  members  of  the 
Columbian  Catholic  Congress,  the  Congress  called  after  him,  you  have  to  continue  his 
work,  and  continue  it  in  that  high  order  that  should  most  of  all  please  his  spirit. 


40  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Before  his  time  there  were  two  worlds  —  separated.  Between  them  rolled  the  dark 
ocean,  and  storms,  terrible  storms,  agitated  its  ways.  Monsters  of  the  deep  were  be- 
neath these  waters.  Columbus  united  these  worlds.  In  this  land,  and  for  many  years, 
there  have  been  two  moral  worlds,  separated  by  the  ocean  of  prejudice,  on  which  there 
have  been  storms  of  bigotry  and  hatred,  and  down  among  the  coral  rocks,  down  in  the 
depths  of  the  ocean,  there  have  been  deep  animosities,  wild  spirits,  that  would  separate 
these  two  worlds.  There  is  the  Catholic  world  and  the  non-Catholic  world.  Between 
them  has  rolled  the  ocean  of  prejudice  —  a  dark  ocean.  Hearts  that  ought  to  have 
come  nearer  to  each  other,  hearts  that  God  made  like  each  other,  eyes  that  if  they  only 
looked  into  each  other,  He  would  have  brought  them  together.  It  is  the  mission  of  the 
Catholic  Congress  to  bring  these  two  worlds  nearer  —  to  make  men  understand  each 
other  more  fully,  and  this  mission  you  have  to  act  out,  first  of  all  by  appreciating  the 
great  truth  that  the  non-Catholic  world  is  not  opposed  to  the  Catholic  world  at  all,  but 
to  something  which  it  thinks  is  the  Catholic  world.  The  very  doctrines  on  which  this 
animosity  is  formed  are  doctrines  that  we  reject  as  emphatically,  as  constantly,  as 
indignantly  as  the  non-Catholic  world  could  reject  them.  Therefore,  we  only  ask  to 
be  known. 

The  anti-Catholic  people  had  a  cry,  and  they  have  it  yet,  of  "  No  Popery."  We  join 
in  it  and  say, "  Know  Popery,"  but  we  spell  the  word  "  k-n-o-w  "  popery.  This  morning,  I 
confess,  I  was  charmed  and  won  over  by  the  admirable  address  of  Mr.  Bonney.  I  know 
no  interest  he  could  have  in  flattering  us;  I  know  from  his  position  and  his  evident 
honesty  that  he  felt  what  he  said.  Seeing  the  initials  of  his  Christian  name,  when  I 
asked  him,  I  had  something  like  a  premonition  of  what  it  might  be,  when  he  told  me 
that  his  name  was  Charles  Carroll,  and  that  he  was  called  after  Charles  Carroll  of 
Carrollton. 

For  over  forty  years  I  have  associated  with  non -Catholics.  I  know  them,  and  I 
know  that  many  of  those  that  are  called  bigots  hate  the  Church  simply  because  they 
hate  tyranny,  because  they  hate  hypocrisy,  because  they  hate  a  number  of 
things  which  they  imagine  are  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  if  they  could  love 
such  a  church,  with  such  a  view  of  it,  they  never  would  be  worthy  of 
receiving  the  True  Faith.  About  a  year  ago  I  was  invited  to  attend  the  annual 
dinner  of  the  descendants  of  the  pilgrim  fathers  in  Scranton,  Pa.  All  there, 
except  the  gentleman  who  accompanied  me,  and  myself,  were  non-Catholics.  I 
was  surprised  at  the  invitation.  I  promised,  however,  as  I  had  to  be  in  the  city  for  a 
ceremony  the  next  day,  to  attend  the  banquet.  I  declined  saying  anything  however, 
until  one  proposed  my  health,  and  when  I  rose  to  speak  I  assure  you  that  not  even  the 
Columbian  Congress  received  me  as  enthusiastically  as  these  children  of  the  pilgrim 
fathers.  There  is  a  world  full  of  principle,  full  of  honesty,  full  of  progress,  full  of 
intelligence,  as  we  look  across  the  water,  separated  from  us,  and  we  should  be 
united  with  it.  And  because  the  members  of  the  Catholic  Congress  are  almost  all 
laymen,  it  is  their  place  so  to  speak  and  act,  to  bring  us  into  contact  more  perfectly 
with  that  world.  They  will  hear  a  layman  when  they  will  not  hear  a  priest.  They 
have  to  meet  the  laymen  in  daily  life,  in  business,  on  many  occasions  when  it  is  impos- 
sible they  should  meet  the  clergy,  and  they  will  have  less  suspicion  of  the  layman,  whom 
they  know  to  be  thoroughly  honest,  open,  and  frank,  than  of  the  priest,  of  whom  they  know 
so  very  little.  Therefore,  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  this  Congress,  it  is  your  great  priv- 
ilege to  do  all  that  you  can  to  explain  to  honest,  open-hearted,  fair-play-loving  Prot- 
estant Americans  that  we  do  not  believe  but  we  anathematize  and  condemn  many  of 
the  things  that  are  laid  to  our  charge,  as  articles  of  our  Faith  or  as  practices  within  the 
Church  of  God.  And  to  do  this  effectually,  through  the  action  of  the  Congress,  it  must  be 
clearly  understood  that  the  Catholic  men  of  this  Congress  are  left  free  by  the  clergy. 
There  are  articles  of  faith,  there  are  essential  practices  of  discipline,  which  can  not  be 
changed,  but  in  the  domain  of  free  opinion,  declared  as  such,  no  angel  stands  at  the  con- 
fines and  says  "  thus  far  and  no  farther."  This  domain  is  immense,  and  to  affect  Ameri- 
can people  the  Catholic  layman  must  be  understood  to  speak,  not  as  our  mouthpieces, 
but  as  free,  intelligent  Catholic  American  laymen. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  great  unitive  power  to  bring  Catholics  and  non-Catholics 
together  is  that  personal  love  for  our  Lord  and  charity  toward  his  suffering  children, 
on  which  both  so  perfectly  agree.  It  is  remarkable  that  when  Christ  sought  a  model  of 
charity  he  selected  not  the  orthodox  Jew,  but  an  heretical  Samaritan,  and  made  him  the 
model  for  Jew  and  Christian  for  all  time.  Let  us  all  meet  in  admiration  and  love  for 
the  great  Founder  of  Christianity — the  God  of  Columbus,  and  the  inspirer  and  sustainer 
of  our  common  Christian  civilization.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  our  greatest  enemies 
are  sin,  that  corrupts  the  heart,  and  ignorance  that  obscures  the  intellect;  and  hence. 


"Go  forward  in  one  hand  tearing  the  Book  of  Christian  Truth 
and  in  the  other  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 


FRANCIS,  ARCHBISHOP  SATOLLI,  DELEGATE  APOSTOLIC. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


41 


that  only  the  church  bell  and  the  school  bell  can  prolong  the  echoes  of  the  "  Liberty 
Bell."  United  in  love  to  Christ  and  to  our  suffering  brethren  for  his  sake,  and  zealous 
for  the  Christian  civilization  and  true  liberty  which  this  zeal  must  produce,  our  perfect 
union  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

SECOND    DAY. 

Tuesday's  proceedings  were  of  absorbing  interest,  and  began  by  calling  the 
roll  of  delegates  to  the  Congress,  their  officers  for  the  various  dioceses  report- 
ing as  follows: 

LIST    OF    DELEGATES. 

Kansas  City— Chairman,  S.  A.  Hegg;  Vice-President,  Judge  Philip  J.  Henn;  Com- 
mittee man,  John  H.  Walsh. 

Cleveland — Chairman,  W.  A.  .Lynch;  Vice-President,  F.  J.  Giebel,  Jr.;  Committee- 
man,  C.  X.  Schlaudecker. 

Fort  Wayne — Chairman,  John  T.  Meig;  Vice-President,  James  Murdock;  Com- 
mitteeman,  J.  Ewing. 

Vincennes — Chairman,  John  Breen;  Vice-President,  Charles  A.  Kolby;  Committee- 
man,  H.  Canthorn. 

Alton — Chairman,  J.  J.  Mclnerney;  Vice-President,  Anton  Binkert;  Committee- 
man,  Charles  F.  Degenhardt. 

Portland,  Maine — Chairman,  M.  R.  Harrigan;  Vice-President,  D.  J.  Calahan;  Com- 
mitteeman,  T.  F.  Donahoe. 

Philadelphia — Vice-President,  William  F.  Harrity;  Committee  on  Resolutions,  Mar- 
tin Malony;  Committee  on  Organization,  Charles  St  Claire. 

New  York — Chairman,  John  D.  Crimmins;  Vioe-President,  John  B.  Manning;  Com- 
mitteeman,  Victor  B.  Dowling. 

Ogdensburg — Chairman,  John  B.  Riley;  Vice-President,  Very  Rev.  T.  E.  Walsh; 
Committeeman,  E.  Villers. 

Nashville — Chairman,  William  Hogan;  Vice-President,  Martin  Kelly;  Committee- 
man,  Louis  Kittman. 

Denver — Chairman,  E.  L.  Johnson;  Vice-President,  A.  G.  Gillis;  Committeeman, 
R.  S.  Morrison. 

Mobile — Chairman,  Daniel  S.  Troy;  Vice-President,  Felix  McGill;  Committeeman, 
James  G.  Terry. 

La  Crosse — Chairman,  J.  J.  Cavanaugh;  Vice  President,  Joseph  Boshert;  Com- 
mitteeman, Dr.  Edward  Evans. 

Brooklyn — Chairman,  John  McCarty;  Vice-President,  W.  Hynes;  Committeeman, 
B.  J.  York. 

Lincoln— Chairman,  J.  J.  Butler;  Vice-President,  F.  J.  Redamacher;  Committeeman, 
Aug.  Essen. 

Little  Rock — Chairman,  Judge  Murphy;  Vice-President,  John  M.  Gracie;  Com- 
mitteeman, James  A.  Gray. 

Kansas  City — Chairman,  John  Risse;  Vice-President,  Edward  Carroll;  Committee- 
man,  John  O'Flanigan. 

Harrisburg — Chairman,  Peter  A.  Mahon;  Vice-President,  James  Monagh an;  Com- 
mitteeman, Andrew  Mayer. 

Hartford — Chairman,  J.  J.  Phelan;  Vice-President,  P.  Harvan;  Committeeman,  C. 
T.  Driscoll. 

Galveston — Chairman,  W.  L.  Foley;  Vice-President,  Joseph  Engelke;  Committee- 
man,  John  T.  Brown. 

Erie — Chairman,  Major  J.  B.  Reid;  Vice-President,  James  R.  Burns;  Committee- 
man,  P.  C.  Boyle. 

Chicago — Chairman,  Charles  Mair;  Yice-President,  General  George  Smith;  Com- 
mitteeman, Thomas  Moran. 

Davenport,  Iowa— Chairman,  Fred  B.  Sharon;  Vice-President,  J.  M.  Galvin;  Com- 
mitteeman, J  J.  Smith. 

Dubuque — Chairman,  P.  H.  Donlin;  Vice-President,  Thomas  Connolly;  Committee- 
man,  J.  H.  McConlogue. 

Concordia — Chairman,  W.  R.  Geis;  Vice-President,  Charles  L.  Schwartz;  Commit- 
teeman, Leon  Werry. 

Columbue,  Ohio— Chairman,  Luke  G.  Byrne;  Vice-President,  John  A.  Kuster;  Com- 
mitteeman, John  C.  Finerman. 


42  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Salt  Lake  City — Dominick  McGuire. 

Idaho — Chairman,  Christopher  Fahy;  Vice-President,  James  F.  Kane. 

Milwaukee — Chairman,  John  Black;  Vice-President,  P.  V.  Druster;  Committeeman, 
David  Geraghty. 

Wheeling— Chairman,  Thomas  Killeen;  Vice-President,  Charles  A.  Wingerter;  Com- 
mitteeman, W.  S.  Foose. 

Indian  Territory — Rev.  D.  I.  Lanslots. 

Arizona — Chairman,  D.  J.  Brannen;  Committeeman,  M.  J.  Riordan. 

Wilmington— Chairman.  William  Michael  Byrne;  Vice-President,  J.  Smith  Brennan; 
Committeeman,  Peter  A.  Harty. 

St.  Joseph— Chairman,  Francis  Browne;  Vice-President,  Thomas  F.  Ryan;  Com- 
mitteeman, James  Hogan. 

Syracuse — Chairman,  Rev.  Father  Mullaney;  Vice-President,  Francis  Baumer. 

San  Antonio,  Texas  —  Chairman,  J.  C.  Diemlann;  Vice-President,  H.  P.  Drought; 
Committeeman,  Edward  Braden. 

St.  Louis — Chairman,  John  J.  Ganahl;  Vice-President,  Richard  C.  Kerns. 

Omaha — Chairman,  Thomas  H.  Dailey;  Vice-President,  John  McCreery;  Commit- 
teeman, J.  C.  Kinster. 

Providence — Chairman,  M.  J.  Harsen;  Vice-President,  M.  Kelly,  M.  D.;  Committee- 
man,  T.  E.  Maloney. 

Cincinnati — Chairman,  John  Rull;  Vice-President,  J.  H.  Kohmescher;  Committee- 
man,  Joseph  P.  Kealy. 

Pittsburg — Chairman,  C.  F.  McKenna;  Vice-President,  W.  S.  Head;  Committeeman, 
T.  J.  Connor. 

Ways  and  Means  Committee  —  D.  F.  Bremner,  Chicago;  John  B.  Manning,  New 
York;  James  Murdock,  Indiana;  James  Black,  Wisconsin;  Anthony  Kelly,  Minnesota; 
Thomas  C.  Lawler,  Wisconsin;  Martin  Maloney,  Philadelphia. 

Resolutions — T.  A.  Moran.  Chicago;  W.  G.  Smith,  Philadelphia;  O'Brien  K- 
Atkinson,  Michigan;  Thomas  J.  Gargan,  Boston;  H.  C.  Semple,  Alabama;  Edgar  H. 
Gans,  Baltimore;  C.  A.  Wingerter,  Wheeling,  W.  Va  ;  Dr.  J.  A.  Outherlong,  Louisville; 
Victor  J.  Dowling,  New  York;  Bishop  Ryan,  Buffalo,  and  Bishop  Watterson  of  Columbus. 

BISHOP  WATTERSON'S  ADDRESS. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  do  more  this  morning  than  to  sound  the  keynote  for  the 
discussion  of  the  social  questions  involved  in  the  comprehensive  programme  of  this 
Congress.  That  note  is  found  in  the  encyclicals  of  our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII.,  and  I  am 
glad  that  his  illustrious  representative,  the  most  reverend  apostolic  delegate,  is  here  to 
bless  and  encourage  the  discussion  by  his  distinguished  presence.  He  is  the  precious 
hostage  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff's  love  for  America  and  the  pledge  of  his  fraternal  solici- 
tude for  our  beloved  country  and  its  institutions.  The  Pope  must  teach  the  truth  to 
the  world,  for  the  world  has  need  of  truth  to  live  and  prosper.  The  lives  of  Leo  the 
Great,  Gregory  the  Great,  Gregory  VII.,  Innocent  III.,  Pius  V.,  and  Pius  IX.  illustrate 
the  marvelous  correspondence  between  the  qualities  of  these  men  and  the  needs  of  their 
peculiar  times. 

Our  present  great  and  glorious  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII.,  continues  this  wonderful  har- 
mony. He  guards  the  truth,  natural  and  revealed,  in  all  its  integrity,  as  did  his  glorious 
predecessors;  and  with  exquisite  tact  and  providential  kindness  he  draws  from  the 
treasury  of  truth  the  teachings  suited  to  the  present  hour.  In  these  times,  when  men 
are  calling  into  question  the  very  principles  on  which  not  only  the  Church  but  society 
itself — individuals,  families,  and  states — depends,  the  special  mission  of  Leo  XIII.  seems 
to  be  to  strengthen  the  foundations  of  the  whole  social  fabric.  By  his  personal  dignity 
and  .goodness,  the  practical  wisdom  of  his  teachings  and  the  firmness  of  his  acts,  he  is 
giving  the  world  to  understand  that  the  Pope  is  a  great  thing  in  the  world  and  for  the 
world;  and  intellects  heretofore  rebellious  are  accustoming  themselves  to  think  that,  if 
society  is  to  be  saved  from  a  condition  worse  in  some  respects  than  that  of  pagan  times, 
it  is  from  the  Vatican  the  savior  is  to  come.  Truth  is  the  generous  blood  which,  cours- 
ing through  the  social  body,  gives  it  light  and  energy,  health  and  beauty,  unto  all  the 
ends  for  which  it  was  established  by  the  providence  of  God.  Wherever  truth  is  aban- 
doned or  disregarded,  society  must  suffer,  and  society  is  suffering  to-day  because,  to  a 
large  extent,  it  has  practically  rejected  the  great  fundamental  principles  of  Christianity, 
and  substituted  mere  material  and  selfish  interests  as  the  moving  force  in  the  life  of 
individuals  and  nations. 

Behold,  then,  why  Leo  XIII.  is  recalling  to  the  minds  of  men  those  great  bed-rock 
truths,  on  which  the  health  and  life  of  nations  and  society  depend  —  those  truths  that 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  43 

made  firm  men  of  conviction  and  steadfast  principles,  and  through  principle  and  con- 
viction, men  of  strong  and  sturdy  natural  and  Christian  character.  It  is  such  men  that 
are  always  needed;  it  is  such  men  that  are  specially  needed  to-day.  Vigorous  in  all  the 
fullness  of  harmoniously  developed  powers,  devoted  to  higher  than  mere  natural  ends, 
alive  to  their  duties  as  well  as  their  rights,  and  ennobled  by  the  love  and  faithful  prac- 
tice of  those  great  principles  of  natural  and  Christian  ethics  which  must  underlie  any 
safe  system  of  social  and  political  economy. 

Leo  XIII.,  like  many  of  his  illustrious  predecessors  in  similar  conditions  of  society, 
is  fulfilling  his  special  mission  by  defending  the  cause  of  the  people  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  avarice  and  injustice,  espousing  the  interests  of  the  masses  against  the  ruthless 
Moloch  of  misused  wealth  and  power,  and  showing  the  shallowness  of  the  social  theories 
and  mere  philosophising  of  the  day,  while  upholding  at  the  same  time  the  rights  of 
legitimate  authority.  The  rationalists,  materialists,  socialists,  and  other  mere  humani- 
tarians have  been  delivering  natural  reason  itself  to  uncertainties  the  most  poignant,  tho 
human  heart  to  irregularities,  and  society  to  disorders,  the  inevitable  consequence  of  a 
teaching  without  sound  principles,  and,  therefore,  without  true  morality.  By  awakening 
the  love  of  strong  and  wholesome  principles  in  the  hearts  of  men  capable  of  understand- 
ing, and  inviting  attention  to  the  duties  as  well  as  the  rights  of  men,  in  calling  a  return 
to  those  simple  Christian  truths  on  which  society  was  reformed  by  our  blessed  Lord, 
Leo  XIII.  has  been  doing  a  grand  work,  not  only  for  the  present  but  for  every  future 
generation.  There  is  not  a  question  vital  to  modern  society  that  he  has  not  touched  and 
solved  in  Jhis  great  encyclicals  on  human  liberty,  political  power,  the  Christian  constitu- 
tion of  states,  and  the  condition  of  labor. 

The  whole  world  listens  with  respect  to  his  grand  words,  which  excite  our  appre- 
hension by  revealing  the  mysteries  of  society  and  reassure  us  by  pointing  out  their 
remedies.  Brought  into  close  and  intimate  relation  with  all  conditions  of  mankind,  he 
suggests  the  cure  for  the  evils  of  our  times  and  exhorts  bishops,  priests,  and  people, 
legislatures,  and  other  departments  of  civil  government  to  co-operate  with  him  in  the 
application  of  the  remedies.  He  shows  to-day  what  the  history  of  the  past  can  not  but 
show  to  the  sincere  and  candid  student — that,  as  every  single  family,  which  is  society  in 
its  germ,  and  every  organized  aggregate  of  families,  called  a  state  or  nation,  has  its 
visible  head  for  the  preservation  of  union  and  the  attainment  of  the  ends  of  civil  life, 
so,  to  promote  order  in  society  at  large,  the  very  unity  of  the  human  family  supposes, 
under  the  providence  of  God,  some  visible  and  general  authority  superior  to  every  other 
social  power  that  will  raise  its  voice,  from  pure  and  disinterested  love  of  truth  and 
justice,  against  the  attacks  of  force  and  the  encroachments  of  error  and  passion.  He 
shows  that  the  Papacy  is  this  great  necessity,  this  universal  moral  power  in  the  world, 
the  bond  of  union,  and  the  principle  of  order  in  the  human  race,  fixed  by  the  hand  of 
God  in  the  midst  of  all  society  for  the  good  of  all  society,  revindicating,  wherever  its 
authority  is  recognized,  the  natural  as  well  as  the  Christian  dignity  of  man,  and  main- 
taining the  rights  and  duties  of  individuals  and  nations  in  their  integrity  and  just  and 
even  balance 

Nor  is  the  Catholic  Church  to  be  ignored  in  this  great  work.  On  the  contrary,  she 
is  to  be  the  most  potent  factor  in  reaching  the  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished  by 
all  the  lovers  of  their  kind.  And  you,  Catholic  laymen  and  women,  are  to  have  an 
intelligent  and  active  part  in  bringing  about  the  improvement  of  the  social  system. 
You  are  to  do  it  by  your  good  example;  you  are  to  help  it  in  various  other  ways.  You 
are  to  spread  the  encyclicals  of  our  Holy  Father  Leo  XIII.,  not  only  among  those  of  the 
household  of  Faith  but  also  among  your  brethren  outside  the  pale.  You  are  to  scatter 
them  everywhere;  you  are  to  make  them  known  to  the  people  with  whom  you  are 
brought  into  companionship  in  social  and  business  life,  and  the  seeds  thus  sown  will 
bear  speedy  and  happy  fruitage.  You  are  to  organize  Catholic  workmen  into  associ- 
ations; and,  whether  it  is  better  to  band  them  into  Catholic  associations  under  Catholic 
direction,  or  to  try  to  desecularize  already  existing  associations  and  infuse  into  them 
more  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  is  a  question  that  I  leave  to  the  deliberations  of  this 
Congress. 

There  is  another  thing  that  you  all  must  take  an  active  and  interested  part  in. 
Intemperance  is  one  of  the  great  evils  of  society  to-day.  The  annual  drink  bill  of  the 
United  States  is  said  to  be  $900,000,000,  and  it  is  incurred  for  the  most  part  by  the  work- 
ing people.  And  let  me  say  plainly  here  to-day  that  the  very  first  encouragement  of 
this  work  should  be  given  by  our  bishops  and  our  priests.  For  without  their  active 
interest  and  co-operation,  nothing  will  be  accomplished,  even  if  you  hold  Catholic 
Congresses  from  now  until  the  crack  of  doom. 

Modern  philanthropists  have  been  trying  to  work  out  a  social  combination  by  which 


44  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

men  are  to  league  together  everywhere  and  thus  contribute  to  the  general  good  of  all 
humanity;  but,  well  meaning  as  they  may  be,  they  must  ba  blind  not  to  recognize  in  the 
Catholic  Church  a  society,  ever  ancient  and  ever  new,  independent  and  always  devoted 
to  the  general  good,  true  to  the  spirit  of  patriotism  by  which  we  love  and  serve  our 
country,  and  show  ourselves  ready  to  devote  our  fortunes  and  our  very  lives  to  its 
defense,  and  answering  in  every  point  to  the  needs  of  universal  peace  and  harmonious 
prosperity. 

While  conceding  to  material  progress  an  important  share  in  the  happiness  of  nations, 
she  gives  the  world  to  understand  that  temporal  prosperity  is,  after  all,  but  a  secondary 
element.  She  has  developed  the  moral  and  religious  nature  in  man  by  inspiring  him  with 
self-respect,  charity  for  his  brethren,  reverence  for  the  truth,  love  for  the  beautiful  and  the 
good,  and  a  childlike  submission  to  Almighty  God  and  every  authority  that  represents 
him  here  on  earth.  Such  a  doctrine  does  more  for  the  solid  happiness  of  society  than 
all  the  efforts  of  mere  political  economists  and  humanitarian  philosophers.  Any  plan 
that  leaves  out  these  things,  be  it  otherwise  ever  so  plausible  for  the  improvement  of 
society,  will  be  but  a  temporary  makeshift.  Far  from  reaching  the  root  of  the  evil,  it 
will  only  postpone  the  social  catastrophe  that  is  threatening  the  world. 

In  our  own  beloved  country,  one  of  the  richest  on  the  globe,  evils  are  growing  to  an 
alarming  extent.  Class  is  arrayed  against  class,  labor  *i gainst  capital,  and  capital 
against  labor.  The  spirit  of  unrest  and  discontent  is  stirring  the  masses.  There  is  a 
great  and  crying  injustice  somewhere.  The  true  relation  of  rights  and  duties,  extend- 
ing all  through  the  complicated  elements  of  society,  is  disregarded  or  not  understood. 
The  social  machine  has  lost  its  equilibrium.  How  can  it  be  restored?  For  my  part 
knowing  that  whatever  social  improvement  has  taken  place  in  the  whole  human  race 
has  been  wrought  out  by  the  principles  of  true  Christianity  in  its  action  on  the  human 
heart,  I  have  little  confidence  in  any  other  power.  Civil  legislation  has  done  something, 
and  it  may  do  something  yet,  but  only  when  in  harmony  with  the  Gospel  of  Christian 
love. 

Bring,  then,  from  the  religion  of  Christ,  those  saving  lessons  of  divine  wisdom  and 
goodness  with  which  it  abounds.  Infuse  its  spirit  into  the  hearts  of  men  until,  by  its 
sweet  influence,  it  overmasters  the  avarice  and  selfishness  that  have  made  them  obdu- 
rate and  insensible.  Teach  the  rich  to  love  money  less,  and  men  more,  individual  em- 
ployers and  corporations  to  look  upon  their  employes  not  as  soulless  machines  or  mere 
material  instruments  of  production  and  consumption,  but  to  take  reverend  cognizance 
of  their  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  natures;  unite  men  into  great  trusts  of 
mutual  Christian  love. 

Teach  the  poor  that  while  inequalities  of  condition  and  class  must  exist,  they  are 
to  be  filled  with  the  love  of  their  fellowmen;  they  are  to  be  sensible  of  their  responsi- 
bilities, as  well  as  their  rights,  and  are  not  to  regard  wealth  as  a  good  in  itself,  but  bear 
patiently  the  ills  of  life.  And  if  all  will  learn  the  lesson  in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory, 
Christianity  shall  again  have  occasion  to  exult  in  the  triumph  of  her  principles,  and 
the  world  to  exclaim,  as  in  ancient  days,  "  Behold  how  they  love  one  another! "  Evils 
will  be  remedied  to  a  great  extent,  and  society  will  bear  again  moral  and  religious 
fruits,  and  upon  this  triumph  of  the  future,  Leo  XIII  will  have  his  powerful  influence. 

Just  as  Bishop  Watterson  had  finished  his  noble  address  the  Most  Rev. 
Apostolic  Delegate,  Mgr.  Satolli,  entered  the  hall,  accompanied  by  His  Grace 
the  Archbishop  of  St.  Paul.  He  was  received  with  vociferous  and  prolonged 
cheering,  in  response  to  which  the  eminent  prelate  addressed  the  Congress  in 
the  Italian  tongue,  his  remarks  being  thus  interpreted  immediately  follow- 
ing, by  Archbishop  Ireland  : 

MGR.    SATOLLl's    ADDRESS. 

I  beg  leave  to  repeat,  in  unmusical  tones,  a  few  of  the  thoughts  that  his  excellency, 
the  Most  Reverend  Apostolic  Delegate,  has  presented  to  you  in  his  own  beautiful  and 
musical  Italian  language.  The  Delegate  expresses  his  great  delight  to  be,  this  morning, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Catholic  Columbian  Congress.  He  begs  leave  to  offer  you  the 
salutation  of  the  great  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII.  In  the  name  of  Leo  he  salutes  the  spiritual 
children  of  the  Church  on  this  American  Continent;  in  the  name  of  Leo  he  salutes  the 
great  American  Republic  herself. 

It  is,  he  says,  a  magnificent  spectacle  to  see  laymen,  priests,  and  bishops  assem- 
bled here  together  to  discuss  the  vital  social  problems  which  the  modern  conditions  of 
humanity  bring  up  before  us.  The  advocates  of  error  have  their  congresses,  why  should 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  45 

not  the  friends  and  advocates  of  truth  have  their  congresses?  This  Congress  assembled 
here  to-day  will,  no  doubt,  be  productive  of  rich  and  magnificent  results.  You  have  met 
to  show  that  the  Church,  while  opening  to  men  the  treasures  of  heaven,  offers,  also, 
felicity  on  earth.  As  St.  Paul  has  said:  "She  is  made  for  earth  and  heaven;  she  is  the 
promise  of  the  future  life  and  the  life  that  is."  All  congresses  are,  so  to  speak,  concen- 
trations of  great  forces.  Your  object  is  to  consider  the  social  forces  that  God  has  pro- 
vided, and  to  apply,  as  far  as  you  can,  to  the  special  circumstances  of  your  own  time  and 
country  these  great  principles. 

The  great  social  forces  are  thought,  will,  and  action.  In  a  congress  you  bring 
before  you  these  three  great  forces.  Thought  finds  its  food  in  truth;  so  in  all  that  you 
do,  in  all  the  practical  conclusions  that  you  formulate,  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  they 
must  all  rest  upon  the  eternal  principles  of  truth.  Will  is  the  rectitude  of  the  human 
heart,  and  until  the  human  heart  is  voluntarily  subjected  to  truth  and  virtue,  all  social 
reforms  are  impossible.  Then  comes  action,  which  aims  at  the  acquisition  of  the  good 
needed  for  the  satisfaction  of  mankind;  and  this  again  must  be  regulated  by  truth  in 
thought  and  by  virtue  in  the  human  will.  The  well-being  of  society  consists  in  the 
perfect  order  of  the  different  elements  toward  the  great  scope  of  society.  Order  is  the 
system  of  the  different  relations  of  the  different  elements,  one  to  the  other,  and  these 
relations  to  which  men  are  subject  are  summarized  in  three  words — God,  man,  and 
nature. 

Man  has  first  of  all  his  great  duties  to  God,  which  never  must  be  forgotten.  He 
then  has  his  duties  to  himself  and  to  his  fellowmen;  and,  finally,  he  has  relations  with 
the  great  world  of  nature  over  which  his  action  is  exercised.  From  the  several  con- 
siderations of  these  different  relations  spring  up  the  great  problems  which  at  all  times 
have  vexed  man's  mind — the  great  problems  which  to-day  are  before  us  in  view  of  the 
different  evolutions,  social  and  otherwise,  which  mark  our  modern  needs.  Your  Social 
Congress  has  convened  to-day.  Bear  in  mind  that  there  was  a  first  great  Social  Con- 
gress, which  is  to  be  the  model  of  yours,  which  gave  out  the  principles  which  must 
underlie  your  deliberations.  The  great  Social  Congress,  the  ideal  and  model  of  all 
others,  was  held  when  Christ,  surrounded  by  the  thousands  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
delivered  his  great  discourse  on  the  mountain. 

There  the  solution  was  given  to  human  problems;  there  were  laid  down  the  vital 
principles.  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  its  justice  and  all  other  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you,"  says  the  good  book.  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God."  Look  up  to 
the  divinity  without  which  man  is  absolutely  at  sea.  Fill  out  first  your  duties  to  God, 
without  the  observance  of  which  other  duties  are  a  name.  Seek  God's  justice  in  your 
relations  one  with  another.  Be  guided  by  the  eternal  law  of  the  Most  High,  and  then 
all  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.  Know  God's  truth  and  live  by  God's  justice,  and 
the  peace  and  the  felicity  of  earth  shall  be  yours.  The  same  great  voice  said,  "  Blessed 
are  the  poor  in  spirit;  blessed  are  they  who  thirst  after  justice;  blessed  are  the 
merciful." 

Men  should  not  devote  their  whole  being  and  all  their  energies  to  the  seeking  out 
of  mere  matter.  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit " — that  is  free  and  independent  of  the 
shackles  of  mere  matter.  "  Blessed  are  they  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  justice  "- 
justice  first  before  self-satisfaction,  before  all  attention  to  one's  personal  wants.  And 
"  blessed  are  the  merciful."  Blessed  are  they  who  know  and  feel  that  they  don't  live 
for  themselves,  whose  hearts  go  out  in  sweetest  mercy  to  all  their  fellows.  History  has 
proven  that  human  reason  alone  does  not  solve  the  great  social  problems.  These 
problems  were  spoken  of  in  the  pre-Christian  times,  and  Aristotle  and  Plato  discussed 
them.  But  pre-Christian  times  gave  us  a  world  of  slavery  when  a  multitude  lived  only 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few. 

There  is  authority  throughout  the  story  of  man  of  a  divine  providential  design. 
Blind  is  he  who  sees  it  not,  and  he  who  studies  it  not  courts  disaster.  It  was  when 
Christ  brought  down  upon  earth  the  great  truths  from  the  bosom  of  his  Father,  that 
humanity  was  lifted  up  and  entered  upon  a  new  road  to  happiness  and  felicity.  Christ 
brought  to  nature  the  additional  gift  of  the  supernatural.  Both  are  needed,  and  he 
who  would  have  one  without  the  other  fails.  The  supernatural  comes  not  to  destroy 
or  eliminate  the  natural,  but  to  purify  it,  to  elevate  it,  to  build  it  up,  and  hence,  since 
the  coming  of  Christ,  science,  art,  philosophy,  social  economy,  all  studies  partake  of 
the  natural  as  well  as  the  supernatural — the  natural  coming  from  man's  own  thoughts 
and  man's  own  actions,  and  the  supernatural  pouring  down  upon  those  thoughts  and 
actions  direction,  richness,  and  grace. 

To-day  it  is  the  duty  of  Catholics  to  bring  into  the  world  the  fullness  of  super- 
natural  truth  and  supernatural  life.  This  is  especially  the  duty  of  a  Catholij 


46  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Congress.  There  are  nations  who  are  never  separated  from  the  Church,  but  which 
have  neglected  often  to  apply  in  full  degree  the  lessons  of  the  gospel.  There  are 
nations  who  have  gone  out  from  the  Church,  bringing  with  them  many  of  her  treas- 
ures, and  because  of  what  they  have  brought  yet  show  virgin  light;  but,  cut  from  the 
source,  unless  that  source  is  brought  into  close  contact  with  them,  there  is  danger  for 
them.  Bring  them  in  contact  with  these  divine  forces  by  your  action  and  your 
teachings.  Bring  your  fellow-countrymen  back;  bring  your  country  into  immediate 
connection  with  the  great  source  of  truth  and  light,  and  the  blessed  influence  of  Christ 
and  Christ's  Church.  And  in  this  manner  shall  it  come  to  pass  that  the  words  of  the 
psalmist  shall  be  fulfilled:  "  Mercy  and  justice  have  you  one  with  another;  justice 
and  peace  prevail." 

Let  us  restore  among  men  justice  and  charity.  Let  us  teach  men  to  be  prompt 
ever  to  make  sacrifice  of  self  for  the  common  good.  This  is  the  foundation  of  all  social 
elevating  movements;  it  is  the  foundation  of  your  own  Congress.  Now.  all  these  great 
principles  have  been  marked  out  in  the  most  luminous  lines  in  the  encyclicals  of  the 
great  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII.  We  then  study  those  encyclicals;  hold  fast  to  them  as  the 
safest  anchorage.  The  social  questions  are  being  studied  the  world  over.  It  is  well 
they  should  be  studied  in  America,  for  here  do  we  have  more  than  elsewhere  the  keys 
to  the  future.  Here  in  America  you  have  a  country  blessed  specially  by  Providence,  in 
the  fertility  of  its  fields  and  the  liberty  of  its  institutions.  Here  you  have  a  country 
which  will  pay  back  all  efforts,  not  merely  tenfold,  but  a  hundredfold;  and  this  no  one 
understands  better  than  the  immortal  Leo,  and  he  charges  his  Delegate  to  speak  out  to 
America  words  of  hope  and  blessing. 

Then,  in  conclusion,  the  Delegate  begs  of  you  American  Catholics  to  be  fully  loyal 
to  your  great  mission  and  the  duties  which  your  circumstances  impose  upon  you.  Here 
are  golden  words  spoken  by  the  Delegate  in  concluding  his  discourse:  "Go  forward!  in 
one  hand  bearing  the  Book  of  Christian  truth  and  in  the  other  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States." 

Christian  truth  and  American  liberty  will  make  you  free,  happy,  and  prosperous. 
They  will  put  you  on  the  road  to  progress.  May  your  steps  ever  persevere  on  that  road. 
Again  he  salutes  you  with  all  his  heart.  Again  he  expresses  his  delight  to  be  with  you, 
and  again  speaks  forth  to  you  in  strongest  and  sweetest  tones  the  love  of  your  Holy 
Father,  Leo  XIII. 

A  pleasing  incident  of  this  session  was  an  invitation  extended  to  the  col- 
ored Catholics,  who  had  begun  holding  their  meetings  in  one  of  the  lesser 
halls,  to  come  in  and  participate  in  the  general  Congress.  An  original  and 
philosophical  presentation  of  the  current  topic  was  then  made  by  Hon. 
E.  O.  Browne  of  Chicago,  in  the  following  terms: 

LABOR    AND    CAPITAL. 

In  common  speech,  as  in  the  scheme  for  this  Congress,  labor  and  capital  are  used  as 
contra-distinguished  terms  —  things  set  off  against  each  other  —  the  rights  of  the  one 
and  the  duties  of  the  other  being  the  matters  especially  to  be  insisted  on,  and  reconciled, 
if  reconciliation  may  in  any  way  be  between  things  assumed  thus  to  be  so  antagonistic 
and  engaged  in  such  an  irreconcilable  conflict.  That  there  is  such  a  conflict  in  appear- 
ance, is  as  evident  as  it  is  in  appearance  that  the  sun  circles  about  the  earth.  But  I 
hold  it  to  be  no  more  a  real  phenomenon  of  our  social  life  and  organization  than  the 
motion  of  the  sun  is  of  the  natural  world. 

It  is  because  I  utterly  dispute  the  thesis  that  capital  and  labor  are  antagonistic,  that 
they  have  separate  interests,  that  there  are  duties  incumbent  upon  one  which  are  not 
duties  of  the  other,  or  rights  belonging  to  the  one  which  are  not  equally  the  rights  of 
the  other,  that  I  have  accepted  the  compliment  conveyed  to  me  by  the  request  that  I 
should  read  a  paper  at  this  Congress,  provided  that  I  could  take  for  its  text  but  one 
member  of  the  announced  subject  of  discussion.  "The  Rights  of  Labor,"  simply,  is  my 
thesis,  and  I  hold  that  this  includes  both  the  rights  and  duties  of  capital,  for  capital  is 
but  crystallized,  accumulated  labor,  having  no  possible  interests,  economically  speaking, 
diverse  from  those  of  labor.  In  one  view  it  is  but  a  subdivision  of  labor;  in  another,  but 
a  vool  which  labor  has  itself  fashioned  by  its  own  hands,  which  is  used  solely  in  its  own 
hands,  and  which  is  entitled,  therefore,  iii  and  by  itself,  to  that  protection  and  considera- 
tion only  which  its  creator,  owner,  and  user  demands  for  it,  as  one  of  its  valuable  adjuncts 
and  belongings. 

Briefly,  my  argument  is  to  be  that  capitalist  and  laborer,  economically  speaking. 
are  the  same,  entitled  to  one  transcendent,  all-important  right,  the  right  to  liberty,  and 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  47 

•subject  to  one  controlling  obligation  or  duty,  so  to  use  that  liberty  as  not  to  violate  the 
freedom  of  any  other.  Carried  to  their  only  possible,  rational,  and  logical  conclusion,  I 
shall  contend  that  these  propositions  lead  to  the  demonstration  that  the  present  lamentable 
condition  of  labor,  or  more  properly  and  accurately  speaking,  of  the  laborer,  is  due  not  to 
•encroachments,  invasions,  or  injustice  by  capital  or  the  capitalists,  but  by  their  common 
antagonist,  monopoly  and  the  monopolists,  against  whom  it  is  indeed  most  necessary  and 
wholesome  that  the  rights  of  the  laborer  should  be  most  strenuously  asserted  and 
defended.  Not  too  loudly  can  the  note  of  alarm  be  struck,  nor  the  call  to  arms  sounded. 

To  sustain  my  argument  I  need  first  to  state  clearly  the  sense  in  which  I  use,  and 
as  I  submit  accurately,  use,  the  terms  with  which  I  am  dealing.  What  is  labor,  what  is 
capital,  what  is  monopoly?  To  define  labor  in  economics  is  easy.  It  is  the  employment 
of  energy,  physical  or  mental,  toward  the  production  of  wealth  in  the  largest  sense — of 
goods,  of  those  things,  that  is,  which  make  for  the  health,  comfort,  instruction,  and 
pleasure  of  men.  But  the  words  "  production  of  wealth  "  are  to  be  taken  in  no  narrow 
sense.  All  will  admit  doubtless  that  wealth,  for  example,  is  as  much  produced  by  the 
excavation  of  a  tunnel  through  the  Alps,  as  in  the  rolling  of  the  railroad  iron  which  is 
laid  through  it  after  it  is  excavated,  but  the  equally  salient  facts  are  not  so  well  under- 
stood and  plainly  admitted,  perhaps,  that  equally  with  him  who  fashions  it,  that  man 
produces  wealth  who  transports  a  thing  from  a  place  where  it  is  not  desired,  or  desired 
but  slightly,  to  another  where  it  is  strongly  desired,  or  who  as  a  shopkeeper  keeps  it  in 
store  until  the  consumer  at  that  point  needs  it.  And  it  is  even  less  apparent,  perhaps, 
that  the  priest,  the  poet,  or  the  minstrel,  who  by  his  exertion  encourages  and  increases 
the  potential  energy  of  the  manual  laborer,  is  economically,  under  our  description,  a 
laborer,  too.  But  these  propositions  are  after  all  the  commonplaces  of  political  economy, 
and  I  must  assume,  not  argue  them,  and  ask  you  to  think  of  labor  in  this  large  and 
comprehensive  sense  whenever  I  use  the  term  in  this  paper. 

Of  capital  it  is  a  less  simple  task  to  make  a  definition  which  may  be  denominated 
both  accurate  and  economically  orthodox.  But  this  springs  not  from  any  inherent  diffi- 
culty or  vagueness  in  the  conception,  but  solely  from  the  loose,  unprecise  way  in  which 
writers  on  political  economy,  accounted  orthodox,  have  used  the  word.  But  the  general 
idea,  which  has  always,  although  with  more  or  less  vagueness  and  want  of  precision, 
been  attached  to  the  word  in  economic  discussion,  and  which  may  therefore  be  properly 
presumed  to  be  the  meaning  which  belongs  to  it  in  the  scheme  of  subjects  chosen  for 
the  consideration  of  this  Congress,  has  been  expressed  by  late  economic  writers  with 
substantial  accuracy  as  "  Wealth  in  process  of  exchange." 

This,  it  will  be  seen,  excludes  what  some  political  economists  have  inconsiderately 
included  in  the  term  capital — wealth  reserved  by  its  owner  for  consumption  in  his  own 
physical  and  personal  necessities — comforts  and  pleasures,  and  limits  it  to  wealth  used 
in  the  assistance  of  labor  in  the  production  of  other  wealth,  in  the  course  of  which 
assistance  to  labor  this  wealth  is  changing  form  or  use.  For  exchange  in  the  sense  in 
which  it  is  here  used  does  not  mean  the  mere  passing  from  hand  to  hand,  but  also  such 
transmutations  as  occur  when  the  reproductive  forces  of  nature  are  utilized  for  the 
increase  of  wealth. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  allude  to  the  vulgar  and  absurd  conception  of  capital  as 
money,  and  of  the  capitalist  as  the  man  who  has  stores  of  currency,  for  there  is  no  one 
here,  I  am  sure,  who  does  not  realize  that  money  itself  is  but  a  labor-saving  tool  of  trade 
to  facilitate  exchange,  useful  in  the  highest  degree,  but  not  even  indispensable  to  life, 
civilization,  and  forming  in  its  aggregate  amount  but  a  very  small  and  insignificant  part 
of  that  stored-up  result  of  labor  properly  called  wealth.  The  capitalist  is  not  the  man 
who  has  money  necessarily.  He  may  have  no  considerable  amount  of  it,  and  yet  in  other 
forms  of  wealth — useful  in  production  —  be  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice.  Of 
course,  under  any  usual  or  ordinary  conditions,  money  being  the  commonest  medium  of 
exchange,  this  possession  of  exchangeable  wealth  will  give  him  great  power  of  obtain- 
ing quantities  of  money  should  he  prefer,  as  he  very  seldom  will  do,  to  have  his  wealth 
in  that  p?~ticular  form.  But  it  may  be  necessary  to  call  particular  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  definition  of  capital  excludes  many  things  which  are  carelessly  and  incorrectly 
called  capital  which  are  not  wealth  at  all,  for  wealth  consists  economically  only  of 

foods,  good  things  adapted  by  the  energy,  mental  or  physical,  of  man  to  the  use  of  man. 
t  is,  therefore,  the  result  of  labor  applied  to  natural  opportunities,  or,  as  we  call  them 
generically.  land.    Labor  and  land,  therefore,  are  the  primary  and  only  essential  factors 
of  the  production  of  wealth,  but  a  portion  of  the  stored  up  wealth  which  labor  applied 
to  land  has  produced  assists  and  increases  the  power  of  labor  under  the  name  of  capital. 
But  it  is  evident  that  there  are  powers  and  privileges  belonging  to  certain  classes 
in  every  existing  social  organization,  which,  although  not  capital  and  not  wealth  in  any 


48  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

sense  whatever,  give  the  persons  and  classes  enjoying  them  the  advantages  which  belong 
to  capital  and  to  the  possession  of  true  wealth.  I  am  not  here  denying  the  necessity, 
the  justice,  or  the  propriety  of  the  arrangements  which  give  those  powers  and  privileges, 
but  merely  calling  attention  to  their  existence.  The  people  with  these  privileges  and 
powers  have  the  ability  to  control  the  labor  of  others,  and  to  obtain  the  use  of  others' 
capital  upon  terms  dictated  not  by  free  contract,  but  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  by  their 
own  choice.  If  you  can  for  a  moment  eliminate  from  it  any  opprobrious  signification, 
it  would  be  most  convenient  to  call  this  class  in  economic  organization  monopolists,  as 
distinguished  from  laborers  and  capitalists,  and,  abstractly  to  speak,  of  labor,  capital, 
and  monopoly  as  three  contradistinguished  things.  But  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that 
monopoly  is  not  like  capital,  the  product  of  labor,  at  all.  Wealth,  of  which  capital  is  a 
part,  is  the  natural  product  of  the  combination  of  labor  and  land,  the  natural  result  of 
the  one  applied  to  the  other.  Monopoly  is  the  result  of  artificial,  man  made  conven- 
tions, agreements,  institutions,  and  laws.  To  it  belong  all  such  things  as  franchises  or 
rights,  so-called,  guaranteed  to  some  people  by  some  social  convention  or  institution 
which  others  are  not  allowed  to  enjoy  or  compete  for,  all  patent  privileges,  by  which  a 
portion  of  the  labor  of  others  goes  to  the  original  inventor  or  designer  of  some  product 
of  labor,  and,  infinitely  more  important  than  anything  else  falling  under  this  classifica- 
tion, the  guaranteed  exclusive  possession  of  purely  natural  opportunities,  or  land,  in  the 
economic  sense,  by  which  must  be  understood  to  be  meant  land  in  the  narrower  sense, 
without  consideration  of  improvements — water  powers,  air,  harbor  facilities,  and  the  use 
of  natural  bodies  of  water  of  whatever  form  or  nature.  For  such  guaranteed  exclusive 
possession  makes  of  the  class  of  land-owners  necessarily  a  class  of  monopolists.  The 
land  is  not  the  result  of  their  labor,  or  of  any  other  human  being's.  It  does  not  fall  under 
the  accurate  definition  of  wealth,  much  less  of  capital.  But  the  right  to  its  exclusive 
possession  gives,  and  gives  with  more  certainty  than  any  other  thing,  the  advantages  of 
the  possession  of  wealth  and  the  means  of  procuring  it  by  the  control  and  utilization  for 
one's  self  of  the  labor  of  others. 

As  the  oriental  aphorism  well  puts  it,  "  To  whomsoever  the  soil  at  any  time  belongs, 
to  him  belong  the  fruits  of  it."  White  parasols  and  elephants  made  with  pride  are  the 
flowers  of  a  grant  of  land,  or,  as  Carlyle  has  it,  "  From  a  widow  gathering  nettles  for  her 
children's  dinner,  the  perfumed  land-holding  seigneur  can  by  a  subtle  alchemy  extract 
every  third  nettle  and  call  it  rent."  I  am  not  intending  by  this  assertion  of  its  charac- 
ter as  monopoly  to  attack  land-ownership,  even  in  its  present  form,  or  under  its  present 
unrestrained  and  unlimited  conditions.  I  have  an  abiding  conviction  that  that  form 
and  those  conditions  ought  to  be  changed,  an  unwavering  faith  that  they  must  and  soon 
will  be  so  changed,  but  even  the  suggestion  of  this  obligation  and  necessity  I  leave  for 
the  conclusion  of  my  paper,  while  that  in  a  changed  and  modified  form  such  ownership 
as  is  involved  in  the  private  individual,  guaranteed  continuous  and  permanent  posses- 
sion of  land,  is  right,  proper,  and  necessary,  I  propose  distinctly  hereafter  to  point  out. 
But  I  wish  to  insist  here  upon  the  essential  nature  of  land-ownership.  If  it  be  a  proper 
and  necessary  monopoly,  it  is  none  the  less  monopoly,  as  we  have  used  that  word  in  con- 
tradistinction from  labor  and  capital. 

When  James  I.  granted  to  Buckingham  the  exclusive  privilege  of  making  gold  and 
silver  thread  and  prohibited  under  severe  penalties  all  manufacture  of  it  save  under 
Buckingham's  license  or  control,  the  income  which  flowed  into  the  favorite's  coffers  was 
not  a  return  to  capital, — it  was  the  profit  of  monopoly,  taken  as  a  toll  or  tax  from  the 
labor  and  capital  of  others,  enslaving  the  first  and  confiscating  the  second.  And  when 
the  iron  mine  operator  pays  to  the  holder  of  the  title  of  the  land  on  which  that  mine 
was  found,  but  who  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  its  development  or  its  working,  a  royalty 
on  each  ton  of  ore  taken  from  it,  that  income  of  the  mine  owner  is  equally  with  Buck- 
ingham's, simply  the  profit  of  monopoly,  a  tax  or  toll  upon  the  production  of  laborers 
therein  employed  and  the  capital  by  which  that  labor  is  assisted.  The  one  may  have 
been  iniquitous  and  unnecessary,  the  other  praiseworthy  and  necessary,  monopoly.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  they  are  both  monopolies. 

And  now  that  I  have  endeavored  to  make  clear  the  distinction  between  labor, 
capital,  and  monopoly,  I  wish  to  postpone  suggestion  of  the  rights  of  labor  as  against 
monopoly  and  to  address  myself  to  the  immediate  question:  What  are  the  rights  of 
labor  as  against  capital? 

Is  not  the  answer  obvious  from  the  statement  of  their  nature  which  has  been  made? 
The  rights  of  a  laborer  against  a  capitalist  (labor  against  capital  is  but  a  vague  way  of 
expressing  this  concrete  idea)  are  his  rights  as  against  another  laborer,  no  more  and  no 
less.  They  do  not  belong  to  contradistinguished  classes  at  all.  At  the  very  utmost, 
assuming  the  natural  opportunity  on  which  labor  can  act  to  be  freely  obtainable,  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  49 

capitalist  can  be  but  the  assistant  of  the  laborer,  who  is  willing  to  use  the  tools  and 
assistance  he  offers  for  a  part  of  the  product  of  the  more  efficient  labor  which  can  thus 
be  performed.  Nothing  has  been  more  successfully  disproved  than  the  proposition  that 
it  is  capital  which  employs  labor.  It  is  labor  which  employs  capital  as  its  tool.  But 
we  must  keep  in  mind  ever  in  considering  this  statement  the  distinction  that  has  been 
made  between  capital  and  monopoly.  Capital  does  not  only  employ  labor,  it  is  labor 
that  employs  capital.  But  monopoly  does  employ  both  labor  and  capital  and  at  its  own 
terms — in  other  words,  in  a  sense  it  enslaves  them. 

To  return.  I  have  said  that  at  the  utmost  the  capitalists  can  be  nothing  but  the 
assistants-of  laborers,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  are  very  largely  the  laborers  them- 
selves. Not  only  are  they  clearly  distinguished  and  antagonistic  classes,  they  are  not 
even  separate  classes  at  all.  Every  street  laborer  with  his  own  pickax  is  a  capitalist 
as  well  as  a  laborer,  he  can  only  be  a  laborer  without  being  a  capitalist  if  he  is  utterly 
without  tools  and  is  furnished  them  by  others.  And  even  then  he  may  not  be,  for  the 
capital  which  is  used  by  labor  as  an  assistance  in  all  great  works  is  generally,  through 
the  agency  of  a  complex  system  of  credits,  a  part  of  the  wealth  which  the  banks  and 
various  financial  institutions  of  a  country  concentrate,  manage,  and  control,  but  are  far 
from  owning.  That  wealth  is  very  largely  the  property  of  laborers  of  all  sorts  and 
kinds.  Every  workman  who  has  a  savings  deposit,  or  a  share  of  building  company 
stock,  is  furnishing  capital  to  assist  labor  and  of  course  is  a  laborer  as  well  as  a  capitalist. 
And  who  should  be  the  capitalist  but  the  laborer?  There  were  in  any  primitive  state  of 
society  but  two  factors  in  production,  the  laborer  and  the  natural  opportunities  he 
worked  on. 

Assuming  the  natural  opportunities  for  work  to  be  free,  the  labprers  must  have  had 
all  the  results  of  production  which  are  their  natural  wages.  Nor  under  such  a  condi- 
tion of  freedom  of  natural  opportunities  could  a  class  of  capitalists  distinct  from  labor- 
ers ever  grow  up  even,  for  while  undoubtedly  in  time  some  more  provident  than  others 
would  store  up  more  of  the  products  of  labor  to  assist  their  own  labor  in  future  produc- 
tion and  to  the  others  it  would  be  worth,  and  they  would  bid  for  it,  a  portion  of  the 
product  of  their  labor,  as  thus  assisted  by  it,  yet  the  opportunity  and  ability  to  labor 
being  always  existent,  capital  would  no  more  than  in  the  beginning  of  the  community 
life  be  indispensable  to  the  life  or  production  of  the  laborer,  and  it  could  and  would 
demand  and  receive  no  more  than  its  value  as  a  tool  increasing  the  efficiency  of  his 
labor.  In  such  a  state  of  freedom  for  labor,  we  may  well  be  sure  that  no  such  idea  as 
that  of  a  wage  fund  would  take  root,  nor  capital  become  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  a 
small  class.  But  if,  by  some  man-made  law,  some  institution  or  convention  of  society, 
be  it  praiseworthy  or  blameworthy,  such  a  position  of  advantage  is  granted  or  guaran- 
teed to  either  capitalist  or  laborer,  as  places  the  other  in  a  position  where  his  freedom 
in  the  contract  is  gone — for  example,  if  the  social  organization  is  so  arranged  that  the 
capitalist  can,  with  much  greater  ease  than  the  laborer,  become  the  monopolist,  and 
either  pass  from  the  class  which  loans  to  labor  its  efficient  tools  to  the  one  which  con- 
trols the  only  opportunities  for  the  use  of  either  labor  or  tools,  or,  as  generally  happens, 
conjoin  in  his  own  person  the  two  characters,  there  arises  naturally,  and  at  once,  an 
apparent  contest  between  the  capitalist  and  laborer,  such  as  at  preseut  exists.  But  it 
is  not  between  the  capitalist  and  the  laborer  as  capitalist  and  laborer.  It  is  between  the 
monopolist  and  the  man  seeking  an  opportunity  to  labor.  On  the  one  side,  theoretically, 
are  the  persons  holding  the  natural  opportunities  on  which  alone  labor  is  of  any  utility 
or  effect,  and  who  demand  for  the  use  of  them  as  rent — toll,  the  profits  of  monopoly — • 
as  large  a  portion  of  the  product  of  such  labor  as  they  can  get.  On  the  other  are  ranged 
together  both  capitalists  and  laborers,  demanding  only  the  chance  to  labor  in  and  on 
those  natural  opportunities,  but  willing  to  give  up  for  the  use  of  them  only  the  smallest 
part  of  the  product  of  their  labor  for  which  they  can  obtain  it.  Natural  opportunities, 
immense  in  quantity  and  number  as  they  are,  are  limited  by  definite  and  measurable 
bounds,  unlike  the  amount  of  capital  (for  the  possibilities  of  the  production  of  wealth 
are  practically  illimitable).  Here  the  pinch  begins.  Here  the  contest  must  rage. 

The  laborer  may  make  such  terms,  and  come  to  such  agreement  with  the  capitalist, 
or  the  capitalist  with  the  laborer,  as  they  may  choose.  By  themselves  they  will  be 
futile,  for  labor,  with  or  without  the  tool  called  capital,  can  find  no  employment  except 
by  application  to  monopoly.  On  the  other  hand,  if  monopoly  gives  its  permission,  labor 
can  make  its  own  way  and  sustain  itself  without  the  assistance  of  capital  at  all.  It 
need  never  do  so,  however,  for  whenever  the  ability  and  opportunity  for  profitable  work 
exist  in  the  same  control,  capital  flows  and  asks  investment  as  naturally  as  water  rolls 
down  hill. 

The  correla'ive  rights  and  duties  of  the  laborer,  then.  I  repeat,  as  against  the  cap- 


50  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

italist,  and  of  the  capitalist  against  the  laborer  are  the  same.  They  are  the  rights  and 
duties,  too,  of  each  laborer  as  against  every  other  laborer,  and  of  each  capitalist  as 
against  every  other  capitalist. 

The  right  is  the  right  to  liberty;  that  is,  the  right  to  one's  own  self,  and  the  product 
of  one's  own  labor,  which  involves  entire  freedom  of  contract.  The  duty  is  the  duty  of 
so  using  and  limiting  that  liberty  as  to  preserve  the  equal  freedom  of  all  others.  Viewed 
from  such  a  standpoint,  of  course  the  wrong  theoretically  involved  in  the  intimidation 
of  men  willing  and  anxious  to  work,  which  frequently  accompanies  labor  agitations  and 
strikes,  and  the  interference  which  then  frequently  takes  place  with  their  freedom  of 
contract,  becomes  clear,  and  so,  it  seems  to  me,  does  the  similar  wrong  which  interferes 
with  the  freedom  of  contract  in  relation  to  the  interest  which  the  capitalist  may  ask  for 
the  use  of  the  tool  which  he  proffers  to  the  laborer. 

It  is  not  due  to  anything  in  the  inherent  relations  of  capital  and  labor  at  all,  that 
these  views  of  rights  and  wrongs  are  not  universally  recognized  under  present  con- 
ditions. It  is  because  these  relations  are  complicated  by  the  antagonism  that  I  have 
indicated  heretofore.  Capital  and  labor  on  the  one  side  must  meet  monopoly  on  the 
other.  And  because  of  the  great  ease  with  which  the  capitalist  can-  become  the  mo- 
nopolist, or,  perhaps,  more  properly  speaking,  the  certainty  with  which  the  monopolist 
becomes  also  to  some  extent  the  capitalist,  a  general  looseness  and  vagueness  of  think- 
ing has  placed  on  the  words  "  capitalist "  and  "  capital "  an  economical  and  social 
meaning  which  belongs  not  to  them,  but  to  "  monopolist  "  and  "  monopoly  "  alone. 

In  a  scheme  like  that  of  this  Congress  I  would  have  named  as  the  subject  of  dis- 
cussion not  "  The  Rights  of  Labor  and  the  Duties  of  Capital,"  but  "  The  Rights  of 
Labor  and  Capital  and  the  Duties  of  Monopoly."  Capital,  as  I  have  shown,  is,  after 
all,  but  a  subdivision  of  labor,  and  the  terms  might  well  be  shortened  to  the  contradis- 
tinguished ones,  labor  and  monopoly.  It  is  to  the  maladjustment  between  these  two 
that  I  believe  the  economic  misery  of  the  world  to-day  is  due,  that  misery  for  which 
the  Holy  Father  so  truly  says  some  remedy  must  be  quickly  found.  This  it  is  that  calls 
so  loudly  for  the  vindication  of  the  rights  of  labor.  For  what  is  the  result  of  the  pres- 
ent conditions?  Are  not  the  material  wants  and  desires  of  men  everywhere  those 
which  the  physical  resources  of  this  wonderful  earth  on  which  we  have  been  put  are 
able  on  the  expenditure  of  labor  to  supply?  Are  not  those  physical  resources  lying  in 
great  proportion  unworked  and  idle  all  over  the  globe?  We  have  but  scratched  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  the  treasures  of  its  deeps  have  been  but  barely  uncovered.  On 
the  other  hand,  are  the  skill  and  industry  wanting  in  mankind  to  develop  those  resources? 
Look  about  you  at  the  great  exhibition  and  reply.  But  notwithstanding  the  co-exist- 
ence of  the  wants,  the  resources,  and  the  skill  and  industry,  millions  of  willing  men 
stand  unemployed,  while  coal  mines  are  unworked,  and  wheat  fields  untilled,  and  women 
and  children  in  our  great  cities  die  of  cold  and  starvation. 

It  has  become  fashionable  in  our  day  to  deny  the  existence  of  natural  human 
rights,  to  declare  that  civilization  knows  no  general  law  but  that  of  natural  selection 
and  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  to  hold  that  there  is  no  remedy  for  human  wretchedness 
but  to  limit  population,  that  nature  is  niggardly  and  the  economic  problem  lies  in  produc- 
tion and  not  in  distribution.  This  is  atheism,  not  Christianity.  As  men  and  women  who 
believe  in  our  holy  religion  which  teaches  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man  we  can  have  none  of  it.  For  us  God  is  no  niggard  and  no  bungler.  He  has  not 
brought  into  the  world  more  men  than  the  world  can  abundantly  supply  with  the  means 
of  a  healthy,  natural,  developing  life,  nor  men  without  the  ability  to  turn  these  means 
to  account.  It  is  not  the  problem  of  production  that  confronts  us,  it  is  the  problem  of 
distribution,  and  our  errors  and  mistakes  in  its  solution  must  result  from  ignorance  or 
denial  of  the  law,  in  accordance  with  which  he  would  have  us  act. 

I  say  that  maladjustments  of  the  relations  of  monopoly  and  labor  are  the  cause  of 
the  economic  misery  of  men.  Let  me  give  you,  as  it  \v^re,  a  glimpse  of  what  I  mean  by 
a  concrete  example.  Such  an  illustration  sometimes  lights  up  an  argument  better  than 
explanation  can  do.  In  the  coal-mining  region  of  Pennsylvania  the  coal  miners  suffer 
much  discomfort  from  the  heat  in  the  summer  time.  Ice  is  a  comfort  or  luxury  which 
their  wages  do  not  permit  them  to  purchase.  In  the  winter  there  are  frequently  seasons  of 
enforced  idleness  for  them.  During  one  of  these  seasons  some  years  ago,  it  occurred  to 
some  of  them  to  cut  and  store  for  future  use  and  the  increase  of  their  comfort 
during  the  coming  summer,  ice  that  formed  in  the  numerous  sink  holes  on  the  mining 
corporation's  land,  and  which  in  all  previous  years  had  melted  unutilized  in  the 
spring.  The  ice-cutting  commenced,  the  telegraph  bore  from  the  resident  agent  to  the 
company's  offices  in  Philadelphia  the  news  of  it,  and  bore  back  again  the  laconic  mes- 
sage: "  Permit  no  ice  to  be  cut  except  on  payment  of  rent."  Then  the  ice-cutting  ceased, 
and  the  ice  as  usual  melted  in  natural  course. 


AKCHBISHOP  KIORDAN, 

SAN  FRANCISCO. 

AKCHBISHOP  KATZER, 

MILWAUKEE. 


ARCHBISHOP  SATOLLI, 

WASHINGTON. 


ARCHBISHOP  HENNESSY, 
DUBUQUK. 

ARCHBISHOP  JANSSEN, 

NEW   ORLEANS. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  51 

Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  have  not  said — I  am  not  now  saying — that  monopoly  and 
privilege  are  in  themselves  wrong.  I  assert,  indeed,xthe  very  reverse.  Some  monopolies 
are  necessary  and  as  natural  in  the  order  of  things  as  is  the  sunshine.  Others,  though  not 
necessary,  are  undoubtedly  expedient.  The  guaranteed  private  possession  of  land  is  of 
the  former  kind;  patent  rights  and  franchises  examples  of  the  second.  But  undeniable 
monopolies  though  they  be,  it  is  no  wrong  in  itself  to  society  that  patentees'  rights 
should  exist.  The  inventors  that  profit  by  them  have  given  a  return  to  society  in  the 
new  and  useful  ideas  they  have  furnished  to  mankind.  Nor  is  a  franchise,  a  law  granting 
to  one  man  or  a  collection  of  men,  privileges  or  rights  withheld  from  others,  necessarily 
a  wrong.  It  and  all  other  monopolies,  however,  become  so  whenever  their  beneficiary 
fails  in  that  return  to  society  which  is  a  full  and  fair  equivalent  for  the  right  of  monop- 
oly which  has  been  conferred  upon  him. 

And  it  is  so  with  the  greatest  of  all  monopolies,  the  right  of  individuals  to  the 
exclusive  and  guaranteed  possession  of  the  earth's  surface.  The  monopoly  of  individual 
possession  of  land  is  as  necessary  to  the  civilized  life  of  man  as  the  existence  of  the 
natural  opportunities  themselves;  civilization  of  necessity  evolves  it.  Without  it  no 
people  can  rise  above  the  grade  of  a  pastoral  tribe.  And  as  continuity  and  permanency 
of  tenure  is  necessary,  and  as  land  differs  in  desirability  and  the  difference  is  constantly 
varying  in  amount,  the  law  of  rent  arises.  As  stated  by  all  political  economists  worthy 
the  name,  it  is  that  the  rent  of  land  is  determined  by  the  excess  of  its  produce  over  that 
which  the  same  application  can  secure  from  the  least  productive  land  in  use,  or,  to  put 
it  in  another  form,  less  liable  to  the  misapprehension  that  it  applies  to  agricultural  land 
alone,  "  the  ownership,  i.  e.,  the  exclusive  possession  and  control  of  a  natural  agent  of 
production  will  give  the  power  of  appropriating  so  much  of  the  wealth  produced  by  the 
exertion  of  labor  and  capital  upon  it  as  exceeds  the  return  which  the  same  application 
of  labor  and  capital  would  secure  in  the  least  productive  occupation  in  which  they  freely 
engage." 

This  law  of  rent  is  as  fixed  a  factor  in  economic  science  as  is  the  law  of  gravitation 
in  physics.  The  exclusive  possession  and  control  is  necessary,  the  power  of  appropria- 
tion goes  with  it.  What  is  the  duty  of  the  holder  of  the  monopoly  to  the  society  which 
invests  him  with  it?  This  is  the  question  which  confronts  us,  and  which  must  be 
answered  if  the  rights  of  labor  and  capital  are  to  be  protected,  and  the  duties  of  mo- 
nopoly enforced,  for  it  is  clear  that  what  goes  to  monopoly  and  is  not  returned  to  society 
in  some  adequate  form  and  amount,  is  so  much  taken  from  labor  and  capital  of  the 
product  of  their  exertions. 

Economically,  I  believe  that  liberty,  the  right  of  each  man  in  himself  to  the  whole 
product  of  his  labor,  is  the  ideal  to  be  reached,  and  that  when  the  product  of  labor  con- 
stitutes the  wages  of  labor,  as  Adam  Smith  a  century  ago  declared  was  natural,  and  not 
until  then,  will  the  so-called  labor  problem  be  solved.  Centuries  ago,  before  the  begin- 
ning of  this  marvelous  era,  with  its  prodigious  increase  in  the  effectiveness  of  labor  by 
the  mastery  which  man  has  obtained  over  the  powers  of  nature,  this  question  of  the 
duty  of  the  "  lords  of  the  land  "  was  one  with  which  the  Church  had  often  to  deal. 

Every  element  of  the  feudal  system  not  formed  by  was  influenced  and  modified  by 
the  Church,  and  in  the  feudal  system,  peculiar  obligations,  strenuously  maintained, 
\Vere  imposed  in  return  for  the  privilege  of  receiving  rent.  Among  them  were  the 
support  of  the  civil  list,  the  public  defense,  the  cost  of  public  worship  and  instruction, 
and  the  care  of  the  sick  and  destitute.  What  other  are  the  purposes  of  taxation  to-day? 
Against  the  protest  of  a  priest  who  told  them  that  they  were  remitting  to  the  proprie- 
tors a  tax  which  was  one  of  the  conditions  on  w!d«jh  they  held  their  land,  and  reimpos- 
ing  it  on  the  labor  of  the  nation,  the  French  Constituent  Assembly,  in  1789,  abolished 
tithes  and  turned  over  the  support  of  the  clergy  to  general  taxation. 

The  Long  Parliament  in  the  abolition  of  military  tenures  took  from  monopoly  the 
burden  of  the  consideration  on  which  it  held  the  common  property  of  the  nation,  and 
saddled  it  on  the  people  at  large  in  the  taxation  of  all  consumers.  Both  actions  were 
hailed,  and  doubtless  intended  by  lovers  of  freedom,  as  steps  in  advance,  but  to  those 
who  think  with  me  they  were  the'most  disastrous  of  mistakes.  We  think  that  if  these 
feudal  dues  of  monopoly  were  now  in  force,  changed  only  in  form  for  adaptation  to  the 
changed  times,  and  if  monopoly  and  privilege  paid  to  the  community  which  guarantees 
them  existence,  the  due  pecuniary  reward  or  compensation  justly  and  properly  charge- 
able to  them,  all  other  taxation  could  be  abolished,  and  that  all  which  makes  law  insti- 
tuted monopoly  and  privilege,  the  enemy  of  labor  and  capital,  would  be  thereby  de- 
stroyed. Of  the  products  of  labor  and  capital  there  would  be  two  parts,  one  going  to 
the  individual  producers  according  to  the  part  each  had  taken  in  the  work  of  produc- 
tion, the  other  to  the  community  as  a  whole,  to  be  distributed  in  public  benefits  to  all 
its  members. 


52  .        WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  attempt  in  this  paper,  at  this  time,  to  sustain  this 
practical  proposition  for  the  improvement  in  present  social  conditions. 

I  have  tried  only  to  point  out  that  the  antagonism  is  not  between  labor  and  capi- 
tal, that  it  is  between  labor  and  monopoly,  that  the  right  of  labor  is  liberty  to  enjoy 
the  fruits  of  its  exertion,  that  the  problem  is  not  to  define  the  duties  of  capital,  but  of 
monopoly  and  privilege.  How  well  I  have  succeeded  it  is  for  you  to  judge,  but  this  I 
know,  that  nowhere  is  a  fitter  place  to  discuss  the  social  problem  and  to  find  its  solu- 
tion than  in  the  societies  of  the  Holy  Church;  nowhere  are  men  more  clearly  called  to 
the  work  than  are  the  clergy  and  laity  of  his  Church,  who  summed  up  his  teachings 
in  social  philosophy  in  the  sublime  utterance,  "  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should 
do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them." 

A  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  in  a  remarkably  inapt  phrase, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  addressing  students  of  a  law  school  in  one  of  the  great  universities, 
spoke  recently  of  the  age-long  struggle  between  "  private  rights  and  public  greed." 

In  a  more  truthful,  and  I  hope  a  more  truth-loving  spirit,  I  suggest  to  you  that 
"  the  rights  of  labor,  the  duties  of  monopoly  "  are  involved  in  the  age-long  struggle  be- 
tween private  greed  and  public  rights. 

That  in  that  great  struggle  the  Catholic  Church,  which  gave  liberty  to  the  slave, 
which  emancipated. woman,  which  has  ever  been  the  greatest  of  all  bulwarks  and  de- 
fenders of  human  liberty,  will  give  her  countenance  and  aid  to  the  oppressed  and 
struggling  masses,  is  certain.  It  is  proven  by  her  history.  It  is  a  part  of  her  mission. 
To  doubt  it  were  impiety  and  heresy. 

A  paper  on  the  same  theme,  by  another  eminent  member  of  the  Chicago 
bar,  John  Gibbon,  LL.D.,  was  substantially  as  follows: 

THE    LABOR    PROBLEM. 

The  unrest  and  discontent  felt  and  heard  in  every  line  of  social  and  industrial  life 
are  but  the  protests  of  a  struggling  humanity  against  hardships  and  oppressions  which 
are  the  necessary  outgrowth  of  the  strained  and  abnormal  conditions  existing  between 
labor  and  capital, — conditions  which  if  not  speedily  remedied,  may  work  the  debase- 
ment of  the  one,  and  the  destruction  of  the  other.  The  folly  of  labor  is  no  more 
reprehensible  for  these  conditions  than  the  greed  of  capital.  For  years  the  tendency 
of  the  times  has  been  toward  the  enslavement  of  the  individual  through  the  domina- 
tion of  the  masses  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  monopoly  of  capital  through  trusts  and 
combines  on  the  other,  and  whoever  imagines  that  there  is  in  legislation  or  statecraft, 
a  short  cut  by  which  the  conditions  wrought  by  both  these  causes  may  be  reached, 
adjusted,  harmonized,  and  remedied  other  than  by  mutual  concessions  based  upon 
mutual  interests  is  shortsighted,  if  not  visionary.  That  legislation  is  beneficial,  and 
sometimes  necessary  to  compel  the  performance  of  duties  which  ought  to  be  discharged 
voluntarily,  I  admit,  but  in  respect  to  matters  of  a  social  and  industrial  nature,  which 
are  so  largely  dependent  upon  natural  conditions,  legislation  may  aid,  but  can  not 
create  them. 

That  hardships  and  oppressions  have  existed  for  all  time  does  not  prove  that  they 
are  a  heritage  of  the  human  family.  "  And  there  shall  be  no  poor  nor  beggar  among 
you,"  is  a  divine  command,  while  "  the  poor  ye  shall  have  always  with  you,"  is  but  the 
voice  of  prophecy.  The  former  is  the  law  proclaimed,  the  latter  the  result  of  its  non- 
observance.  Every  man  born  into  the  world  owes  certain  duties  to  society,  and 
paramount  to  all  others  is  the  duty  to  support  himself,  and  those  naturally  dependent 
upon  him,  and  of  equal  importance  in  the  scale  of  primary  duties  are  obedience  to  law 
and  respect  for  the  rights  of  others.  The  performance  of  these  primary  obligations  no 
man  should  be  permitted  to  evade  or  ignore. 

In  the  proposals  we  advance,  if  we  hope  thereby  to  accomplish  beneficial  resuRs, 
we  must  recognize  the  changes  which  are  constantly  occurring  in  natural  conditions, 
for  these  changes  necessarily  affect  the  industrial  life  of  the  people.  The  conditions 
which  existed  fifty,  or  even  twenty-five,  years  ago  do  not  exist  to-day.  Fifty  years  ago 
the  surplus  labor  of  the  country  found  employment  in  reclaiming  and  cultivating  the 
waste  lands  of  the  fruitful  West;  but  now  nearly  all  the  available  lands  have  been 
appropriated,  so  that  surplus  labor  no  longer  finds  remunerative  employment  there,  and 
thv*  f-'rearn  of  immigration  has  ceased  to  flow  toward  the  setting  sun. 

Thirty  years  ago  surplus  labor  found  employment  in  the  army,  in  the  building  of 
railways,  in  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors,  and  in  many  other  enterprises  which 
existed  as  a  result  of  the  war  then  being  waged  for  national  supremacy.  These  changes 
which  are  wrought  by  what  may  be  termed  natural  causes  only,  serve  to  emphasize  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  53 

fact  that  in  the  field  of  labor,  as  in  the  whole  domain  of  industry,  supply  and  demand 
must  ever  be  controlling  factors,  and  the  economist  who  ignores  this  fundamental  truth 
in  seeking  a  wise  solution  of  the  all-important  problem  now  agitating  the  public  is  a 
dreamer  or  a  demagogue. 

Whatever  speculations  or  theories  we  may  advance  or  proclaim  it  should  be  con- 
ceded that  unless  labor  is  reduced  to  a  condition  of  servitude,  the  amount  of  wages  to 
be  paid  and  the  amount  of  work  to  be  done  at  a  certain  price  must  always  remain  the 
objects  of  free  and  open  bargain.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  connection  between 
employer  and  employed  has  the  advantage  of  a  voluntary  association,  in  which  each 
party  is  conscious  of  benefit,  and  each  feels  that  his  own  welfare  depends,  to  a  great 
extent,  on  the  welfare  of  the  other.  But  the  instant  wages  ceases  to  be  a  bargain,  the 
instant  the  laborer  is  paid — not  according  to  his  value,  but  to  an  established  scale; 
both  employer  and  employed  are  no  longer  free  agents,  and  all  the  incentives  to  mutual 
advantages  are  taken  away,  and  the  kindness  which  naturally  arises  from  a  voluntary 
association,  as  well  as  the  mutual  benefits,  is  wanting. 

It  must  also  be  conceded  that  trades  unions  and  associations  of  that  nature,  when 
properly  conducted,  are  designed  to  do  much  good.  They  will  prove  beneficial  in  edu- 
cating the  workmen,  in  inviting  discussion  respecting  proposals  advanced  looking  to  the 
elevation  of  labor — beneficial  in  assisting  members  to  obtain  employment,  beneficial  in 
bringing  before  the  public  their  wants  and  molding  public  opinion  in  favor  of  granting 
them — beneficial  from  a  political  point  of  view,  because  by  united  action  they  may 
obtain  legislation  which  as  individuals  they  could  not  secure.  But  when  they  go 
beyond  these  objects,  as  they  sometimes  do,  the  state,  rather  than  the  trades  unions,  is 
to  blame  in  not  making  adequate  provision  for  the  adjustment  of  differences  which  inev- 
itably grow  out  of  the  relation  of  capital  to  labor.  In  every  other  department  of  life 
the  differences  which  emanate  from  contractual  relations  are  regulated  by  common  or 
statute  law,  and  why  should  the  conflicts  arising  between  labor  and  capital  be  left  to 
the  will  or  caprice  of  the  haughty  capitalist  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  aggrieved  laborer 
on  the  other  ? 

The  right  to  enjoy  life  and  to  strive  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness  may  be  classed  among 
the  absolute  rights  of  man.  The  right  to  sustain  life  in  case  of  necessity  —  the  right  of 
a  starving  man  to  a  portion  of  his  neighbor's  food  —  is  paramount  to  all  human  enact- 
ments. But  the  right  to  live,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term,  does  not  mean 
merely  the  right  to  exist.  The  man  who  tills  the  soil,  the  man  who  forges  the  iron,  the 
man  who  pushes  the  plane,  ought  to  be  afforded  the  opportunity  of  providing  for  himself 
food,  raiment,  and  shelter.  Moreover,  as  the  family  is  ordained  of  God,  and  the  basis  of 
all  human  society,  the  head  of  the  family  is  not  only  entitled  to  all  these  things  for  him- 
self but  for  his  wife,  children,  and  all  those  of  his  household.  Hence  when  a  powerful 
manufacturer  draws  around  him  a  community  of  men,  women  and  children,  his  duty 
toward  them  is  not  fully  discharged  by  the  mere  payment  of  wages.  The  conditions 
which  he  has  created  impose  upon  him  corresponding  duties,  and  it  is  no  answer  to  the 
neglect  or  refusal  to  perform  them  to  say  that  they  are  not  imposed  by  the  law  of  the 
land,  or  that  they  do  not  grow  out  of  any  compact  or  agreement  with  the  community 
thus  organized. 

This  moral  duty  has  been  given  practical  effect,  with  excellent  results,  at  Essen  and 
Altendorf,  Germany.  For  example,  the  number  of  men  employed  by  the  Krupps  is 
25,200,  who,  with  their  families,  amount  to  87,900  people.  The  corporation  builds  and 
rents  all  dwellings  for  its  workmen,  provides  co-operative  stores,  and  boarding  accommo- 
dations for  unmarried  men,  and  attends  to  the  prevention  of  sickness  by  careful  sanitary 
regulations.  The  death  rate  is  smaller  than  any  other  community  in  Europe.  The  lives 
of  the  employes  are  required  to  be  insured,  and  in  addition  Mr.  Krupp  provides  pension 
and  relief  funds  for  the  injured  and  bereaved.  He  also  provides  schools  for  the  children 
of  his  employes,  and  churches  for  the  religious  training  of  all  connected  with  his  estab- 
lishment. 

The  Krupps  have  been  able,  through  their  social  work,  to  center  so  fully  the  interests 
of  their  employes  in  the  neighborhood  in  which  they  live,  and  so  to  unite  them  with  the 
interests  of  the  firm,  that  their  men  have  exhibited  less  desire  to  change  employment 
and  have  been  less  affected  by  labor  disturbances  than  in  any  other  parts  of  the  country. 
Co-operation  and  profit-sharing  have  been  conducted  with  satisfactory  results  in  many 
lines  of  industry  both  here  and  in  Europe,  and  from  the  harmony  existing  in  these  com- 
munities between  employer  and  the  employed,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  the  vexed  labor 
problem  may  be  solved  through  mutual  concessions  based  on  mutual  advantages. 

The  idea  of  master  and  servant  grows  out  of  the  domestic  relations,  and  while  it  may 
be  less  culpable  for  a  man  to  neglect  providing  for  the  support  and  comfort  of  his  serv- 


54 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


ants  than  it  would  his  wife  and  children,  still  it  is  a  crime  against  the  natural  and 
divine  law  for  him  to  do  so.  Whoever  neglects  this  moral  duty  in  the  one  case  is 
amenable  to  the  law  of  the  land,  and  why  not  extend  that  law  to  include  those  who  dis- 
regard it  in  the  other?  My  contention  is  that  what  has  been  accomplished  by  voluntary 
action,  and  as  a  moral  obligation  on  the  part  of  humane  employers,  might  be  enforced  as 
a  legal  duty  in  respect  to  those  who  regard  their  workmen  as  merchantable  commodities. 

In  the  abstract  it  is  perceived  that  everyone  has  a  natural  right  to  use  and  enjoy 
his  property  in  such  manner  as  he  pleases,  and  if  an  employer  of  labor  it  is  his  privilege 
to  employ  whom  he  will,  at  the  best  prices  he  may;  but  abstract  principles  and  natural 
rights  are  subordinate  to  the  laws  of  human  necessities  and  the  well-being  of  the  people. 
The  absolute  right  of  man  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  own  property  exists  only  in  a  state 
of  nature  where  no  relative  rights  intervene  and  so  long  as  he  is  able  to  defend  his  pos- 
session. But  as  soon  as  society  is  organized  and  the  individual  becomes  dependent 
upon  the  community  for  all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  he  enjoys,  corresponding 
duties  arise,  which  grow  out  of  the  compact  and  are  binding  upon  him  whether  he  wills 
it  or  not,  and  whether  defined  by  law  or  stipulated  by  contract. 

Justice  to  labor  does  not  imperil  or  impair  capital.  The  stability  and  progress  of 
a  country  must  depend  upon  the  character  of  the  industrial  classes,  and  whether  the 
standing  of  the  working  population  is  to  be  debased  or  elevated  must  depend  upon  the 
relation  they  sustain  to  the  common  conditions  of  their  country.  Ownership  of  property 
is  the  true  status  of  liberty,  and  as  the  idea  of  home  is  the  initial  point  around  which 
clusters  every  ennobling  virtue,  it  should  be  the  duty  of  corporations  and  individuals 
who  establish  industrial  centers  and  manufacturing  communities  to  provide  homes  for 
men  and  families  engaged  in  their  employment.  All  honor  is  due  to  the  noble,  chari- 
table, and  humane  men  and  women  who  devote  their  time  and  contribute  their  means 
for  the  care,  nourishment,  and  comfort  of  children  whose  mothers  are  forced  to  toil  for 
bread,  but  there  should  be  no  occasion  for  the  infants'  corral  or  the  robust  man's  alms- 
house  in  well-governed  communities.  Their  existence  belies  social  progress  and  is 
repugnant  to  the  plan  of  a  wisely  governed  state. 

The  highway  of  nations  is  strewn  with  the  ruins  of  the  democracies  of  the  past. 
Their  decline  and  fall  can  be  truthfully  ascribed  to  the  defect  in  their  policy,  which, 
while  recognizing  and  protecting  political  equality,  failed  to  provide  for  an  equality  of 
conditions  such  as  would  have  prevented  the  conflicts  between  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
conflicts  which  grow  into  the  revolution  that  results  in  despotism.  The  struggle 
between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  between  those  who  own  property  and  those  without 
property,  is  now  more  general,  if  not  more  alarming,  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  This  struggle  must  increase  in  scope  and  intensity  until  in  our  political 
economy  man  is  acknowledged  to  be  superior  to  wealth,  and,  as  a  consequence,  that  the 
rights  of  the  many  are  paramount  to  the  privileges  of  the  few.  Then  will  follow  the 
complete  emancipation  of  labor  from  the  practical  ownership  which  now  holds  it  in 
bondage,  and  unto  it  will  be  given  an  equitable  portion  of  the  wealth  it  produces  in 
alliance  with  capital. 

So  far  as  my  observation  goes,  I  am  led  to  believe  that  the  conflicts  between 
employer  and  employed  find  their  origin  in  the  false  relations  existing  between  the 
people  and  the  land,  and  between  labor  and  capital;  and  until  we  unite  labor  and  capi- 
tal in  a  closer  union  based  upon  a  more  equitable  division  of  profits,  and  effect  a  more 
general  distribution  of  the  land  among  the  subordinate  holders  of  power,  these  evils  will 
be  intensified  even  unto  the  utter  destruction  of  our  democracy. 

Next  to  the  right  of  life  and  liberty  there  is  nothing  so  sacred  to  an  American  as 
the  right  of  property;  and  in  our  efforts  to  rectify  the  wrongs  of  labor  and  to  bring 
about  a  more  equitable  division  of  the  land  among  the  people,  they  must  be  accom- 
plished not  by  subversion  of  justice,  not  by  invasion  of  right,  not  by  destruction  of 
tenures,  not  by  forfeiture  of  titles,  not  by  community  of  property,  not  by  single  tax 
upon  land,  not  by  shackling  individual  exertion,  not  by  blasting  personal  ambition,  not 
by  turning  the  hands  of  progress  back  upon  the  dial  of  time,  not  by  overthrowing  estab- 
lished institutions  which  have  been  replenished,  fostered,  and  fortified  by  the  worth  and 
wisdom  of  the  best  thinkers  and  purest  men  of  all  the  ages  that  have  gone  before,  but 
by  marching  onward  and  upward  along  the  lines  of  duty  and  law,  using  the  materials 
at  our  command  to  improve  the  condition  of  men  as  we  find  them. 

It  may  be  that  there  shall  come  no  time,  indeed,  when  there  will  not  be,  in  lament- 
able contrast,  poverty  and  wealth,  suffering  and  affluence,  misery  and  luxury.  It  may 
be  that  there  shall  come  no  day  which  will  not  see  one  class  of  men  with  only  the  labor 
of  their  hands  to  sell  and  another  whose  business  it  is  to  buy  this  primal  commodity; 
and  that  the  one  shall  endeavor  to  market  his  only  ware  at  the  highest  obtainable 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  55 

price,  and  the  instinct  of  greed  compel  the  other  to  buy  as  cheaply  as  he  can.  But  I 
believe  that  there  shall  be,  in  time  to  come,  a  vast  improvement  in  the  aggregate  com 
fort  and  independence  of  the  laboring  class,  between  the  power  of  money  in  that  coming 
day  and  its  influence  in  the  present.  Another  epoch,  as  I  believe,  will  turn  away  in 
horror  from  the  pestilential  tenement  houses  and  the  hordes  of  hungry  and  homeless 
ones  of  the  19th  century. 

The  troubles  and  dangers  that  confront  us  as  a  nation  must  be  met  and  conquered 
within  our  own  borders.  There  is  no  other  possible  escape.  Emigration  has  been  the 
safety  and  salvation  of  Eastern  lands.  There  can  be  no  emigration  from  America.  This 
is  the  Mecca  of  the  human  race,  the  final  resting-place  of  restless  humanity. 

Earth's  imperial  people  have  ever  moved  westward  as  if  impelled  by  a  resistless 
power  divine,  and  parallel  with  their  migrations  civilization  and  sovereignty  moved. 
The  world's  sceptre  has  made  the  circuit  of  the  earth.  First  raised  and  wielded  in 
Egypt,  it  passed  to  Greece,  from  Greece  to  Rome,  from  Rome  to  France,  from  France  to 
England,  and  from  England  it  is  passing  unto  America,  here  to  remain,  for  the  Orient 
is  just  beyond  us— the  land  where  it  first  arose.  3y  the  logic  of  causes,  that  knows  no 
change,  the  solution  of  the  problem— mighty  and  grave— that  confronts  us  as  a  people 
must  be  reached  through  agencies  of  our  own,  and  that  solution  not  only  involves  the 
life  of  the  nation,  but  comprehends  the  future  of  the  world. 

An  eloquent  and  instructive  review  was  that  of  the  Paulist  Father,  Rev. 
Walter  Elliott,  on  the  "Missionary  Work  of  the  Church  in  the  United 
States."  It  ran  as  follows: 

FATHER    ELLIOTT    ON    CATHOLIC    MISSIONARY    WORK. 

He  stands  erect  and  has  a  far  outlook  whose  feet  rest  upon  the  mountain  of  the 
Lord.  The  ages  move  in  review,  the  nations  march  past;  his  outlook  is  universal. 

The  outlook  in  the  United  States  is  many  millions  of  independent  men  and  women 
whose  characteristics  are  liberty  and  intelligence.  Their  eternal  destiny  and  the  means 
of  arriving  at  it  are  eagerly  discussed,  but  amid  a  bewildering  conflict  of  opinions.  This 
most  modern  of  nations  yet  holds  to  a  vague  idea  of  Christ  as  the  world's  redeemer,  of 
the  Bible  as  God's  book;  for  the  rest,  the  only  common  creed  is  progress,  human  dignity, 
and  the  destiny  of  the  great  Republic.  Any  claimant  for  a  hearing  in  religious  matters 
must  before  all  else  be  able  to  square  his  fundamental  principles  with  these  beliefs. 

Catholics  are  mingled  among  this  people  in  the  proportion  of  about  one  to  six,  and 
are  the  only  perfectly  organized  body  of  Christians.  These  are  also  distinguished  by 
liberty  and  intelligence,  though  fully  half  are  new-comers  or  their  children.  They  are 
endowed  with  an  absolutely  certain  knowledge  of  man's  eternal  destiny  as  well  as  of  all 
the  means  of  arriving  at  it,  and  are  masters  of  the  most  renowned  of  intellectual  forces — 
the  faith  of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  Roman  Church.  The  problem  is  how  to  place  this 
virtue  of  Catholic  faith  in  a  missionary  attitude  and  secure  it  a  hearing;  how  to  turn 
all  the  organic  and  personal  force  of  Catholic  faith  into  apostolic  zeal  for  the  eternal 
salvation  of  the  entire  nation. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  are  only  beginning  to  act  as  if  we  felt  that  our  fellow-citi- 
zens were  our  brethren  in  sore  need  of  the  truth  of  God.  We  have  as  yet  failed,  as  a 
body,  to  take  the  entire  American  nation  into  account  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  have 
not  felt  it  a  duty  to  proclaim  to  them  that  the  certainty  of  Christ's  truth  is  with  us, 
that  the  pardon  of  sins  is  in  the  contrition,  confession,  and  satisfaction  of  the  sacrament 
of  penance,  that  the  union  of  their  souls  with  God  is  in  the  communion  of  his  Son's 
body  and  blood  in  the  Eucharist — and  the  other  necessary  means  of  enlightenment  and 
sanctincation. 

The  problem  is,  how  to  induce  Catholics  to  attempt  the  conversion  of  non-Catholics, 
and  to  realize  that  until  they  offer  them  the  true  religion  there  is  a  cloud  upon  their 
own  title  to  it. 

God  would  have  us  missionaries  to  the  American  people.  Does  any  Catholic  dare 
to  contradict  that?  If  so,  let  us  hear  from  him. 

Suppose  that  my  neighbor's  house  and  mine  were  separated  by  a  dense  wood,  and 
that  some  morning  I  should  wake  to  find  a  noble  avenue  cut  through  between  us;  what 
would  such  a  miracle  mean?  That  God  willed  me  to  make  my  neighbor  my  friend,  to 
visit  him  familiarly,  and  to  love  him.  God  has  done  more  than  this  with  Catholics  and 
non-Catholics  in  America,  and  by  community  of  all  that  is  good  in  civil  and  industrial 
life,  by  close  social  ties  and  personal  friendships,  has  opened  our  hearts  mutually  to 
each  other.  Let  us  be  friends  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  term,  the  religious. 

The  dense  and  tangled  forest  of  prejudice  has  already  been  pierced.    That  vice  of 


56  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

honest  minds  is  now  chiefly  to  be  found  among  the  more  ignorant.  Few  converts  but 
will  tell  you  that  their  first  step  was  surprise  that  Catholics  had  been  falsely  accused. 
There  are  men  and  women  all  round  us  who  have  but  to  learn  just  what  we  are  as  a 
religious  body,  to  be  led  on  to  conversion;  they  already  know  that  we  have  been  basely 
calumniated.  In  the  better  class  of  minds  we  shall  have  to  contend  mainly  with  such 
difficulties  as  lie  in  the  way  of  all  supernatural  religion — timidity,  dread  of  the  mysteri- 
ous or  a  false  view  of  reason's  prerogatives,  unwillingness  to  submit  to  the  unchangeable 
truth.  And  in  a  multitude  of  other  cases  men  and  women  fail  to  become  Catholics  only 
for  the  same  reason  that  many  of  our  own  people  refuse  to  be  good  Catholics — worldli- 
ness,  sensuality,  fastidious  objection  to  our  vulgar  crowds,  family  pride,  human  respect. 
St.  Paul's  example  shows  how  to  deal  with  these:  "  And  as  he  reasoned  of  temperance, 
and  righteousness,  and  judgment  to  come,  Felix  trembled."  If  even  that  wretched 
bribe-taker  trembled,  our  honest  fellow-citizens  will  do  more.  Let  us  but  manage  to 
bring  to  bear  a  patient  and  intelligent  exposition  of  what  our  religion  actually  does  for 
us  in  our  inner  and  outer  life,  and  then  a  realization  of  the  need  of  salvation,  the  short- 
ness of  life,  and  the  rigors  of  the  judgment  will  do  the  rest. 

There  can  be  but  one  excuse  for  a  Catholic,  especially  one  of  intelligence,  and  above 
all  a  priest,  not  addressing  our  erring  brethren:  that  they  can  not  be  induced  to  listen  to 
him.  And  who  has  ever  fairly  sought  a  hearing  and  been  denied  it?  How  many 
instances  are  there  where  men  of  no  peculiar  gifts  have  filled  their  churches,  and 
even  public  halls,  with  audiences  full  of  Protestants,  giving  respectful  attention  to 
Catholic  truth.  The  trouble  is  not  want  of  audiences,  but  want  of  men  and  methods 
persistently  to  follow  up  the  work. 

The  collapse  of  dogmatic  Protestantism  is  our  opportunity.  Denominations,  and 
"  creeds,"  and  "  schools,"  and  "  confessions  "  are  going  to  pieces  before  our  eyes.  Great 
men  built  them,  and  little  men  can  demolish  them.  This  new  nation  can  not  but  regard 
with  disdain  institutions  hardly  double  its  own  short  life,  and  yet  utterly  decrepit; 
can  not  but  regard  with  awe  an  institution  in  whose  life  the  great  Republic  could  have 
gone  through  its  career  nearly  a  score  of  times.  I  tell  you  that  the  vigor  of  national 
youth  must  be  amazed  at  the  freshness  of  perennial  religion,  and  must  soon  salute  it  as 
divine.  The  dogmas  of  older  Protestantism  are  fading  out  of  our  people's  minds,  or  are 
being  thrust  out.  It  is  not  against  the  religion  of  men's  ancestors,  but  against  each 
one's  religion  of  yesterday,  as  unsteady  in  grasp  as  it  is  recent  in  acquisition,  that  we 
have  to  contend — we  who  speak  for  Him  who  is  of  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  the  same 
forever. 

Consider,  then,  how  it  is  with  our  noble-hearted  friends:  in  their  case  it  is  religion 
wandering  here  and  there  in  search  of  a  Church.  How  many  earnest  souls  are  about 
us,  weary  of  doubtful  teachings,  glad  to  harken  to,  ay  and  to  believe,  anyone  who 
promises  them  relief. 

See,  too,  and  admire,  how  their  religious  instincts  strive  after  organic  life.  As 
Calvinism  dies,  Christian  Endeavor  is  born  and  counts  a  million  members  in  a  day — good 
works  making  little  of  faith,  as  at  first  faith  made  little  of  good  works.  See  that  while 
Methodism  leaves  the  slums  and  is  petrifying  in  lordly  temples  and  in  universities,  the 
Salvation  Army  scours  the  gutters  it  has  turned  from  with  loathing. 

I  tell  you  that  the  people  around  us  are  religious,  that  they  long  for  God  and  are 
ready  for  those  divine  rules  of  the  higher  life  called  Catholicity. 

No  form  of  belief  faces  civilized  irreligion  with  half  the  courage  of  Catholicity.  A 
vigorous  man  exults  in  the  trial  of  his  strength.  It  is  incredible  that  an  intelligent 
Catholic  shall  not  command  the  attention  of  thoughtful  minds  on  questions  of  such 
absorbing  interest  as — What  becomes  of  our  dead? — Can  we  communicate  with  them? 
— Can  we  get  along  without  the  Bible? — What  think  you  of  Christ,  whose  son  is  He? 
We  have  the  truth  on  all  such  vital  questions;  Catholic  truth  is  simple,  accredits  itself, 
and  is  in  the  highest  degree  commendatory  of  the  Church  as  compared  with  the  Prot- 
estant denominations 

Only  make  a  parallel  of  Catholic  principles  and  American  fundamental  ideas  on 
human  dignity,  and  you  wilt  perceive  that  we  are  up  to  the  times  and  kindred  to  the 
nation.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  Republic  shall  be  made  Catholic  if  we  love 
its  people  as  God  would  have  us. 

We  are  right,  and  we  can  prove  it.  How  very  much  that  means.  It  is  God's  will 
with  men  that  those  who  are  right  shall  know  how  to  prove  it,  and  those  who  are  wrong 
shall  be  brought  to  listen  to  them.  If  all  that  we  had  to  give  were  a  right  scheme  of 
social  amelioration,  we  should  win  the  people,  because  we  should  be  right;  or  if  it  were 
a  true  discovery  of  how  to  fully  develop  electrical  forces,  we  should  win  the  world  of 
science  and  industry.  But  oh!  it  is  the  true  religion  of  God  about  which  we  are  right 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  57 

— every  man's  sorest  need,  every  man's  sweetest  joy.  That  is  in  our  case  the  tremendous 
meaning  of  the  claim,  We  are  right,  and  we  can  prove  it.  The  cruel  fact  is,  that 
dreamers  of  social  reform  work  harder  and  succeed  better  than  we  who  are  the  children 
of  light,  and  they  whose  only  end  is  money  are  the  best  models  in  our  day  of  devoted 
and  well-directed  endeavor. 

Why,  when  it  was  to  fly  in  the  face  of  high  Rome,  to  be  burned  to  death,  to  be 
devoured  by  wild  beasts,  countless  thousands  yearly  rushed  into  the  Church.  And  now 
it  is  to  float  into  the  heaven  of  peace  and  joy,  it  is  to  taste  the  sweetness  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  without  any  persecution,  it  is  to  embrace  a  religion  whose  dogma  of 
human  dignity  and  equality — listen  to  Leo  XIII.  as  he  expounds  it! — adds  to  American 
greatness  the  placit  of  higher  Rome. 

I  do  not  want  to  believe  those  prophets  of  ill-omen  who  tell  us  that  we  are  shortly 
to  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a  nation  which  has  lost  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  its  redeemer,  which  knows  no  heaven  or  hell  but  the  sorrows  and  joys  of  this  fleeting 
life;  but  there  is  much  to  confirm  that  gloomy  view.  And  what  voice  shall  call  them 
back  from  so  dark  a  doom  but  the  trumpet  note  of  Catholic  truth?  Who  should  be 
foremost  in  print  and  on  platform  and  in  the  intercourse  of  private  life,  pleading  for 
Christ  and  offering  his  promises  of  eternal  joy,  if  not  Catholic  bishops,  priests, 
and  laity? 

The  first  element  of  hope  in  any  enterprise  is  that  the  right  sort  of  men  and  women 
are  undertaking  it.  The  sanctified  soul  makes  the  best  missionary.  Good  men  and 
women  are  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.  The  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  it 
enlightens  me;  but  a  zealous  Christian  is  another  Christ  to  me.  The  union  of  men  with 
truth  is  not  union  with  books,  or  even  ideas,  but  with  God,  and  with  each  other;  and 
that  immediately. 

The  diffusion  of  Catholics  among  non-Catholics  makes  a  personal  and  independent 
tone  of  Catholicity  necessary  in  any  case,  but  it  also  distributes  missionaries  every- 
where, independent  religious  characters  who  can  maintain  the  truth  with  the  least 
possible  external  help.  It  is  God's  way.  One  by  one  men  are  born,  become  conscious  of 
responsibility,  die,  are  judged.  One  by  one,  and  by  personal  influence,  non-Catholics 
are  mads  aware  that  they  are  wrong ;  and  then  one,  and  again  another,  of  their  Catholic 
friends  personally  influences  them  to  understand  that  Catholicity  is  right. 

Combined  action  can  do  much,  but  the  supreme  combination  is  that  of  virtue,  and 
sympathetic  interest  in  a  single  person.  Family,  social,  business  relations  are  made  by 
Providence  for  this  end;  that  they  may  become  channels  of  heavenly  influence. 

Councils  have  done  much  for  religion,  but  men  and  women  have  done  more,  for 
they  made  the  councils.  There  were  great  councils  during  the  two  hundred  years 
before  Trent,  and  with  them,  and  between  them,  matters  grew  worse.  Why  did  Trent 
succeed? — held  amid  wars,  interrupted,  almost  disjointed.  Because  the  right  sort  of 
men  at  last  had  come:  popes,  bishops,  theologians.  It  was  not  new  enactments  that 
saved  us  but  new  men — Ignatius  and  Philip  Neri,  Teresa  and  Francis  de  Sales,  and 
Vincent  de  Paul,  and  their  like. 

The  real  force  of  life  is  personal,  is  soul  upon  soul,  and  must  be  our  real  missionary 
force. 

Catholics  are,  therefore,  to  be  made  missionary  by  personal  qualities  which  shall 
attract  their  non-Catholic  acquaintances — the  American  virtue  of  self-control,  independ- 
ence of  character,  love  of  liberty  and  of  intelligence,  these  must  shine  out  with  a 
Catholic  lustre.  To  them  must  be  added  other  natural  virtues  dear  to  our  countrymen, 
such  as  truthfulness,  candor,  temperance,  industry,  fair  dealing;  these  must  find  heroes 
and  exemplars  plentifully  among  us.  All  this  is  necessary  to  introduce  the  super- 
natural life,  divine  faith,  and  hope,  and  love;  Catholic  unity;  confession  and  communion. 
"First  the  natural  man  and  then  the  spiritual  man,"  says  the  apostle.  Give  us  fer- 
vent Catholics  who  are  typical  Americans,  and  brotherly  love  will  do  the  rest.  If 
non-Catholics  are  felt  to  be  brethren  by  nationality,  soon  St.  John's  test  will  claim  its 
application:  "We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death  to  life  because  we  love  the 
brethren." 

Interest  in  the  advancement  of  God's  kingdom  must  become  a  note  of  personal 
Catholicity.  We  must  open  our  hearts  to  non-Catholics  as  to  brothers  and  sisters;  each 
of  them  who  reaches  the  circle  of  our  influence  must  feel  our  kindly  interest  in  his 
religious  state,  if  it  be  no  more  than  sympathy  with  his  sincere  belief  in  what  is  common 
to  all. 

The  men  and  women  who  are  right  will  persuade  those  who  are  wrong,  if  they  want 
to.  Truth  is  mighty;  but  that  means  truth  thrilling  upon  the  lips  of  men  and  women, 
gleaming  in  their  eyes,  beautiful  in  their  lives.  We  need  not  pray  for  orators;  he  that 


58  WORLD'S  COLUMBIA*  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

speaks  f  iom  the  heart  is  eloquent  enough.  If  a  man  loves  American  souls  because 
Christ  died  for  them,  he  will  win  his  way  to  save  them. 

The  personal  use  we  make  of  the  truth  of  God  is  a  good  test  of  our  valuation  of  it. 
It  is  this  way  in  the  gift  of  the  truth:  if  it  is  not  worth  sharing  it  is  not  worth  keeping. 
A  people  not  eager  to  share  Catholicity  with  kindly  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens  are  not 
likely  to  live  up  to  it  themselves;  certainly  they  are  not  worthy  to  enjoy  it,  much  less 
to  transmit  it  to  their  children. 

The  biographer  of  St.  Philip  Neri,  speaking  of  the  singular  power  and  warmth  of 
the  saint's  heart-beat,  says  that  "  when  he  knew  anyone  to  be  tempted,  especially  with 
sensual  temptations,  he  would  draw  him  tenderly  to  his  breast,  and  so  dispel  the  tempta- 
tion at  once,  and  fill  his  soul  with  a  sweet  serenity  and  heavenly  peace."  Take  your 
doubting  non-Catholic  friend  to  your  heart,  at  least  figuratively,  and  your  words  by 
their  very  tones  of  sympathy  will  dispel  his  errors. 

The  following  lines  from  Cardinal  Newman,  entitled  "  The  Religion  of  Cain,"  and 
headed  by  the  text  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?  "  are  instructive: 

The  time  has  been,  it  seemed  a  precept  plain 

Of  the  true  Faith,  Christ's  tokens  to  display; 
And  in  life's  commerce  still  the  thought  retain, 

That  men  have  souls  and  wait  a  judgment  day; 
Kings  used  their  gifts  as  ministers  of  heaven, 
Nor  stripped  their  zeal  for  (iod  of  means  which  God  had  given. 

'Tis  altered  now;  for  Adam's  eldest  born 

Has  trained  our  practice  in  a  selfish  rule- 
Each  stands  alone,  Christ's  bonds  asunder  torn; 

Each  has  his  private  thought,  selects  his  school, 
Conceals  his  creed  and  lives  in  closest  tie 
Of  fellowship  with  those  who  count  it  blasphemy. 

Brothers!  spare  reasoning;  men  have  settled  long 

i  hat  ye  are  out  of  date  and  they  are  wise ; 
Use  their  own  weapons;  let  your  words  be  strong. 

Your  cry  be  loud,  ti!l  each  sacred  boaster  flies. 
Thus  the  Apostles  tamed  the  pagan  breast. 
They  argued  not  but  preached;  and  conscience  did  the  rest 

Religion  can  not  exist  in  the  soul  without  a  principle  of  fecundity  by  which  it 
demands  to  be  communicated.  Selfishness,  besides  being  a  vice,  is  a  malady.  It  was 
the  primary  evil  of  Protestantism,  and  it  has  proved  its  ruin.  The  Bible  is  the  com- 
mon heritage  of  God's  children;  the  Reformers  made  it  each  man's  private  property; 
hence  disunion  and  then  doubt.  And  any  Catholic  who  fancies  that  he  can  use  his 
Faith  as  if  it  were  his  own  exclusive  property  is  in  error,  and  is  in  danger  of  being 
decatholicized. 

The  missionary  spirit  is  needed  for  our  own  inner  life,  in  order  that  racial,  local, 
family  influences  may  be  restricted  to  their  subordinate  spheres.  These  tend  to  sup- 
plant the  universal.  Nothing  tends  to  make  a  man  universal,  catholic,  better  than  the 
noble  virtue  of  zeal  for  souls.  "  Blessed  is  the  man  who  hath  found  a  new  friend  "  is 
perfectly  true  in  its  converse:  blessed  is  the  man  who  is  true  friend  to  another. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  therefore,  that  a  spirit  of  defense  is  not  the  missionary  spirit,  but 
one  of  aggressive  charity.  The  dread  of  defection,  and  the  tendency  to  mournful  exer- 
cises of  reparation,  indicate  a  tone  of  mind  quite  unmissiouary.  Catholic  Faith  is  too 
often  and  too  closely  identified  with  religious  traditions  and  practices  brought  from  the 
Old  World,  producing  a  narrow  and  suspicious  disposition.  The  sensation  of  exile  is 
injurious  to  the  missionary  vocation.  "  To  the  Greek  and  to  the  barbarian,  to  the  wise 
and  to  the  unwise,  I  am  a  debtor." 

To  my  mind  our  very  dissensions,  whether  on  matters  of  principle  or  of  policy,  are 
reason  for  encouragement,  for  they  have  shown  an  independence  of  conviction  which 
yields  to  no  human  tribunal,  and  in  bowing  to  a  divine  tribunal  does  so  frankly  and 
without  cringing.  Turn  this  independence  of  thought  into  missionary  channels,  and 
the  results  will  be  equal  to  our  deep  personal  sincerity  multiplied  by  the  incalculable 
power  of  our  divine  organization. 

How  to  go  to  work  is  an  easy  problem,  since  we  have  a  perfect  organization  which 
can  utilize  the  resources  of  modern  civilization.  Let  us  but  have  the  determined  pur- 
pose— the  men  of  action  bent  upon  success — and  the  ways  and  means  are  the  divine 
methods  of  the  Church  and  the  modern  opportunities  of  the  press,  the  platform,  and 
the  incessant  intercommunication  of  all  classes  in  America. 

American  bishops,  priests,  and  laity  working  together  in  an  apostolic  spirit  will 
missionize  the  entire  land  in  half  a  decade  of  years.  The  immediate  effect  will  be  to 
throw  every  form  of  error  upon  the  defensive,  to  set  every  religiously  disposed  person  to 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  59 

sorting  out  and  dividing  calumny  from  fact,  to  start  a  small  and  perceptible  stream  of 
conversions  in  every  locality.  It  seems  like  a  dream,  but  it  is  really  a  vision  of  the 
future,  and  the  not  distant  future  either.  Having  done  nothing,  we  have  many  thou- 
sands of  converts.  What  may  we  not  hope  from  a  universal  apostolate? 

If  what  I  have  been  saying  is  true,  the  practical  suggestion  which  follows  is  that 
every  diocese  should  have  at  least  one  or  two  priests  who  shall  be  exclusively  missionary 
— I  mean,  of  course,  secular  priests,  and  missionaries  to  non-Catholics. 

As  the  bishop  has  one  of  his  more  experienced  clergy  to  do  bishop's  work  as  Vicar- 
General,  one  of  the  younger  priests  to  do  bishop's  work  as  secretary,  an  expert  to  do 
bishop's  legal  work  as  chancellor,  so  should  there  be  one  or  two  priests  to  do  bishop's 
work  as  missionary  to  his  "  other  sheep  not  of  this  fold,"  wholly  devoted  to  arousing  the 
consciences  of  non-Catholics.  If  there  is  an  administrative  need  of  help,  and  an  epis- 
tolary and  a  legal  need  of  help,  so  is  there  a  missionary  one. 

And  this  is  the  answer  to  the  difficulty.  "The  bishop  hasn't  got  priests  enough  to 
take  care  of  the  parishes."  If  this  were  absolutely  true  he  would  dismiss  his  secretary 
to  a  parish,  recall  the  professors  in  the  seminary  to  parishes;  if  he  can  not  take  care  of 
the  necessary  routine  and  educational  work  of  the  diocese  without  sharing  it  with  the 
priests,  neither  can  he  the  apostolic  work  without  a  missionary.  Or  is  it  not  to  be 
deemed  a  necessary  work?  Did  the  Holy  Ghost  say  only  that  bishops  were  to  rule  the 
Church  of  God  committed  to  them?  Who  was  it  that  said,  "Go  forth  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature?  "  Have  this  and  kindred  texts  no  meaning  for 
the  Church  in  America? 

The  diocesan  missionary  should  be  the  bishop's  right  arm,  as  the  Roman  Propa- 
ganda is  the  Pope's. 

What  can  a  priest  do  in  his  parish?  He  can  give  courses  of  doctrinal  sermons, 
inviting  the  presence  of  all  thinking  men  and  women  through  the  press — or  he  can  get 
his  neighbors  to  do  this  in  his  church  for  him.  He  can  act  and  look  and  speak  as 
belonging  to  this  people  and  nation,  deeply  in  the  common  welfare.  He  is  the  appointed 
champion  of  religion  and  morality  in  his  parish,  and  he  should  act  accordingly.  He 
should  be  the  public  foe  of  all  vice.  In  him  gambling,  and  saloon-keeping  and  saloon- 
going,  bribe-taking,  and  oath-breaking,  should  find  their  bitterest  antagonist.  He 
should  be  the  known  advocate  of  every  good  cause  of  whatever  kind — well  known  as  the 
friend  of  all  good  men.  "  I  became  all  things  to  all  men  that  I  might  gain  some  " — a 
saying  often  quoted,  little  understood,  and  less  practiced. 

All  this  is  parochial  duty  anyway;  but  it  is  pertinent  to  our  subject  that  such  con- 
duct builds  the  Catholic  priest  a  pulpit  in  every  household  in  his  town,  and  enables  him 
to  introduce  the  Catholic  religion  to  men's  notice  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances. 

The  parish  priest  should  watch  the  local  papers,  and  defend  and  advocate  the 
truths  of  religion,  natural  and  revealed.  He  should  carefully  provide  that  Catholic 
journals  come  to  each  family,  and  see  to  the  distribution  of  the  printed  truth  gener- 
ally. 

And  this  opens  to  view  one  of  the  mightiest  of  apostolates — the  Apostolate  of  the 
Press. 

In  most  places  the  secular  press  carefully  excludes  everything  hostile  to  Catholic- 
ity, and  opens  its  columns  to  communications  from  respectable  Catholics,  especially  the 
clergy.  Oh!  why  is  not  this  golden  and  universal  opportunity  better  utilized?  There 
are  multitudes  of  converts  who  were  first  drawn  to  us  by  a  paragraph  in  the  daily 
paper. 

A  small  band  of  laymen  in  the  city  of  St.  Paul  put  their  heads  together  and  then 
their  limited  means,  and  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America  is  the  result,  beginning 
a  glorious  propaganda  of  the  printed  truth.  One  man  in  New  Orleans,  Judge  Frank 
McGloin,  has  devoted  the  recent  years  of  his  life  to  the  same  work,  and  with  marvelous 
success.  Faithful  souls  are  to  be  found  in  every  parish  who  ask,  "  WLut  can  we  do  to 
save  our  neighbors  and  friends?  "  The  answer  is  the  Apostolate  of  the  Press.  The 
Catholic  weekly  and  monthly  press  has  a  limitless  missionary  field,  and  is  daily  seeing 
its  way  better  to  cultivate  it. 

What  gives  much  promise  is  that  the  Apostolate  of  Prayer  is  spreading  everywhere. 
Many  if  not  all  the  contemplative  communities  are  engaged  in  it,  and  most  heartily  so. 
Men  and  women  everywhere  are  being  stirred  by  a  secret  thought — Let  us  pray  for 
conversions.  Those  actively  engaged  say — Will  they  accept  a  book,  leaflet,  a  Catholic 
magazine?  If  so,  I  leave  to  God  the  rest.  Give  me  a  non-Catholic  audience,  says  the 
apostolical  priest,  and  I  leave  to  God  the  rest;  it  is  God's  will  that  I  should  seek  a 
hearing  from  them.  Prayer  will  do  the  rest.  As  a  result  of  this  apostolate  of  prayer, 


60  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

men  and  women  will  everywhere  arise  among  us  gifted  from  on  high  with  a  life-mission 
to  impart  the  truth  to  their  fellow-countrymen. 

You  see,  then,  how  to  go  about  it.  Not  alone  by  spasmodic  efforts  of  zeal  (though 
even  these  are  useful),  not  only  by  starting  societies  (though  there  is  a  wide  field  for  all 
such,  new  and  old),  but  each  Catholic  must  have  a  missionary  element  in  his  personal 
belief  and  practice  of  religion.  And  the  Church  is  herself  essentially  a  missionary  soci- 
ety, not  excepting  her  ordinary  form  of  diocese  and  parish.  Utilize  this  divine  mission- 
ary society  to  its  full  capacity,  but  above  all  encourage  personal  zeal. 

Let  every  parish  have  its  stated  courses  of  lectures  and  sermons  for  non-Catholics, 
and  public  prayers  for  their  conversion,  just  as  regular  as  the  yearly  Forty  Hours' 
Devotions  and  the  Lenten  and  Advent  courses.  Let  there  be  a  class  of  converts  in  all 
the  larger  parishes. 

Let  every  Catholic  periodical  have  its  convert's  department. 

Let  every  diocese  have  at  least  one  diocesan  missionary. 

Let  every  family  have  its  little  library  of  doctrinal  and  controversial  books  and 
pamphlets,  its  Catholic  paper  and  magazine;  every  man  and  woman  their  little  list  of 
non-Catholic  friends  for  whom  they  are  ever  praying  and  ever  asking  prayers,  to  whom 
they  are  ever  talking  and  ever  lending  books. 

Let  the  entire  American  Church  face  onward  and  move  on,  working  and  praying, 
toward  the  greatest  victory  of  the  Holy  Spirit  this  thousand  years — the  conversion  of 
the  great  Republic. 

Of  course  objections  are  heard.  For  example:  Keep  to  your  place.  I  dread  lest 
you  will  precipitate  a  public  controversy  in  my  parish.  You  are  taking  on  yourself  the 
work  of  the  bishops.  Why  don't  the  bishops  do  it?  Why  don't  the  priests  take  up  the 
work?  Why  don't  the  laity  do  their  part?  It's  dangerous  to  make  experiments. 
Where's  your  eloquence?  Where's  your  learning?  Have  you  ever  made  a  course  of 
philosophy?  Don't  be  a  crank,  don't  attempt  the  impossible.  Don't  be  deluded  by 
your  study  of  early  days — the  Church  is  not  what  it  once  was.  (That  is  to  confess  that 
it  is  now  racial  and  not  universal,  no  longer  youthful,  but  old  and  stiff -jointed.  Our 
Holy  Mother,  the  Church,  has  passed  the  age  of  child  bearing.)  Be  safe.  There  s  a  line 
in  the  way.  Where's  the  money  to  come  from?  Are  you  the  dynamite  that's  going  to 
blow  up  the  Presbyterian  religion,  the  Episcopal,  the  Baptist,  the  Methodist — or  the 
big  religion  which  says  mind  your  own  business?  John  Hughes  failed,  John  England 
and  Martin  Spalding  failed — are  you  impertinent  enough  to  think  you  can  succeed? 

Or  other  objections:  They  don't  want  you — they  have  no  use  for  Catholicity. 
Establish  my  little  sodality — that's  the  best  thing  to  do.  They  are  a  rotten  race  and 
totally  depraved;  let's  huddle  ourselves  and  our  little  ones  away  from  them,  or  they 
will  contaminate  us.  They  are  as  bad  as  outright  apostates,  nearly  all  in  bad  faith.  A 
race  that  once  has  renounced  the  truth  has  never  been  known  to  return  to  it,  etc. 

Yes.  Appeals  to  cowardice.  Appeals  to  race  hatred,  to  sloth,  to  despair.  Such 
croakings  once  had  weight,  but  that  day  is  passed. 

We  everywhere  behold  signs  of  the  opposite  spirit.  The  diocese  of  Covington  is 
given  a  farm,  and  the  bishop  sets  it  apart  to  support  missionaries  to  non-Catholics. 

Another  bishop  has  engaged  a  missionary  to  assemble  and  address  non-Catholic 
audiences  in  public  halls  in  the  smaller  towns  of  his  diocese;  and  several  other  bishops 
would  be  glad  to  make  the  same  arrangement. 

A  zealous  parish  priest  is  inspired  to  pray  for  conversions,  and  from  looking  about 
him  for  company  he  prints  a  little  prayer,  and  in  less  than  a  year  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  copies  of  it  are  asked  for  and  distributed. 

For  the  colored  non-Catholics  there  is  a  young  society,  the  Josephites,  small  in 
number  but  full  of  courage  and  hope,  and  equipped  with  a  college  and  seminary  for  the 
training  of  missionaries.  Associated  with  them  is  a  body  of  apostolic  women,  the 
Mission  Helpers.  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  hath  tilled  the  whole  earth,"  and  "  his  gifts 
and  calling  are  without  repentance  " 

Multitudes  among  the  surging  crowds  about  us  are  now  subject  to  a  mysterious 
yearning  toward  the  ancient  religion  of  God,  the  ever-youthful  Bride  of  the  Lamb. 
One  word  from  your  heart,  one  glimpse  of  your  shining  altar,  and  the  riddle  of  life  is 
solved.  All  about  us  are  minds  darkened  by  passion,  enslaved  by  lust,  blinded  by  pride 
of  wealth,  in  despair  from  poverty,  sickness,  disgrace;  you  have  the  cure  upon  your 
tongue  if  you  have  the  love  in  your  heart.  They  need  the  grace  of  God  a  thousand 
times  more  than  you  do.  Will  you  not  strive  to  give  it  to  them? 

They  suffer  from  the  deep  wounds  of  adversity,  and  have  no  such  balm  of  con- 
solation as  your  good  confession  and  happy  communion.  The  toys  of  prosperity  mislead 
them,  for  they  have  no  such  appreciation  of  the  transitoriness  of  this  life  as  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  61 

Catholic  religion  imparts.  They  are  just  beginning  life,  and  you  offer  them  not  the 
chart  and  comfort  of  heavenly  truth — you  who  read  the  heavens  and  who  know  the 
paths  of  the  great  deep.  They  are  dying  on  the  burning  desert,  and  you  will  not  cry 
out  to  them,  Ho  ye  that  thirst!  come  to  the  waters. 

How  many  of  them  look  into  human  life  and  behold  only  vice  and  its  writhing 
victims,  and  beyond  this  life  only  the  blank  of  agnosticism;  and  you  can  people  the  air 
about  them  with  many  thousands  of  the  angels,  and  the  spirits  of  the  just  made 
perfect. 

Young  men  are  there,  buffeting  the  flames  of  sensuality,  and  the  sacrament  of 
penance  with  its  unearthing  of  the  secret  demon,  and  its  finding  of  the  true  friend— 
which  of  you  will  not  tell  them  of  it?  It  saved  you  in  youth,  will  not  you  offer  it  to 
them?  How  can  we  enjoy  the  grace  of  God,  and  be  conscious  that  we  have  done 
positively  nothing  for  those  who  are  perishing  for  lack  of  it? 

Come,  then,  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  God!  open  wide  your  eyes,  and  from  your 
mountain-tops  see  the  States  of  America  white  for  the  harvest.  "  And  Jesus  when  he 
came  out  saw  much  people,  and  was  moved  with  compassion  toward  them,  because 
they  were  as  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd,  and  he  began  to  teach  them  many  things." 
(Matt.  vi.  34.) 

Come,  ye  priests  of  God,  and  join  your  voice  with  him  who  said:  "  And  other  sheep 
I  have  which  are  not  of  this  fold;  them  also  must  I  bring,  and  there  shall  be  one  fold 
and  one  shepherd." 

Come,  ye  men  and  women  of  the  faithful  laity,  and  join  the  glorious  work  of  con- 
verting America;  for  the  spirit  of  God  is  waiting  to  choose  you  all  to  be  his 
messengers. 

"  Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song:  sing  unto  the  Lord  all  the  earth.  Sing  unto  the 
Lord,  bless  his  name,  declare  well  his  salvation  from  day  to  day,  declare  his  glory 
among  the  nations,  among  all  people  his  wonderful  things."  (Ps.  96.) 

We  may  find  no  more  fitting  place  for  an  admirable  paper  by  George  Par- 
sons Lathrop,  the  distinguished  New  England  convert,  on  the  "  Conse- 
quences and  Results  of  the  Discovery  of  the  New  World."  It  ran  as 
follows: 

GEORGE    PARSONS    I.ATHROP'S    ADDRESS. 

To  trace  the  consequences  to  religion,  brought  about  by  the  discovery  of  America, 
would  indeed  be  a  long  and  laborious  task.  Those  consequences,  as  I  understand 
the  term,  were  immediate  influences  on  the  human  mind,  and  on  human  action.  Under 
this  head  must  be  ranged  the  prodigious  stir  caused  in  Europe  by  the  finding  of 
another  continent;  the  quickening  of  thought,  the  wider  views  it  produced,  and  the 
fresh  openings  it  made  for  worldly  ambition  or  energy,  as  well  as  for  piety,  charity,  and 
zeal. 

The  greed  or  enterprise  of  monarchs  and  merchants,  of  explorers,  soldiers,  advent- 
urers, formed  a  part  of  the  consequences  that  worked  their  effort  at  least  on  the  out- 
ward history  of  religion.  But  what  is  more  important  is  that  the  voyage  of  Columbus, 
prompted  by  an  over-ruling  desire  to  serve  the  cause  of  Christ — and  aided  in  the  same 
spirit  by  the  benignant  will  of  Isabella  the  Catholic — opened  the  channel  for  a  new,  a 
deep,  and  steady  outpour  of  that  apostolic  zeal  always  inherent  in  the  Church. 

Nature  abhors  a  vacuum;  and  so  does  religion,  which  always  rushes  in  to  fill  the 
void  of  heathen  ignorance  or  agnostic  misbelief.  The  Church  in  the  Old  World,  there- 
fore, was  thrilled  and  aroused  by  a  desire  to  occupy  and  illuminate  the  whole  of  Amer- 
ica with  Christian  life  and  knowledge.  This  was  a  consequence  of  farthest  reach;  and 
afterward  it  branched  out  in  many  other  directions.  The  work  and  the  triumph  of 
Columbus  gave  a  powerful  stimulus  to  further  voyages,  and  to  commerce  with  distant 
places,  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  We  may  say  that  the  great  Admiral's  flag,  as  it 
fluttered  over  the  Atlantic  solitudes,  became  a  signal  which,  in  the  next  two  centuries, 
was  answered  by  hundreds  of  pennants  hovering  in  remote  seas,  and  marking  the  bil- 
lowy paths  pursued  by  countless  missionaries. 

It  is  impossible,  in  a  short  paper  like  this,  to  discuss  the  first  part  of  the  subject 
with  anything  like  fullness;  and  the  question  of  results  is  that  which  will  need  most 
attention. 

Consequences  are  the  rush  of  the  torrent  of  deeds,  as  it  cleaves  its  way.  Results 
may  be  likened  to  the  fixed  course  of  the  stream,  after  it  has  found  its  bed;  together 
with  the  new  beauties  it  has  unfolded,  the  ruin  it  may  have  caused  at  certain  points,  or 


62  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

the  benefit  which  it  confers,  and  the  sparkling  gold  it  sometimes  brings  to  light.  Con- 
sequence is  motion,  following  from  a  first  motion,  a  current  of  actions  or  events. 
Result  is  the  fact  which  is  established  by  the  flowing  of  that  current.  Briefly,  results 
are  the  summing  up  of  consequences.  Hence,  it  is  chiefly  with  results  that  we  have 
now  to  deal. 

But,  first,  let  no  one  rest  content  or  indifferent  with  imagining  that  this  subject  is 
"  un-practical."  I  know  it  is  often  said  of  congresses,  schools,  or  lectures,  that,  if  they 
do  not  incessantly  treat  the  hard,  gritty,  grubby  facts  which  confront  us  all  individually, 
in  our  business  or  professional  careers  and  daily  problems,  they  are  not  "  practical."  I 
fully  believe  in  the  value  and  necessity  of  the  immediate,  every-day,  direct  view  of 
things,  and  of  instruction  adapted  to  it.  But  that  is  simply  the  limited  "  practical." 
There  is  an  unlimited  practical,  which  is  far  more  comprehensive  and  just  as  necessary. 
And  nothing  can  be  more  unlimited  and  comprehensive  in  its  practicality  than  the  his- 
tory and  science  of  results. 

In  th'e  vast  field  at  which  we  are  glancing,  the  first  effect  to  be  observed  is  the 
reflex  action  of  the  discovery  of  America  upon  Europe;  and  then  we  have  to  note  the 
gradual  shaping  of  results  in  America  itself. 

Spain's  foothold  in  the  Western  hemisphere  added  immensely  to  her  power  among 
the  nations — a  fact  which  had  much  to  do  with  later  complications,  political  and 
religious.  The  jealousy  which  other  European  countries  felt  toward  the  peninsular 
empire,  on  account  of  this  increased  importance  and  control,  arrayed  some  of  them 
against  it  and  also  intensified  the  fervor  with  which  they  espoused  the  heresies  of  the 
"  Reformation,"  since  these  were  unrelentingly  combated  by  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  Mot- 
ley, who  has  celebrated  the  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic  and  the  story  of  the  United 
Netherlands  as  a  grand  campaign  of  Protestantism  in  conflict  with  Catholicity,  says  : 
"  The  object  of  the  war  between  the  Netherlands  and  Spain  was  not,  therefore,  primarily, 
a  rebellion  against  established  authority,  for  the  maintenance  of  civil  rights.  To  pre- 
serve these  rights  was  secondary.  The  first  cause  u-as  religion.  The  provinces  had 
been  fighting  for  years  against  the  Inquisition.  Had  they  not  taken  arms,  the  Inqui- 
sition would  have  been  established  in  the  Netherlands,  and  very  probably  in  England, 
and  England  might  have  become  in  its  turn  a  province  of  the  Spanish  Empire." 

This,  to  Motley,  is  a  thought  quite  unbearable;  and  it  is  upon  his  repugnance  to  it 
that  he  bases  his  whole  treatment  of  the  Netherlands  matter.  It  seems  to  me  that  in 
so  doing  he  reads  and  writes  history  backward,  from  the  present  into  the  past,  instead 
of  forward  and  straight  forward  from  the  past  to  the  present.  He  injects  into  it  the 
coloring  of  his  own  idea  or  prejudice  as  to  what  might  have  happened,  and  turns  his 
narrative  into  a  partisan  justification.  Thus  he  becomes  one-sided  and  takes  the  tone 
of  an  advocate,  instead  of  tracing  events  and  results  impartially.  But  the  passage  just 
quoted  from  him  shows  well  enough  how — a  hundred  years  after  the  American  discov- 
ery— Europeans  mixed  a  good  deal  of  religion  with  their  warfare  and  put  a  good  deal 
of  war  into  their  religion.  That  mingling  of  the  two  will  explain  why  some  of  the 
consequences  of  the  discovery  were  not  immediately  or  wholly  favorable  to  religion 
pure  and  simple.  Motley  also  tells  us  of  the  counsel  given  by  one  Roger  Williams,  a 
Welshman — not  the  Welsh  Roger  Williams  of  Rhode  Island,  so  conspicuous  in  the 
17th  century,  but  an  earlier  though  equally  pugnacious  Roger,  who  served  England 
and  the  States  General  as  a  soldier  of  fortune  in  1584  and  thereabouts.  He  advised  a 
combined  attack  by  sea  on  the  colonies  of  Spain.  Such  an  attack  the  English  and 
Dutch  afterward  made  successfully.  Here  we  have  the  first  momentous  example 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  New  World  affected  the  civil  and  religious  situation  of  the 
Old,  and  was  in  turn  involved  and  affected  by  it. 

At  the  same  time  single-minded  Faith — apart  from  worldly  considerations  —  had 
turned  many  hearts  in  Europe  toward  America  and  kindled  the  eyes  of  holy  men  with 
the  light  of  a  vision.  For  the  first  time  the  sun  seemed  to  rise  in  the  West.  The  land 
of  the  Occident  was  now  the  Morning  Land  to  Christian  hopes.  The  period  of  crusades 
to  the  Orient  to  rescue  the  sepulcher  of  Christ  had  gone  by;  but  the  new,  more  peaceful 
crusade  of  the  16th  century  had  for  its  object  the  rescue  of  souls  in  America  from 
the  sepulchral  darkness  of  heathenism.  A  great  breeze  of  apostolic  zeal  streamed  in 
that  direction.  Nevertheless  the  earliest  consequences  and  even  some  of  the  later  results 
appeared,  or  at  least  might  be  fancied,  discouraging  to  the  cause  of  religion  or  inade- 
quate to  its  high  standard. 

The  first  gold  taken  by  Columbus  to  Europe  was  made  into  a  chalice,  which  is  now 
preserved  in  the  Cathedral  of  Seville;  and  it  could  well  have  been  hoped  that  all  the 
other  first-fruits  of  the  New  World  would  be  equally  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God. 
But  the  first  settlements  planted  on  Hispaniola  became — notwithstanding  the  aspirations 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  63 

of  their  founder,  and  the  religious  devotion  connected  with  them — a  scene  of  strife, 
moral  disorder,  injustice,  and  cruelty.  Columbus,  himself  in  one  way  the  chief  sufferer 
from  these  evils,  also  inflicted  a  great  evil  upon  the  original  inhabitants,  by  sending 
home  cargoes  of  them  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  And  yet  from  this  enslavement  of  the 
natives,  destructive  though  it  afterward  was  to  them,  arose  Isabella's  noble  indignation 
at  the  traffic,  and  the  first  protest  against  human  slavery  in  America,  uttered  by  Father 
Anthony  de  Montesinos,  in  1511. 

The  San  Domingan  cities  of  Columbus  crumbled;  his  colonies  faded  away,  and 
have  been  overgrown  by  something  little  better  than  the  wild  weed  of  civilization.  Still, 
the  country  he  first  occupied  has  never  again  become  un-Christianized.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  as  an  example  of  the  complete  triumph  of  gentle  religion,  we  have  the  mis- 
sion of  Las  Casas,  afterward  Bishop  of  Chiapa,  in  Mexico,  who  throughout  his  life 
successfully  defended  the  Indians  through  slavery  and  oppression.  Near  Guatemala 
there  was  a  province,  Tuzulutlan,  which  the  Spanish  had  invaded  three  times,  suffering 
each  time  a  bloody  repulse.  They  called  it  "  The  Land  of  War,"  and  did  not  dare 
approach  it  again.  Las  Casas  offered  to  subdue  it,  but  on  condition  that  only  spiritual 
weapons  should  be  used,  and  that  no  Spanish  colonist  or  soldier  should  be  allowed  to 
enter  the  territory  for  five  years.  This  being  agreed  to,  he  penetrated  with  other 
Dominican  fathers  among  the  hostile  dwellers  there'.  In  a  few  years  they  tranquilized 
and  made  Christians  of  the  natives;  and,  in  consequence  of  this,  what  had  been  so  long 
"The  Land  of  War"  received  from  Charles  V.  the  name  which  it  bears  to-day — that  is 
Vera  Paz,  or  "  Land  of  Peace."  Soon  afterward  Las  Casas  received  the  brief  of  Pope 
Paul  III.,  which  pronounced  excommunication  against  all  who  should  enslave  or  rob 
the  Indians. 

In  the  next  century  we  find  the  great  Franciscan,  St.  Francis  de  Solano,  the  apos- 
tle of  Peru,  overcoming  alone  and  unarmed  a  furious  multitude  of  savage  warriors  who 
were  about  to  attack  his  native  neophytes;  and,  eventually,  spreading  the  gospel  among 
those  dusky  swarms.  When  he  died,  a  hundred  tribes,  throughout  a  tract  of  two  thou- 
sand miles,  burned  lamps  day  and  night  in  his  honor,  and  besought  him  as  their  advocate 
in  heaven.  Although  Urban  VIII.  forbade  public  devotion  to  Francis  Solano  until  the 
claims  of  the  saint  should  be  further  examined,  the  Indians — although  faithful  and 
docile  in  everything  else — refused,  for  the  space  of  twenty  years,  to  cease  from  their 
open  veneration.  Then,  realizing  at  last  that  they  were  doing  their  beloved  apostle  no 
honor  by  opposing  the  command  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  they  brought  in  and  surrendered 
all  their  lamps,  and  waited  nineteen  years  longer  for  the  decree  of  Beatification. 

Thus,  as  Las  Casas  had  taught  the  Indians  of  Tuzulutlan  the  lesson  of  peace  and 
had  impressed  its  name  upon  their  very  country,  so  the  natives  of  Peru  learned,  through 
St.  Francis  Solano,  the  lesson  of  true  obedience. 

Marvelous  were  the  achievements  of  these  and  other  missionaries,  and  wonderful 
was  the  fabric  of  spiritual  culture  which  they  reared  among  the  peoples  of  Southern 
and  Central  America  and  Mexico.  Many  suffered  martyrdom,  and  all  would  gladly  and 
gratefully  have  accepted  it,  had  it  come  to  them.  The  thought  of  violent  death  in  such 
a  cause  had  no  power  to  alarm  or  deter  them;  but  the  violence  and  crueltv  of  some 
among  their  nominal  followers,  Spanish  adventurers  and  soldiers  of  the  baser  0ort, 
toward  the  natives,  must  have  been  hard  to  meet  and  endure.  This  was  a  consequence 
detrimental,  indeed,  to  religion;  and  reference  to  it  has  often  been  made  by  men  of  later 
generations,  to  show  that  because  the  name  of  religion  was  sullied  by  these  unworthy 
hangers-on,  therefore  religion  itself  must  be  false  or  unworthy.  But  do  we  not  find 
records  of  similar  cruelties  in  New  England,  toward  both  the  red  and  the  white  man, 
and  in  the  injustice  perpetrated  upon  North  American  Indians  in  this  great  country  of 
ours,  not  by  arbitrary  and  lawless  invaders  or  soldier  governors,  but  by  the  lawful 
authorities  of  a  constitutional  government,  which  makes  a  special  claim  of  loving  juttice 
and  of  maintaining  the  freedom  and  equality  of  all  men?  The  truth  is  that  every  age 
and  every  race  has  exhibited  the  same  conjunction  of  the  sordid  and  sublime.  Evil 
seems  to  delight  in  settling  down  as  the  next-door  neighbor  of  good. 

But,  by  the  very  contrast  which  the  misdeeds  of  some  of  the  Spanish  invaders  offer, 
the  pure,  unselfish  course  and  the  holy  labor  of  monks  and  missioners  glow  with  a 
luster  all  the  more  clear  and  brilliant.  They  counteracted  even  this  drawback,  and 
overcame  every  other  obstacle  by  a  power  more  than  human.  Instead  of  allowing  the 
native  races  to  be  swept  away  by  fire  and  sword,  they  saved  them  body  and  soul,  and 
drew  them  gently  into  the  fold  of  the  One  Shepherd.  And  there  those  races  remain 
to-day.  Some  small  portion  of  them  are  still  unconverted;  but  a  modern  French 
naturalist,  Alcide  d'Orbigny,  who  personally  visited  thirty-nine  nations  of  pure  1-  aipri- 
can  race  in  South  America,  and  gathered  accurate  statistics  concerning  them,  ;-Jn4 


64  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

that  among  all  these  nations  or  tribes  there  were  only  94,000  pagans,  while  in  the  same- 
district  the  native  Christians  numbered  1,600,000. 

In  his  comprehensive  and  valuable  report  on  Christian  missions,  T.  W.  M.  Marshall 
says:  "When  nature  divided  the  great  American  continent  into  two  parts,  she  seems, 
to  have  prepared  by  anticipation  a  separate  theater  for  the  events  of  which  each  was  to 
be  the  scene,  and  for  the  actors  who  were  destined  to  perform  in  either  a  part  so  widely 
dissimilar.  The  one  was  to  be  the  exclusive  domain  of  the  Church,  the  other  the  battle- 
field of  all  the  sects." 

We  who  do  not  measure  progress  by  material  things  only,  or  by  mere  smartness  and 
superficial  popular  education,  can  rejoice  heartily  in  the  noble  Christianizing  of  South- 
ern America — which  Mr.  Marshall  calls  the  Church's  domain — and  the  thorough 
education,  ingrained  with  religion,  which  the  Church  established  there.  In  the  later 
days  of  some  of  those  Spanish-American  countries,  churches,  convents,  and  colleges  have 
been  robbed  or  crippled  by  selfish,  ambitious,  and  sometimes  wholly  irreligious  men, 
who  have  masqueraded  as  republican  leaders.  But  the  damage  appears  to  be  on  the 
surface  only.  The  people  are  still  Catholic.  It  is  easier  to  rob  churches  than  to  steal 
souls. 

These  disasters  came  late  in  Southern  America.  Turning  to  North  America,  "  the 
battlefield  of  all  the  sects,"  we  see  that  things  there  have  gone  just  the  other  way;  dis- 
aster, which  for  a  time  seemed  overwhelming,  came  first,  and  now  a  prosperity  of  the 
Church  has  resulted,  which  even  100  years  ago  would  have  been  regarded  as  impossible 
of  realization. 

In  the  region  which  is  now  the  United  States,  as  Gilmary  Shea  well  remarks,  the 
Church  did  not  wait  for  the  formation  of  colonies.  "  Her  priests,"  he  said, "  were  among 
the  explorers  of  the  coast,  were  the  pioneers  of  the  vast  interior;  with  Catholic  settlers 
came  the  minister  of  God,  and  Mass  was  said,  to  hallow  the  land  and  draw  down  the 
blessing  of  heaven,  before  the  first  step  was  taken  to  rear  a  human  habitation.  The 
altar  was  older  than  the  hearth." 

To  this  terse  and  striking  statement  we  may  fitly  add  the  remainder  that  these  first- 
comers  sought  to  give  the  new  country  a  kind  of  consecration,  in  the  very  names  that 
they  bestowed.  Santo  Domingo  means  "  Holy  Sunday."  Another  great  island  in  the 
Spanish  Main  was  called  Trinidad,  or  "  Trinity."  Ponce  de  Leon  in  1513  sighted  the- 
coast  on  Easter  Sunday,  which  is  known  in  Spanish  as  Pascua  de  Flores;  and  hence 
the  present  name  of  Florida  commemorates  the  sacred  season  of  Easter.  Wherever 
Catholics  went,  throughout  North  America,  this  delicate  yet  pervasive  aroma  of  beau- 
tiful religious  names  and  associations  went  with  them  and  diffused  itself  like  the  per- 
fume of  incense,  which  lingers  in  the  air  and  the  memory.  The  spot  where  Mass  was 
first  said  at  St.  Augustine  was  marked  for  a  long  time,  on  Spanish  maps,  as  Nombre  de 
Dios:  that  is,  "  Name  of  God."  San  Francisco,  in  California,  keeps  before  us,  by  its- 
name  at  least,  the  recollection  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  In  the  middle  West  there  is  a 
peak  still  known  as  the  "  Mountain  of  the  Holy  Cross,"  from  the  cruciform  mark  of 
snow  in  the  deep  ravines  of  its  rocky  height.  Many  of  the  old  religious  names  of 
places  have  been  changed  and  effaced.  But  Santa  Fe — signifying  "  Holy  Faith  " — yet 
survives  in  New  Mexico.  Maryland  was  named  for  that  pious  Queen  of  England,  Hen- 
rietta Maria,  whose  second  name  of  Maria — or  Mary — was  chosen  for  the  Catholic  col- 
ony because  it  was  the  name  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

These  may  seem  remote  considerations.  But  there  is  a  great  significance  in  names 
and  the  way  in  which  they  are  applied.  Certainly  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  our 
country — which  many  persons  are  pleased  to  call,  without  authorization,  a  "  Protestant 
country  "• — is  so  clearly  marked  in  every  direction  with  holy  Catholic  names,  as  well  as 
with  heroic  Catholic  traditions.  The  fact  that  these  names  have  remained  is  emblem- 
atic of  that  other  and  deeper  fact  that  the  Faith  itself  has  remained  and  increased, 
although  at  one  time  it  seemed  probable  that  nothing  would  be  left  of  Catholicity  here, 
except  its  names. 

Within  a  period  of  250  years  from  the  first  Catholic  foundations  in  North  America, 
nearly  everything  established  by  them  had,  to  all  appearance,  been  blasted.  The  settle- 
ments in  Florida  were  devastated  and  burned  by  the  Anglicans  of  South  Carolina,  and 
the  territory  itself  was  finally  given  up  by  Spain  to  England.  Later  on,  Maryland  — 
which,  as  a  purely  Catholic  colony,  offered  peaceful  life,  liberty,  and  freedom  of  worship 
to  people  of  every  sect  —  had  been  treacherously  undermined  by  Protestant  immigrants, 
who  overpowered  the  Catholics  and  condemned  them  to  proscription.  The  great  Cath- 
olic missionary  organization  in  Canada  had  been  destroyed.  The  Puritans  had  set  up, 
and  were  maintaining  immovably,  their  absolute  intolerance  and  oppression  in  New 
England.  Everywhere  east  of  the  Mississippi,  Catholics  were  weighed  down  by  an 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  COXGRESSES.  65 

arbitrary  power,  which  deprived  them  of  civil  rights  and  could  at  any  moment  seize 
their  property  and  drive  them  into  exile.  Even  in  the  West  and  Southwest,  where 
Catholics  were  still  free  under  Catholic  governments,  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuits  had 
stripped  many  districts  of  their  priests  and  had  left  the  faithful  exposed  to  the  dangers 
of  isolation  and  religious  decay. 

This  was  the  state  of  things  in  1763,  a  dozen  years  before  the  American  Revolution. 
Then  came  the  Revolutionary  War;  and  suppressed  Catholic  Maryland  was  promptly 
liberated  and  Catholic  citizens  were  restored  to  their  rights,  because  the  other  colonists 
knew  and  admitted  that  —  when  the  pinch  came  —  these  citizens  were  absolutely  loyal 
to  the  country,  notwithstanding  the  wrongs  it  had  inflicted  upon  them,  and  were  essen- 
tial to  the  success  of  its  cause. 

From  the  time  when  Catholic  emancipation  was  declared  on  our  shores,  and  ratified 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  guarantee  to  every  one  the  religious 
iroedom  that  Lord  Baltimore  inaugurated  on  this  continent;  from  that  time,  the  Cath- 
o.ic  and  Apostolic  Church  has  flourished  amazingly  within  our  North  American  borders. 
It  was  a  good  thing  that  all  the  sects  found  outlet  here,  and  were  enabled  to  carry  on 
thoir  battle  to  the  fullest  extent.  It  was  a  good  thing  that  the  Puritans  should  enter 
freely  and  have  their  way,  and  fancy  that  they  possessed  the  whole  land.  Spain,  France, 
and  England — these  three  powers  vied  with  each  other  in  colonizing  and  trying  to  pos- 
bess  the  New  World,  and  especially  this  northern  part  of  it.  France  and  Spain  were 
Catholic,  and  they  rendered  us  the  service  of  tmgeing  the  country  deeply  with  their 
faith.  England  became  anti-Catholic  and  did  her  best  to  expunge  the  Faith  from  this 
realm  which  came  under  her  rule.  Yet,  as  history  has  resulted,  the  Church  at  last 
found  her  surest  foothold  in  this  country  under  the  anti-Catholic  dominion  of  England, 
which  had  tried  so  hard  to  suppress  her;  and  the  Church  has  since  attained  here,  in  a 
single  century  of  freedom,  a  growth  never  paralleled  in  modern  history. 

This,  then,  is  one  of  the  most  important  results  to  religion  of  the  discovery  of 
America. 

It  was  largely  brought  about,  humanly  speaking,  as  the  Vicomte  de  Meaux  tells 
us,  in  his  recent  book  on  ''The  Catholic  Church  and  Liberty  in  the  United  States,"  by 
"  the  advent  of  the  Celts  of  Ireland,  and  the  Teutons  of  Germany  to  the  first  rank  of 
Catholic  peoples,"  in  the  United  States;  which  he  declares,  "  is  the  most  astonishing 
phenomenon  that  the  New  World,  at  the  end  of  this  century,  can  offer  to  the  contem- 
plation of  the  Old  World."  In  former  times  Frenchmen  and  Spaniards,  both  Catholic, 
strove  against  each  other  in  North  America;  sometimes  to  the  detriment  of  religious 
progress.  Even  the  English  James,  Duke  of  York,  also  a  Catholic,  tried  to  oppose  the 
French  in  Canada — for  political  and  state  reasons — by  setting  up  in  the  province  of 
New  York  an  Iroquios  village  under  charge  of  Jesuit  priests,  as  a  hostile  offset  to  the 
French  Indian  villages  supervised  by  Jesuits  in  Canada.  To-day,  certain  rivalries 
between  German  and  Celtic  Catholics  in  the  United  States  are  not  altogether 
unknown.  Yet  here  we  have  this  French  Catholic  of  our  time,  the  Vicomte  de  Meaux, 
honestly  sinking  all  prejudices  of  the  past  or  the  present,  and  surrrendering  himself 
completely  to  admiration  of  the  way  in  which — by  unforeseen  means — the  Irish  and 
the  Germans,  oppressed  at  home,  have  become  the  central  and  immediate  forces  of 
Catholic  advancement  in  America.  Ought  we  not  all  to  learn  some  pertinent  and 
peaceful  lesson  from  the  struggles  of  the  past,  and  this  calm,  impartial  tribute  of  a 
modern  Frenchman? 

True  liberty  is  what  the  Church  most  inculcates,  and  what  it  most  needs.  It  has 
found  it  at  last  in  this  country,  where  at  first  its  prospect  of  doing  so  seemed  most 
unlikely.  It  is  by  such  paradoxes  that  the  divine  power  works,  regardless  of  the  self- 
interest,  or  even  the  most  unselfish  foresight  and  planning,  of  men.  The  complete 
separation  of  Church  from  state,  which  exists  here,  has  been  an  immense  advantage  to 
religion,  and  will  continue  to  be  so  by  assuring  it  of  entire  independence  in  the  pursuit 
of  its  spiritual  aims. 

But  see:  The  development  of  this  independence  was  opposed  by  nearly  all  the 
human  forces  which  were  in  action  during  the  period  when  it  was  maturing.  The  Puri- 
tans themselves,  though  rebels  against  Church  authority,  formed  the  closest  kind  of 
union  between  their  own  particular  religious  organization  and  their  own  form  of  civil 
government.  When  it  became  necessary  to  admit  Catholics  as  political  equals  and  fel- 
low-citizens, the  Puritans,  who  were  in  terror  of  the  "  Romish  "  influence  that  might  be 
exerted  upon  the  state,  were  obliged  to  abandon  their  own  system  of  controlling  the 
state  by  religious  authorities,  and  to  join  in  forbidding  all  connection  of  Church  with 
state;  so  that  they  might  be  sure  of  shutting  out  the  "Romanists"  from  such  control. 
And  this  separation  of  Church  and  state  proved  to  be  precisely  the  most  beneficial 
thing  that  could  have  happened  for  the  progress  of  Catholic  Christianity. 


66  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

If  Catholics  had  been  able  to  establish,  when  they  first  set  out  to  do  so,  a  series  of 
flourishing  colonies  along  the  seaboard  of  North  America,  and  to  maintain  them  unop- 
posed, they  would  have  built  a  rampart  which  the  Pilgrims  and  later  legions  of 
Protestants  would  hardly  have  ventured  to  pass.  As  it  was,  the  attempts  of  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert  and  Weymouth  to  plant  Catholic  colonies  in  New  England  failed;  and 
wherever  Cathclic  settlements  were  made  along  their  coasts,  from  Florida  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  they  were  overturned,  cut  down,  or  rendered  powerless.  So  it  came  to  pass 
that  other  elements  pressed  in,  which,  under  different  circumstances,  would  scarcely 
have  ventured  to  do  so.  They  throve,  and  came  to  believe  that  this  portion  of  the  con- 
tinent was  theirs.  Their  successors  streamed  in  and  believed  the  same.  Circumstances 
led  them — while  they  were  opening  the  gates  to  every  element  of  warring  religious 
belief — to  establish  complete  civil  liberty  and  freedom  of  conscience;  thereby  opening 
the  gates,  also,  to  the  one  religion  which  does  not  mean  endless  division  and  war,  but 
means  peace.  And  everywhere  they  have  gone,  through  all  the  great  expanse  of  terri- 
tory, they  have  come  upon  the  old  monuments  and  tokens  of  this  religion  which  had 
preceded  them — in  Florida,  in  Maryland,  in  New  York,  up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  in 
Canada,  in  New  England  itself,  and  in  f ar-off  California,  where  the  restless  tide  of  pio- 
neer invasion  ceased  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  at  the  feet  of  the  old  Catholic  missions 
along  that  coast. 

The  whole  country  is  surrounded  by  the  early  outposts  of  the  ancient  Faith.  Their 
garrisons  may  have  seemed  dead,  but  they  were  only  sleeping.  The  saints  and  mission- 
aries of  the  past  have  apparently  come  to  life  once  more,  in  all  those  little  strongholds 
which  enring  the  land  and  seemed  to  be  ruins,  but  suddenly  prove  to  be  in  full  vigor  of 
existence  again.  And  in  the  train  of  these  reviving  memories  and  associations,  an 
immense  army  of  Irish,  German,  Italian,  French,  Polish  Catholics  have  come  upon  the 
field. 

Let  them  learn  from  the  past,  and  avoid  all  strife,  jealousy,  or  rivalry  among  races 
or  families,  which  may  retard  religious  and  national  progress. 

When  we  perceive  and  comprehend  how  the  apparent  failure  of  early  Catholic 
institutions  in  North  America  was  the  essential  factor  in  bringing  multitudes  of  non- 
Catholics  hither — where  they  have  developed  within  a  cordon  of  Catholic  historic 
associations,  and  have  become  mingled  with  a  great  body  of  living  Catholics —  and  when 
we  realize  how  it  has  taken  400  years  for  this  country  to  realize  that  the  hero.  Columbus, 
whom  the  entire  nation  unitedly  celebrates  in  1893,  was  the  colossal  Catholic  pioneer, 
then  we  shall  begin  to  have  some  conception  of  the  immense  scale  on  which  God  works, 
and  the  patience  with  which  he  works. 

When  we  realize,  also,  that  the  present  condition  of  the  true  Faith  in  this  country  — 
with  its  millions  of  communicants,  its  thousands  of  church  buildings  and  charitable 
institutions  —  has  grown  up  against  the  opposition  of  those  who  attempted  to  mould 
the  national  life  in  a  totally  different  direction,  we  can  appreciate  what  St.  Francis 
cle  Sales  meant,  when  he  said:  ''God  makes  people  co-operate  with  him.  when  they 
are  least  aware  of  it." 

THIRD    DAY. 

In  its  morning  session  of  Wednesday  the  Congress  was  favored  by  the 
presence  of  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  of  New  York,  who,  on  being  intro- 
duced by  the  Chairman,  was  greeted  with  hearty  applause,  which  he 
acknowledged  in  these  gracious  terms: 

ARCHBISHOP  CORRIGAN'S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  rise  to  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  the 
very  kind  manner  in  which  you,  have  seconded  the  suggestion  just  proposed,  and  I  am 
indebted  to  the  delegation  of  New  York  for  the  words  of  welcome  given  through  their 
president.  I  especially  prize  the  welcome  given  by  the  audience  in  general,  to  nearly 
all  of  whom  I  am  a  stranger,  and  therefore  their  action  is  one  of  pure  veneration  for 
the  episcopal  office.  It  is,  I  need  not  say,  a  heartfelt  pleasure  to  attend  a  celebration 
which  is  so  appropriate  an  incident  of  this  great  Columbian  Exposition. 

Let  us  look  back  awhile.  What  were  the  motives  of  Columbus  in  undertaking  his 
voyage  of  discovery?  If  we  read  his  own  letters,  which  are  the  authentic  exposition  of 
his  reasons,  we  shall  see  that  he  was  dominated  by  three  great  principles:  First,  the  love 
of  scientific  knowledge:  next,  the  love  of  his  adopted  country,  and  lastly,  but  most  of 
all,  the  love  of  Holy  Faith.  He  was  impelled  to  his  journey  of  discovery  by  a  love  of 
scientific  knowledge,  because  he  had  long  held  that  the  world  was  round,  and  he  felt 
that  by  continually  journeying  westward  across  the  ocean  he  would  come  to  some  undis- 


ARCHBISHOP  KAIN. 

ST.  LOUIS. 

ARCHBISHOP  WALSH. 

TORONTO. 

ARCHBISHOP  ELDER. 

CINCINNATI. 


CARDINAL  TASCHEREAU. 

QUEBEC. 


ARCHBISHOP  WILLIAMS, 

B  OSTON. 

ARCHBISHOP  GROSS, 

OREGON. 

ARCHBISHOP  KENRICK, 

ST.  LOUIS. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  67 

covered  continent,  and  that  scientific  fact  would  be  established  for  all  time.  Then  to  this 
love  of  science  was  added  the  debt  of  gratitude  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  particularly 
to  that  large-minded  queen  who  was  willing  to  pledge  her  jewels  that  the  enterprise 
might  be  carried  to  a  successful  termination.  Therefore  in  return  for  the  assist- 
ance and  encouragement  of  this  noble-hearted  queen  he  wished  to  add  new  jewels  to 
the  crown  of  Spain  in  the  shape  of  lands  not  yet  known  to  the  civilized  world.  And  far 
beyond  this  sentiment  was  the  underlying  love  of  the  Faith,  the  love  of  converting  souls 
and  of  bringing  them  into  the  light  which  shines  from  heaven. 

Now,  what  are  your  motives  in  coming  to  this  Columbian  Catholic  Congress?  Are 
they  not  the  same  as  those  which  guided  Columbus?  You  show  a  love  of  knowledge  by 
meeting  to  discuss  the  great  problems  which  now  agitate  the  world;  and  just  as  Colum- 
bus had  a  safe  guide  in  that  mariner's  compass  which  kept  him  in  his  western  course, 
so  have  you,  in  the  teachings  of  the  Holy  Father,  an  unfailing  guide  which  will  bring 
you  also  to  the  land  of  promise.  Then  as  to  the  love  of  country;  are  we  not,  we  who  are 
Catholics,  all  animated  by  the  same  feeling?  Do  we  not  love  our  country  as  the  best 
land  on  earth?  Does  not  all  the  devotion  of  our  hearts  go  out  toward  it?  And  if 
Columbus  desired  to  show  his  affection  and  gratitude  to  Isabella  and  the  land  of  his 
adoption,  I  am  sure  that  each  one  of  us  feels  his  heart  swell  with  similar  emotion.  We 
have  great  pride  in  loving  our  country,  for  we  feel  that  just  as  the  Lord  in  the  miracu- 
lous multiplication  of  the  wine  at  the  wedding  feast  saved  the  best  for  the  last,  so  in 
the  order  of  Providence,  the  land  last  to  be  discovered  was  our  own  fair  land  and  the 
best.  Then,  again,  you  have  come  together  as  Catholics  through  love  for  the  Church, 
love  for  the  truth,  love  for  souls.  All  of  us  here,  from  every  part  of  the  United  States, 
with  our  brethren  from  abroad,  are  animated  with  the  one  faith  and  the  one  feeling 
that  guided  Columbus  —  the  one  love  for  our  Divine  Master;  this  is  the  mainspring  of 
all  our  deliberations,  and  we  are  assured  in  advance  that  that  guiding  star  will  lead  us 
safely  to  the  haven  of  rest.  And  now,  Mr.  Chairman  and  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have 
no  right  to  interfere  with  the  order  of  the  day's  proceedings  and  divert  your  attention 
from  important  papers,  prepared  with  great  care  by  those  who  are  to  address  you. 
Therefore,  simply,  let  me  say  in  conclusion,  that  I  trust  the  success  of  your  deliberations 
will  be  commensurate  to  the  noble  aim  you  have  proposed  yourself,  worthy  of  the  great 
occasion  that  has  called  you  to  this  Columbian  Congress,  and  worthy  of  the  queenly 
city  that  gives  us  such  a  hospitable  welcome. 

A  still  more  fervent  special  ovation  greeted  the  same  distinguished  Arch- 
bishop in  the  Thursday  evening  session,  which  was  attended  by  many  other 
illustrious  prelates,  following  being  the  eloquent  expression  of 

ARCHBISHOP  CORRIGAN'S  THANKS. 

Most  Reverend  and  Right  Reverend  Prelates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  As  an  hon- 
est confession  is  said  to  be  good  for  the  soul,  permit  me,  while  gratefully  acknowledging 
your  most  cordial  welcome,  to  say  how  utterly  abashed  and  overwhelmed  I  am  at  this 
immense  outpouring  and  unexpected  demonstration.  When  your  Chairman  kindly 
invited  me  to  attend  a  reception  to  be  offered  by  members  of  my  own  Diocese,  I  had  no 
idea  that  this  hall  would  be  filled  to  overflowing;  and  I  expected  merely  to  say  a  few 
pleasant  words  and  to  pass  the  time  in  friendly  conversation.  Instead  of  this,  an 
address  is  looked  for  from  one  who  is  almost  totally  unprepared  to  answer  such  expecta- 
tions. However,  if  a  speech  must  be  made,  let  me  try  to  analyze  the  cause  of  this 
most  generous  welcome. 

In  the  first  place,  the  poet  says:  "  One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world 
akin."  If  this  be  true,  and  we  all  feel  the  sympathetic  thrill  of  our  common  humanity, 
much  more  does  unity  of  faith  bind  together  the  children  of  God  with  the  links  of  com- 
mon origin,  of  commmon  aspirations  and  common  destiny.  It  is  hard  for  us  to  realize 
the  fact  now,  but  nevertheless  it  is  quite  true,  that  until  the  blessed  day  when  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  was  preached,  men  were  strongly  divided  against  each  other,  and 
the  idea  of  a  common  brotherhood  was  unrecognized.  The  weaker  class  was  driven  to 
the  wall,  becoming  the  prey  of  its  more  powerful  neighbors.  In  Imperial  Rome 
itself,  in  the  days  of  its  highest  material  splendor,  by  far  the  largest  part  of  its  popula- 
tion were  slaves,  over  whom  their  masters  wielded  the  right  of  life  and  death,  with  a 
recklessness  that  can  only  be  fitly  characterized  as  brutal.  In  the  eyes  of  the  law, 
slaves  were  not  regarded  as  men,  but  as  chattels.  Now  the  law  gives  a  man  the  right  to 
use  his  goods  and  chattels,  his  own  property,  as  he  pleases. 

As  a  sunbeam  of  light  piercing  a  dark  dungeon,  as  a  strain  of  exquisite  and  heav- 
enly music  wafted  to  captives  languishing  in  exile,  was  the  letter  of  St.  Paul,  the 


68 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


Apostle,  to  Philemon  on  behalf  of  a  fugitive  slave,  a  slave  to  be  received  by  his  Christian 
master,  not  now  as  a  chattel,  not  even  as  a  runaway  to  be  punished  for  his  transgres- 
sion, but,  as  the  Apostle  says,  "  as  a  most  dear  brother."  This  incident  alone  shows 
how  the  Church  began  to  knit  together  the  ties  of  our  common  humanity,  from  the 
beginning.  Again,  take  the  well-known  story  of  Fabiola,  with  which  you  are  all 
familiar,  a  work  of  fiction,  it  is  true,  but  one  which  faithfully  portrays  the  state 
of  Roman  society  in  the  3d  and  4th  centuries.  Probably  you  all  remember  the 
striking  passage  in  which  the  writer  describes  the  perplexity  of  Pabiola,  on  discovering 
by  chance  a  passage  of  the  Gospel  in  which  the  love  of  God  for  all  His  creatures  is 
intimated,  for  "  He  makes  His  sun  to  shine  on  the  good  and  the  bad,  and  the  rain  to 
fall  on  the  just  and  the  unjust."  Cardinal  Wiseman,  speaking  of  the  embarrassment  of 
Fabiola  on  reading  such  a  declaration,  compares  it  to  the  perplexity  of  an  untutored 
mind  in  finding  some  shining  stone  by  the  wayside,  unable  to  decide  whether  it  be  a 
precious  gem  or  a  worth- 
less pebble.  Even  so,  the 
beautiful  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  now  univers- 
ally recognized,  struck 
the  Pagan  mind,  as  late  as 
the  4th  century,  as  an 
enigma;  for  the  Pagans 
doubted  whether  they 
were  the  revelation  of  a 
new  and  sublime  philoso- 
phy, encircling  all  human- 
ity in  the  folds  of  divine 
love,  or  whether  they  were 
mere  idle  speculations, 
pleasant,  indeed,  but  never 
to  be  realized.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  once  the  truth  of 
our  common  origin,  our 
common  destiny,  our  re- 
demption by  the  out-pour- 
ing of  the  same  Precious 
Blood,  permeated  man's 
intelligence,  the  value  of 
the  human  soul  would 
begin  to  be  appreciated  at 
the  same  time,  and  conse- 
quently man  soon  perceived 
the  consoling  truth  that 
the  children  of  men  being 
creatures  of  the  same 
Heavenly  Father,  consti- 
tute but  one  great  family. 
From  the  same  truth  evi- 
dently flowed  the  burning 
zeal  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  from  the  begin- 
ning, for  the  salvation  of 
souls. 

Without  glancing  even 
for  a  moment  at  the  mis- 
sionary spirit  of  the  Catholic  Church  throughout  the  onward  course  of  its  existence, 
let  us  confine  our  attention  to  one  or  two  instances  that  bear  on  the  present 
celebration.  It  was  this  grand  and  inspiring  motive  of  the  value  of  the  human 
soul  that,  more  than  anything  else,  impelled  Columbus  to  tempt  unknown  seas  in 
order  to  spread  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Discouraged  and  despondent  by  many 
rebuffs,  Columbus  turned  his  steps  to  the  Convent  of  L/a  Rabida.  Father 
Juan  Perez,  the  hospitable  guardian,  was  interested,  it  is  true,  in  scientific 
discoveries,  but  his  sacerdotal  heart  was  still  more  touched  at  the  possibility  of  leading 
innumerable  souls  to  heavenly  light,  and  he  determined  that  Columbus  should  obtain 
the  aid  necessary  to  promote  his  enterprise.  King  Ferdinand,  cool  and  calculating 


MOST    REV.    ARCHBISHOP    CORRIGAN. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  69 

statesman  that  he  was,  could  not  be  insensible  to  the  manifold  advantages  that  might 
accrue  to  Spain  from  the  discovery  of  the  new  territories,  yet  he  hesitated,  wavered, 
and  delayed  to  act.  Isabella  listened  to  the  selfsame  story,  and  her  instinct  of  piety 
was  aroused,  and  she  resolved  that  as  souls  might  thereby  be  gained  to  God,  she  would 
give  strong  and  efficacious  help.  Again,  it  is  a  striking  fact,  and  one  perhaps  not 
generally  known,  that  the  flag  of  the  Santa  Maria  in  which  the  great  admiral  sailed 
was  no  other  than  the  white  and  green  banner  of  the  holy  office.  What,  was  America 
discovered  under  the  flag  of  the  Inquisition  ?  Even  so.  And  here,  again,  we  find  a 
luminous  proof,  not  only  that  the  Church  did  not  retard  the  progress  of  science  by 
forbidding,  as  has  often  been  asserted,  the  belief  that  the  earth  was  round  but,  further- 
more, that  the  most  severe  ecclesiastical  tribunal  on  earth  actually  gave  aid  and 
encouragement  to  the  discovery  of  this  continent.  Now,  what  was  the  reason  of  this 
encouragement,  for  reason  there  must  have  been  ?  Can  you  assign  a  stronger  motive, 
or  a  better  reason,  than  the  love  of  advancing  the  Christian  religion,  and  of  securing 
the  salvation  of  souls — the  spirit  of  faith? 

Passing  by  four  centuries  and  coming  to  our  own  days,  what  was  the  character  of 
the  Columbian  Celebration,  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  the  12th  of  last  October, 
and  a  little  later  in  the  city  of  Chicago?  I  mention  these  two  cities  because  I  had  the 
privilege  of  participating  in  both  celebrations.  Without  wishing  to  give  offense,  I 
think  we  can  modestly  claim  that  these  were  both  distinctively  Catholic  celebrations. 
As  a  friend  from  Boston  said  to  me  at  the  time,  the  public-school  children  properly 
appeared  first,  and  gave  us  a  standard  by  which  we  might  form  our  judgments,  and 
then  the  Catholic  children  of  our  free  schools  followed,  and,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  the  secular  press  itself,  by  their  neatness,  their  proficiency  in  drill,  their  manly 
appearance,  they  undoubtedly  carried  off  the  palm.  A  similar  scene  was  displayed 
in  the  long  line  of  our  30,000  young  men  attached  to  various  religious  or  literary 
societies.  I  had  the  honor,  that  evening,  of  being  seated  near  the  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  as  well  as  our  own  chief  executive,  His  Excellency,  Governor  Flower. 
Both  were  most  favorably  impressed  by  the  numerical  strength  and  bearing  of  our  soci- 
eties, and  they  added  that  young  men  so  carefully  nurtured  by  the  conservative  spirit 
of  the  Church  could  not  fail  to  be  patriotic  and  sterling  citizens. 

Permit  me  to  point  out  still  another  manifestation  of  the  same  spirit  of  faith  in  the 
Catholic  Educational  Exhibit  in  the  World's  Fair.  I  hope  all  here  present  have  seen 
this  exhibition,  and  more  than  this,  that  our  fellow-citizens  at  large  will  carefully  exam- 
ine the  magnificent  display  made  by  our  schools  and  academies.  This  exhibit  speaks 
volumes  for  the  self-devotion  and  enthusiastic  service  of  our  Catholic  teachers,  of  our 
patient  sisters  and  brothers,  in  the  great  cause  of  education.  Without  state  aid,  and 
contending  with  many  obstacles.  "  they  sow  in  tears,"  according  to  the  Holy  Scripture, 
"but  they  reap  in  joy."  What  is  this,  then,  but  a  silent  and  yet  most  eloquent  testi- 
mony of  their  faith?  They  recognize  in  the  young  child,  humble  and  uncouth,  if  you 
will,  a  soul  for  whom  the  loving  Saviour  died,  and  of  whom  He  said:  "  Forbid  them  not, 
but  permit  them,  for  theirs  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven."  Says  St.  John  Chrysostom: 
"Noble  indeed  is  the  profession  of  the  painter  and  the  sculptor,  who  make  the  canvas 
breathe  and  the  marble  glow  with  instinct  of  life,  yet  nobler  far  is  the  work  of  him  who 
forms  the  soul  and  the  character  of  youth,  and  who  moulds  and  fashions  them  to  the  lin- 
eaments of  Christian  virtue." 

Such  is  the  work  accomplished  quietly,  patiently,  perseveringly,  in  our  Christian 
schools.  Those  who  enjoy  their  benefits  not  only  are  devoted  children  of  the  Church 
but  they  will  make  the  best  citizens  of  the  State.  Among  those  educated  in  our 
schools  you  will  find  no  anarchists  or  socialists,  but  thousands  and  thousands  of  brave 
men  and  true,  who  love  their  country,  not  only  for  its  own  sake  but  for  conscience' 
sake;  who  willingly  obey  its  laws,  and  who  would  shed  their  blood  in  its  defense;  men 
Buch  as  those  of  whom  the  poet  sang  in  the  person  of  Sir  Galahad: 

His  strength  \vas  as  the  strength  of  ten, 
Because  his  heart  was  pure. 

These  few  remarks  sufficiently  prove  the  strong  links  which  bind  us  together,  and 
shed  a  new  light  on  the  meaning  "of  the  old  Pagan,  who,  observing  the  conduct  of  our 
forefathers  in  the  faith  1,400  years  ago,  exclaimed,  with  as  much  sagacity  as  truth:  "  See 
how  these  Christians  love  one  another!" 

Among  the  excellent  papers  of  Wednesday's  session  a  chief  place  must  be 
given  to  that  of  F.  M.  Euselas  on  "  Woman's  Work  in  Religious  Com- 
munities," or 


yo  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES, 

THE    CATHOLIC    SISTERHOODS. 

To  compass  within  the  prescribed  limits  an  account  of  "  Woman's  Work  in  Religious 
Communities "  is  not  less  difficult  than  "  to  dp "  the  Columbian  Exposition  in  the  few 
months  allotted  to  its  existence,  remembering,  as  we  are  told,  that  allowing  three 
minutes  for  each  exhibit,  one  hundred  years  would  hardly  suffice  for  the  task.  In 
either  case  only  a  cursory  view  can  be  taken,  leaving  the  rest  to  be  inferred. 

Monachism,  or  the  state  of  religious  seclusion  more  or  less  complete,  antedates 
Christianity,  being  found  among  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Elias.  It  is  also  a  prominent 
feature  of  Brahminism;  even  to-day  the  lamaseries  of  Thibet  exceed  in  number  the 
Monasteries  of  Italy  or  Spain.  China,  too,  has  its  cloisters  of  Buddhist  nuns,  Kuanyim, 
!he  goddess  of  mercy,  being  their  patron  saint. 

Its  primitive  form  among  Christians  dates  from  the  persecution  under  the  Roman 
emperors,  when  converts  took  refuge  in  caves  and  deserts.  Later  on,  preference  for 
seclusion  continued  what  necessity  commenced,  developing  the  community  life,  at  first 
purely  contemplative,  then  combined  with  the  active;  within  the 'last  century,  the 
latter  far  outnumbered  the  spirit  of  the  age,  one  of  active  zeal  for  human  welfare, 
largely  shaping  vocations  for  such  service;  or,  with  fuller  meaning,  God  thus  guided 
means  and  instruments  toward  creation's  destined  end. 

Nature  is  indeed  a  great  diversifier;  she  "never  rhymes  her  children,  or  makes  two 
alike,"  thus  meeting  the  ever-varying,  never-ending  needs  of  humanity.  Vocations  for 
so  many  different  orders  and  for  the  myriad  duties  of  each  show  how  Infinite  Wisdom 
ever  adapts  the  demand  to  the  supply,  constantly  giving  us  new  orders  or  modifications 
of  the  old,  using  the  feeblest  instruments  for  the  greatest  designs,  the  poor  and  insig- 
nificant of  earth  being  founders  of  the  most  efficient  orders.  "  The  weak  things  of  this 
world  hath  God  chosen  to  confound  the  mighty." 

Our  grand  discoveries  and  inventions  equally  prove  this  fact,  and  we  hold  our 
breath  in  astonishment  at  the  outcome.  We  say  this  or  that  man,  almost  by  chance, 
perhaps,  originated  such  an  idea  or  wrought  out  a  new  principle  in  science.  Galileo, 
grinding  his  lenses  in  a  fortunate  way,  gave  his  magnifiers,  then  the  telescope,  our  first 
refractor  being  from  the  brain  and  hands  of  the  great  Italian. 

The  experiments  of  Galvani  upon  the  nervous  condition  of  cold-blooded  animals 
revealed  their  electricity,  which  Volta's  genius  utilized  as  an  agent  of  wondrous  impor- 
tance. Later  on  still  further  developments  were  made  by  Franklin,  Ampere,  Davy,  Fara- 
day, Bunsen,  and  others,  down  to  our  own  Morse  and  Edison,  who  have  caught  and 
chained  the  lightning's  bolt,  making  it  the  electric  motor  in  our  mechanic  and  other 
arts. 

How  wonderful,  we  say,  these  discoveries  of  man's  skill  and  genius!  And  so  it 
is,  of  material  things  we  take  only  a  material  view,  always  on  the  same  dead  level. 
Thus  is  our  material  nature  stamped  and  reflected  in  opinions  uttered  or  unexpressed. 
But,  look  higher;  give  the  spiritual  forces  a  chance,  awaken  their  latent  powers,  what  a 
change!  Before,  we  saw  through  a  glass  darkly,  now  face  to  face,  revealing  the  Divine 
Master  behind  Galileo,  Newton,  Herschel,  and  their  confreres,  giving  inspiration  and 
guidance.  He  was  compass,  rudder,  and  barometer  for  Columbus  and  other  early  navi- 
gators, sending  their  rude  barks  over  unknown  seas  to  this  "  land  of  the  free  and  the 
home  of  the  brave." 

Alas,  that  we  should  lose  sight  of  this  fact  in  our  mad  rush  for — we  hardly  know 
what.  Weak  man  can  originate  and  idea,  when  he  can  not  even  create  a  single  grain  of 
sand! 

Through  these  mistaken  views  of  life  and  its  bearings,  through  our  false  standards 
OL  right  and  wrong,  the  greater  part  of  time  is  spent  in  making  and  unmaking  our- 
selves, in  unlearning  the  world's  wisdom,  "  which  is  foolishness  before  God." 

Standing  to-day  proudest  among  earth's  nations,  since  we  welcome  them  all  as 
friends  and  brothers  to  our  shores,  as  they  come  laden  with  marvels  of  genius  and 
industry  never  before  dreamed  by  poet,  painter,  or  prophet,  we  shall  trace  through  all 
the  great  Master  carrying  out  His  designs.  In  God's  creation  each  sentient  being  stands 
in  an  allotted  niche,  a  spectacle  to  angels  and  men.  Rightly  measuring  the  scope  of  her 
being  with  the  means  at  hand,  she  will  work  out  that  true  mission. 

Animated  by  these  ideas,  we  see  that  by  no  other  means  could  the  great  work  of  the 
sisterhood  be  accomplished.  How  simple  the  origin,  how  grand  the  consummation! 
Prayer  for  the  salvation  of  their  own  and  others' souls  initiated  the  plan,  giving  relief  to 
the  poor,  sick,  and  outcasts  opened  a  broader  field  for  devoted  charity,  bodily  wants 
supplied,  ignorance  must  be  enlightened  and  religious  truths  inculcated.  Thus"  educa- 
tion through  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  rounded  up  the  religious  life  in  its  beauty 
and  completeness. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  71 

Viewed  in  this  light  sisters  are  before  the  world  as  representative  women  in  its  best 
sense,  not  as  relics  of  a  buried  past,  as  fossils  for  spiritual  geologists  to  examine,  classify, 
and  put  behind  glass  doors  to  be  labeled  "  Footprints  of  Creation,"  the  tirst  perhaps 
after  the  Azoic  age.  No,  none  of  this;  let  them  be  the  incarnate  idea  of  the  golden 
rule,  the  eleventh  commandment  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood,  to  whom  its  great  author 
gives  this  consoling  assurance:  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the  least  of  these, 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

The  history  of  different  religious  orders  and  of  the  houses  branching  therefrom 
reads  more  like  some  legend  of  remote  ages  or  a  tale  coined  from  the  brain  of  a  Jules 
Verne  than  a  reality,  so  utterly  opposed  do  methods  and  results  appear.  The  laws  of 
finance  or  the  most  ordinary  business  forms  seem  utterly  ignored  by  sisters  in  general, 
the  plans  of  architects  and  contractors  set  at  naught  to  follow  their  own  sweet  will. 
Wading  up  to  their  eyes  in  seas  of  difficulty,  personal,  social,  and  financial,  even  in  spite 
of  these,  by  ways  and  means  past  finding  out,  save  to  the  great-hearted  and  never-to-be- 
rebuffed  nuns,  they  manage  to  come  out  of  the  fray  with  flying  colors.  Sacrifices  that 
few  would  face  count  for  nothing  with  them;  to  see  a  need  is  to  meet  it,  urged  on  by 
that  supreme  motive,  the  salvation  of  souls  at  any  cost. 

Unlimited  confidence  is  the  backbone  of  their  success;  call  it  presumption,  a  tempt- 
ing of  God  if  you  will,  yet  none  the  less  effective  is  the  result.  Look  at  Mother  Irene 
in  charge  of  the  largest  foundling  home  in  New  York.  In  her  simple  faith  she  says: 

"  Father,  please  make  a  memento  for  my  intention,  I  just  want  this  piece  of  land 
adjoining  our  grounds." 

"  That  property,  mother!  Why,  do  you  know  its  worth?  A  quarter  of  a  million  at 
least." 

"  Yes,  father,  but  I  must  have  it  as  a  playground  for  our  poor  little  orphans." 

"  Well,  mother,  how  much  money  have  you  now?  " 

"  Not  a  cent  yet,  but  never  mind,  prayer  will  win  the  day." 

And  it  did. 

Every  religious  house  is  more  or  less  the  fruit  of  earnest,  confiding  prayer.  To 
understand  this  the  better,  we  must  deepen  and  intensify  the  true  conception  of  a 
sister's  life  and  work  by  a  fair  and  critical  examination,  making  due  allowance  for  the 
defects  and  defections  that  more  or  less  mark  every  organization,  perfection  never 
being  found  this  side  of  heaven. 

What  then  are  the  qualities  insuring  a  sister's  vocation?  While  the  purest  and 
holiest  motives  should  be  the  animus  of  her  work,  a  large  fund  of  common  sense,  a 
practical  matter-of-fact  shrewdness  must  supplement  the  higher  instincts;  for  remem- 
ber your  real  Sister  of  Charity  is  not  an  angel  plumed  for  her  heavenly  flight;  she  isn't 
expected  to  spend  the  day  in  perpetual  adoration,  while  her  orphans  and  pupils,  the 
poor  and  the  sick  are — she  doesn't. know  where.  As  the  handmaid  of  our  Lord,  He 
wont  do  His  work  and  hers  too.  She  must  be  a  minute-woman,  ever  on  the  alert,  ready 
for  the  Master's  call.  She  realizes  that  the  highest  aim  and  purpose,  love  being  the 
exponent,  are  sent  through  her,  the  lowest  organ.  Herein  lies  her  true  sanctity,  none 
other  will  pass  current.  Intense  activity  without  the  enthusiasm  of  impulse,  constant 
devotion  to  present  duty,  with  a  sort  of  fiery  patriotism,  so  loyal  and  answerving  as  to 
care  for  naught  save  winning  souls  from  their  great  enemy,  mark  the  high  and  perfect 
aim  of  her  whole  life. 

Do  not  mistake  means  for  the  end,  the  shadow  for  the  substance;  the  whole  is 
always  greater  than  a  part.  It  is  not  because  of  her  high  or  low  estate;  it  is  not 
place,  surroundings,  or  circumstances,  prosperous  or  adverse,  not  her  brilliant  qualities, 
her  this  or  that,  which  perfect  a  sister's  life.  It  is  herself — the  great  soul  incarnate 
through  and  through — that  does  the  work;  it  is  the  assurance  of  certain  conviction 
and  the  eternal  peace  of  an  unskaken  faith;  it  is  her  inner  life,  with  its  principles 
stable  as  a  rock,  pure  as  the  diamond,  that  make  her  proof  against  any  hindrance.  No 
difficulty  can  be  an  obstacle  to  such  a  soul  when  that  noble  aim  and  high  endeavor 
surcharge  her  whole  being.  Let  duty  call  her  to  the  battlefield  or  to  the  halls  of 
science,  to  the  leper's  hut  or  the  palace  of  princes,  it  is  all  one  to  her.  A  true  religion 
stili  carries  the  selfsame  purpose  everywhere.  God  behind  her,  as  His  instrument,  she 
is  what  she  is,  does  what  she  does,  and  her  end  is  gained.  Hers  is  "  the  repose  of  a 
heart  set  deep  in  God."  Let  the  world  fully  realize  this,  and,  ceasing  to  criticise  and 
cavil,  it  will  admire  and  imitate. 

We  live  in  an  age  of  thought,  deep,  critical,  far-reaching,  and  sisters  are  no  small 
factors  here.  Everything  is  on  the  alert.  What  has  been,  is,  and  shall  yet  be,  are 
questions  forcing  themselves  upon  us,  not  as  mere  isolated  events,  like  separate  blades 
of  grass  in  a  field,  but  as  links  in  God's  great  chain,  girdling  humanity  and  reaching 
from  eternity  to  eternity. 


7 2  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

It  is  an  every-day  wonder,  both  to  those  within  and  without  the  Church,  that  persons 
of  sense  and  judgment  should  leave  the  world  and  all  it  holds  dear  for  a  convent  life, 
impelled,  as  cynics  say,  by  an  ascetic  whim,  a  sentimental  notion,  proof  of  a  soft,  weak 
spot  somewhere.  Passing  strange  indeed  would  it  be  if  this  were  all;  and,  believe  me, 
none  would  decry  such  a  step  more  than  the  religious  themselves.  Let  anyone  thus 
impressed  step  into  a  Sister's  shoes  and  look  through  her  eyeglasses.  A  few  whiffs  of 
convent  air  would  show  her  the  mistake.  A  mere  passing  whim  stand  the  test  of  a 
religious  vocation!  Why,  the  very  assertion  defeats  itself,  since  the  indispensables  are 
wanting — intellectual  power,  moral  force,  and  an  intense  sacred  purpose  that  never 
counts  the  cost.  Flesh  and  blood  with  sentimental  notions  are  spurned  beneath  their 
feet  as  utterly  unworthy  of  notice. 

Call  the  Sisters  cranks  and  idiots,  if  you  will,  their  work  a  sham,  but  remember  soft- 
brained  people  are  liable  to  dub  as  a  sham  whatever  they  can  not  grasp.  Tell  me,  could 
the  mind  of  a  crank  plan  and  perfect  such  enterprises  as  we  daily  see  carried  on,  year 
in  and  year  out,  century  after  century,  to  the  remotest  corners  of  God's  universe  ?  Their 
ideas  mere  pretension!  Show  me  one  solid,  noble  act  ever  built  on  a  pretension,  and  it 
will  be  the  first  of  its  kind.  Far  easier  to  base  the  great  pyramid  of  Ghizeh  on  a  basket 
of  eggs  or  a  bag  of  feathers. 

Sham  ideas  never  started  the  iirst  steam  engine,  never  stamped  our  alphabet  in  type 
metal,  never  laid  between  Washington  and  Baltimore  the  first  electric  wire  that  now  in 
long-drawn  threads  and  cables  is  our  master  of  masters  and  servant  of  servants.  Still 
less  could  pretension  lay  the  foundation  of  schools  and  orphanages,  asylums  and  hospi- 
tals. Look  a  little  farther,  dig  a  little  deeper,  before  laying  such  a  charge  at  the  door 
of  the  sisterhood.  Little  wonder  that  Job's  comforters,  predicting  a  failure,  soon  with 
astonishment  say:  "  How  is  this  ?  how  do  they  manage  it  all  ?  "  Though  puzzled  ignor- 
ance may  still  jeer  and  laugh,  thank  God  the  number  of  censors  is  rapidly  diminishing; 
experience  and  sound  judgment  are  fast  grinding  the  yeas  and  nays  of  old-time  preju- 
dice, giving  a  favorable  verdict  and  above  appeal.  That  which  is  seen  with  the  eyes, 
heard  with  the  ears,  and  which  our  hands  have  handled,  is  sufficient  refutation.  In 
letters  of  light,  stamped  by  the  Almighty,  may  be  read  their  sacred  purpose,  noble  work, 
and  its  marvelous  results.  The  admission  of  non-Catholics,  though  tardy  and  almost 
perforce,  only  the  more  surely  confirms  this.  "Don't  know  how  it  is,"  says  one;  "make 
up  my  mind  a  hundred  times  that  I'll  say  '  no '  to  the  Sisters'  appeals,  but  they  always 
get  the  better  of  me,  and  I'm  a  V  or  an  X  poorer  each  time  " — richer,  would  it  not  be 
better  to  say  ? — "  and  now  would  you  believe  it,  I  actually  stop  them  on  the  street." 

Motives,  measures,  actions;  real  character  stamps  one  for  better  or  for  worse;  there 
is  your  true  gauge,  my  friend,  for  the  worth  of  a  religious;  it  must  out;  if  valuable  it 
will  be  valued,  if  estimable,  esteemed.  It  is  the  whole  court  of  heaven  speaking 
through  the  heart  of  mankind  and  saying,  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant." 

Nor  is  this  so  strange  after  all,  for,  taking  an  all-round  view  of  woman,  she  seems 
possessed  with  an  insatiable  desire  to  have  a  finger  in  every  benevolent  pie,  whether  it's 
rubbing  goose-oil  on  Mrs.  Neighbor's  croupy  baby  or  working  out  some  great  plan  for  the 
world's  reformation.  This  master  passion  of  her  nature  defies  all  restraint;  bluff  it  on 
one  side,  sniff  it  on  the  other,  hydra-headed,  it  still  crops  out,  and  we  who  know  its 
blessed  effects  thank  God  for  it. 

The  work  of  religious  communities  through  all  its  ramifications  represents  the  prac- 
tical wisdom,  intensified  by  critical  observation,  varied  experience,  and  well-tried 
sanctity  of  generations  upon  generations,  whose  traditions  become  in  turn  stepping- 
stones  for  their  successors.  What  have  they  done?  Far  easier  to  tell  what  they  have 
not  done.  Their  ubiquity  is  proverbial.  Put  your  finger  upon  any  spot  of  the  habitable 
globe,  and  there  will  they  be  found.  "It  is  a  corner  of  God's  earth,"  they  say,  "His 
footprints  are  already  there;  since  He  leads  the  way  shall  we  not  follow?  " 

The  great  success  attending  Sisters'  work,  with  means  so  limited,  is  unquestionably 
due  to  the  admirable  system  that  marks  the  plan  of  each  founder,  as  meeting  the 
special  ends  in  view.  With  wisely  directed  foresight  the  various  rules  and  constitutions 
enter  into  minutest  as  well  as  most  essential  details.  Each  department  has  its  special 
staff  of  officers  and  aids,  directly  responsible  to  the  superior  for  efficiency.  An  inter- 
change of  officers  from  time  to  time  is  of  mutual  advantage;  latent  talent  thus  brought 
out  adds  to  the  general  good  of  the  community.  Convent  life  is  a  wonderful  devel- 
oper. No  delicately  sensitized  plate  of  the  photographer  ever  evolved  more  marvelous 
effects.  Out  of  an  embryo  Sister,  seemingly  inefficient  every  way,  a  shrewd  novice  mis- 
tress and  wise  superior  will  develop  a  true  woman  fitted  for  many  and  varied  duties. 
Sudden  emergencies  throw  the  novice  upon  her  own  resources,  and  necessity  becomes 
the  mother  of  invention.  One  of  these,  timid  to  excess,  left  in  charge  of  her  class, 
thus  relates  her  experience: 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  73 

"  They  were  only  little  tots,  to  be  sure,  but  none  the  less  did  I  quake  when  meeting 
that  rowof  eager  faces.  One  g;ance  told  me  they  were  ready  for  frolic  if  I  gave  them  half 
a  chance;  that  wouldn't  dp.  I  must  '  head  them,'  as  the  boys  say,  and  1  did,  gaining  a 
victory  over  them,  but,  still  better,  over  my  weak,  foolish  nature,  making  me  a  woman 
from  that  day  to  this." 

Through  such  perfected  system  the  work  seems  to  do  itself.  Each  new-born  day, 
of  course,  is  consecrated  by  the  baptism  of  prayer,  which,  with  other  spiritual  exercises, 
is  renewed  at  intervals,  closing  with  the  same  benediction;  otherwise  the  routine  is 
similar  to  that  in  any  well  regulated  family.  Each  member,  animated  by  the  spirit  of 
her  order,  feels  in  a  measure  responsible  for  its  success,  doing  all  she  can  to  insure  it. 
No  honors  whatever  are  attached  to  any  appointments;  if  there  are  no  mean  offices  in 
the  courts  of  kings  much  less  should  there  be  in  that  of  the  King  of  Kings.  Merit  and 
ability  must  mark  the  positions  held;  these  being  interchangeable  help  to  secure  that 
perfect  equality. 

This  practical  view  of  a  Sister's  life  will  no  doubt  sadly  disappoint  many  who  regard 
it  as  a  sort  of  saintly  romance— an  ethereal  existence  encircled  by  a  mysterious  halo.  Let 
such  remember  that  only  out  of  these  plain,  every-day  materials  are  wrought  the  saints 
whom  we  daily  meet  by  hundreds  and  thousands,  ever  intent  on  some  errand  of  mercy, 
since  through  all  the  spiritual  life  and  motive  give  their  touch  and  spur  to  every  duty. 
They  are  the  visible  conductors  of  God's  magnetism  and  electricity.  Charged  with  this 
they  must  do  his  bidding. 

Here,  at  our  great  Exposition,  are  seen  Sisters  with  pencil  and  note-book  in  hand 
harvesting  the  ripened  fruit  and  grain  for  their  pupils.  Tangible  proofs  of  what  they 
do  for  education  are  here  before  your  eyes.  Go  to  the  southeast  end  of  the  gallery  in 
the  Liberal  Arts  Building,  next  to  the  French  exhibit,  and  see  for  yourselves.  While 
the  practical  side  of  life  receives  due  attention,  not  less  does  the  aesthetic.  Their  skill 
with  the  brush,  pencil,  and  needle  is  proverbial.  The  Dominican  Sisters  of  New  Orleans, 
Sisters  of  the  Precious  Blood,  of  Charity,  of  Notre  Dame,  etc.,  give  an  exhibit  that  only 
true  artists  can  furnish,  yet  these  are  but  types  of  what  may  be  seen  in  almost  every 
convent  throughout  the  world.  Art  is  indeed  innate,  intuitive  with  the  sisterhood;  the 
love  of  the  beautiful  as  a  reflection  of  its  divine  author  must  ever  be  linked  with  love  of 
Him  to  whom  their  lives  are  consecrated. 

Here  in  the  United  States  are  3,585  parochial  schools,  besides  245  orphanages  and 
463  other  charitable  institutions,  in  addition  to  656  academies,  using  a  total  of  5,975 
buildings,  which,  at  a  valuation  of  §3,900  each,  represent  an  investment  of  §17,975,000, 
In  addition  to  this  the  annual  running  expenses  of  these  establishments,  except  the 
academies,  which  are  supposed  to  be  self-supporting,  will  not  be  less  than  $10,732,500. 
Besides  thus  providing  for  the  common  and  higher  education  of  the  children,  a  large 
number  of  whom  in,charitable  institutions  are  taken  from  the  slums,  many  a  reforma- 
tory, jail,  and  penitentiary  with  its  staff  of  officers  would  be  an  additional  tax  upon  the 
public  purse.  Let  not  this  be  overlooked  in  our  estimate  of  results. 

Nevertheless,  great  as  is  this  material  work,  linked  with  it  and  far  more  effective  is 
the  higher  and  spiritual  life  infused  into  those  under  the  Sisters'  charge,  from  the  frail 
infant,  fresh  from  the  hands  of  its  Maker,  on  to  the  highest  prelate  whose  first  lessons 
in  the  principles  of  theology  received  from  them,  became  the  impetus  and  underlying 
current  of  his  whole  life. 

The  great  question  of  religion  or  no  religion,  God  or  no  God,  in  our  school  system, 
agitating,  dividing,  and  colliding  our  educational  leaders,  here  finds  its  solution  in  the 
Sisters'  work.  The  grand  motive  urging,  driving  them  on  is  that  the  life  of  Christ,  in  its 
fullness  and  beauty,  in  its  strength  and  sanctity,  and  in  its  sublime  perfection,  as  far  as 
possible,  may  be  first  implanted  and  then  wrought  out  of  those  who  otherwise  might 
know  little  of  Christianity  beyond  a  few  formulas  and  a  code  of  morals,  shaped  too  often 
by  human  ideals  and  interests.  Tell  me  in  all  sincerity,  will  your  child  be  the  worse  for 
such  training?  Yet  more.  Side  by  side  with  each  lesson,  and  running  through  it,  the 
Sisters  aim  to  put  Jesus  Christ,  making  him  the  inspiration,  life,  and  motive  of  whatever 
is  thought,  said,  and  done.  Trying  to  live  his  divine  life  themselves,  and  finding  how 
blessed  it  is,  they  desire  nothing  less,  yea,  can  give  nothing  more  to  these  lambs  of  his 
flock.  Indeed,  there  can  be  no  more  interesting  study  for  the  theorist  and  the  reformer, 
the  optimist  and  the  pessimist,  the  conservative  and  the  liberal  than  the  origin,  growth, 
and  marvelous  results  of  their  work.  In  noting  the  lines  taken  by  different  orders,  this 
fact  may  well  be  emphasized  as  a  clew  to  their  success,  that  in  singleness  of  aim  and 
purity  of  intention,  all  unite  in  the  one  endeavor  of  making  the  world  better,  wiser,  and 
happier  through  their  efforts;  thus  do  they  help  on  the  federation  of  the  human  race, 
that  glorious  ideal  of  to-day  to  be  merged  into  a  more  glorious  reality  of  to-morrow. 


74  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  session  of  Wednesday  evening  was  held  in  a  densely  packed  hall,  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  gathering  being  especially  awakened  by  this  brilliant 
address  of  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Ireland  on  the  subject  of 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  AND  CHARITY. 

I  am  sure  that  from  this  Congress  dates  a  new  era,  an  era  in  which,  more  than  in 
the  last,  we  shall  go  forth  showing  to  the  world  that  we  are  Catholics  and  Americans 
bearing,  as  the  Apostolic  Delegate  said  yesterday  in  magnificent  words,  in  one  hand  the 
Gospel  of  Truth  and  in  the  other  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  We  need 
mottoes  for  our  great  work,  and  the  motto  was  given  to  us  yesterday  in  these  words  by 
the  representative  of  the  immortal  Leo  XIII.  In  c:?9  hand  the  Gospel  of  Truth — your 
faith  to  which  you  are  to  be  absolutely  loyal  in  all  your  thoughts,  words,  and  actions; 
in  the  other  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — showing  yourselves  to  be,  because 
you  are  Catholics,  the  best,  warmest,  and  most  loyal  of  Americans.  There  are  Catholics 
— few  of  them,  thank  God!— who  dare  at  times  to  criticise  our  manifestations  of  patriot  ~ 
ism,  calling  these  manifestations,  as  one  lately  has  dared,  travesties  upon  real  patriot- 
ism. I  believe  those  men  speak  from  their  own  souls.  There  is  no  patriotism  in  their 
souls,  and  they  can  not  see  that  there  is  patriotism  in  the  souls  of  others.  Why  should 
we  not  be  loud  in  our  manifestations  of  patriotism?  We  love  what  is  great  and  good; 
therefore  we  love  the  Republic. 

We  love  what  is  given  us  by  its  institutions,  liberty,  and  prosperity,  and  because 
we  are  Catholics  we  ought,  if  it  were  possible,  to  be  more  patriotic  than  others, 
because  patriotism,  for  Catholics,  is  a  virtue  naturally,  and  a  virtue  supernaturally; 
because  we  are  Catholics,  we  love  with  all  the  strength  of  our  Catholic  hearts  the 
banner  of  the  United  States  which  sheds  throughout  the  whole  world  the  sweet  per- 
fume of  liberty.  We  love  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  grants  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  liberty  such  as  she  has  nowhere  else.  We  love  America  because 
there  is  here  a  country  great  and  glorious,  offering  to  th3  zeal  and  Faith  of  the  Church 
a  promising  and  fertile  field,  such  as  no  ocean  laves,  such  as  no  continent  opens. 

And  let  me  counsel  you  to  be  always  enthusiastically  patriotic,  and  let  it  be  known 
throughout  the  whole  country  that  Catholics  are,  as  I  said,  if  possible  more  patriotic 
than  other  fellow-citizens,  so  that  we  show  to  the  whole  country  what  are  the  lessons  of 
our  Faith.  We  show  to  the  whole  country  that  in  the  hands  of  none  others,  in  the 
hearts  of  none  others,  are  the  liberties  and  institutions  of  the  Republic  of  the  United 
States  safer.  This  then  the  motto:  The  Gospel  in  one  hand,  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  in  the  other. 

But  a  word  on  the  Catholic  Congress  itself.  It  is  held  to  bring  out  before  the  peo- 
ple the  meaning  of  the  encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  on  the  social  question.  The  Gospel  of 
Christ  is  summed  up  by  the  Lord  himself  in  these  words:  "Love  God  with  all  thy 
heart  and  soul,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Christianity  puts  before  us  the  two 
objects  of  our  love.  A  religion  which  would  confine  our  affections  to  God  Himself  would 
not  be  divine;  it  would  not  be  a  religion  of  the  Gospel;  God  would  not  be  satisfied 
with  it. 

Precisely  because  we  love  Him  we  must  love  all  that  He  loves,  and  love,  therefore, 
our  fellow-man.  Nor  would  it  be  sufficient  to  love  the  spiritual  good  of  the  neighbor; 
we  must  also  love  the  temporal  good;  we  must  love  him  in  soul  and  body;  we  must  love 
him  for  the  life  to  come  and  the  life  there  is.  The  Gospel  was  throughout  a  great  book 
of  holy  social  work  for  men.  The  miracles  of  our  blessed  Lord  were  primarily  exercised 
for  the  good  of  the  body,  for  the  temporal  felicity  of  man,  aiming,  of  course,  through 
those  miracles,  to  the  spiritual  good  of  man.  God  gave  the  earth  for  the  children  of 
men  that  they  may  live.  He  gave  it  to  all,  and  while,  because  of  the  nature  and  neces- 
sary conditions  of  mankind,  private  property  is  required,  yet  God  never  so  sanctified 
private  ownership  that,  because  of  private  ownership,  any  children  of  the  Great  Father 
of  all  should  suffer  from  starvation. 

It  was  God's  intention  that  there  should  be  a  sufficiency  for  all,  and  it  is  the  duty 
of  each  and  every  one  to  see  that  God's  intentions  are  realized.  God's  will  is  that  those 
who  have  an  abundance  of  good  things  for  themselves  think  of  those  who  are  in  want. 
think  of  them  as  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  same  family;  and  when  they  refuse  this 
universal  charity,  they  lie  in  their  prayers  when  they  look  up  to  the  skies  and  say,  "  Our 
Father,  Who  art  in  Heaven." 

This  is  the  true  Gospel  of  Christ.  This  is  the  true  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church 
To-day  the  world,  alas,  is  drifting  away  from  its  Christian  moorings.  It  is  our  duty  to 
marK  berore  all  eyes  the  path  of  peace  and  blessedness,  to  spread  before  the  nations  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  75 

divine  treasures  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  Are  you  going  to  convert  the  world  by 
argument?  By  no  means.  Argument  convinces  the  mind;  it  does  not  move  the  soul. 
The  age,  moreover,  is  iired  of  argument.  The  age  has"  told  us  the  evidence  it  demands, 
and  I  admire  the  good  sense  of  the  age. 

This  age  says  to  UL,  you  profess  to  be  the  Church  of  the  Gospel.  Give  us  the  Gos- 
pel in  daily  life;  we  judge  the  tree  by  its  fruits.  And  in  so  saying  it  accepts  our  own 
challenge.  The  age  is  an  age  of  humanity.  It  has  caught  up  some  of  the  lofty  aspira- 
tions of  the  Christian  soul  in  its  great  love  for  humanity,  in  the  very  profession  of  this 
love.  The  age  demands  charity,  love  for  all  of  every  language,  every  race,  and  every 
color  —  love  of  man  as  he  came  forth  from  the  hands  of  his  Creator.  Our  country  is 
well  filled  with  good  works,  charities  of  all  kinds.  Asylums  are  built  for  the  poor  and 
the  blind,  and  the  mute  and  the  imbecile.  The  American  state  is  essentially,  in  its 
instincts  and  aspirations,  Catholic.  Let  us  then  take  hold  of  these  instincts  and  aspira- 
tions and  show  that  they  have  all  been  perpetrated  by  our  Church  in  the  past. 

The  encyclical  on  the  condition  of  labor  is  timely.  This  is  what  is  needed — Cath- 
olic social  work — social  work  to  be  done  by  all  bishops,  priests,  nuns,  and  women  and 
here  precisely  are  our  present  efforts.  Catholics  have  been  half-inclined  in  the  past  to 
perform  their  social  duties  through  representatives.  It  will  not  do  to  leave  all  this 
work  to  the  priests  and  the  sisters  and  the  religieuse.  Catholic  laymen  have  been  too 
quiet  in  the  past.  The  Catholic  laity  have  an  individual  duty  in  all  these  social  ques- 
tions, in  all  the  works  of  humanity  and  of  charity.  In  these  matters  we  should  not  be 
afraid,  as  some  have  seemed  to  be,  to  co-operate  with  all  who  are  doing  good,  whether 
they  are  just  our  kind  of  people  or  not,  whether  they  be  Catholics  or  not. 

We  say  this  is  a  glorious  Church  of  ours — as,  indeed,  she  is— and  yet  what  a  fear- 
fully large  proportion  of  those  so-called  saloons  are  held  by  Catholics  and  a  fearfully 
large  proportion  who  lose  in  them  their  souls  are  children  of  the  Church.  Here 
is  work  for  all,  here  is  work  into  which  we  ought  to  put  all  our  religion,  all  our  social 
and  political  energies,  until  our  country  is  freed  from  these  dreadful  evils.  We  think 
we  are  good  Catholics  so  long  as  our  own  private  lives  are  not  contrary  to  the  law  of 
God,  but  we  have  grave  responsibilities  besides  this  in  our  social  relations  and  in  our 
political  life,  and  Catholics  who  vote  for  bad  laws,  who  vote  not  for  the  suppression  of 
great  social  evils,  contradict  the  God  of  purity  and  holiness,  contradict  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  and  murder  souls. 

There  is  much  we  can  do  in  many  directions.  Let  not  the  laymen  wait  for  the  lay- 
men, let  not  laymen  wait  for  priest,  let  not  priest  wait  for  bishop,  and  let  not  bishop 
wait  for  the  Pope.  But  let  all  go  on  in  well-doing  along  the  great  road  of  social  charity, 
and  then  we  are  living  out  Christ's  Gospel  and  are  leading  the  age,  for  which  it  hungers 
and  thirsts,  to  that  shrine  which,  when  the  nation  comes  to  it,  shall  bear  over  its  portals 
t^e  name  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

In  the  same  session  Rev.  Father  Patrick  Cronin  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  spoke 
vigorously  as  follows,  on  "  The  Church  and  the  Republic": 

This  land,  discovered  by  Catholic  genius,  explored  by  Catholic  missionary  zeal,  bap- 
tized in  the  blood  of  the  Catholic  revolutionary  heroes,  and  preserved  in  unified  glory 
by  the  prowess  of  Catholic  arms  on  many  a  gory  field — is  it  any  marvel  that  the  Church 
should  have  phenomenally  grown  and  flourished  here? 

The  same  showering  mercies  of  the  skies  which  fructified  the  labors  of  the  mis- 
sionaries were  not  and  are  not  absent  during  our  episcopal  rule.  When  Bishop  Carroll 
took  possession  of  hie  see  in  Baltimore  the  Catholic  population  of  the  Republic  was  not 
more  than  50,000.  What  is  it  to-day?  Surely  not  less  than  10,000,000 !  The  Flagets, 
the  Cheveruses,  the  Kenricks,  the  Timons,  the  Spaldings,  are  names  not  born  to  die; 
and  their  successors  to-day  are  well  worthy  of  their  great  prototypes. 

The  American  hierarchy  stands  peerless  before  the  world.  Yet  among  them  there 
have  been  and  there  are  giants.  Three  especially  were  sent  by  God,  whose  names  were 
John,  whose  deeds  will  ever  be  golden  urned  in  the  heart  of  the  American  Church — 
John  England,  John  Hughes,  John  Ireland.  The  first,  a  marvel  of  eloquence,  learning, 
and  courage,  could  scarce  find  place  to  lay  his  weary  head  when  first  he  bore  the  cross 
to  the  haughty  South.  On  the  day  of  his  all-too-early  death  the  whole  city  of  Charles- 
ton was  in  tears.  The  second,  a  man  of  metropolitan  largeness,  whose  heart  never 
quailed  before  a  foe,  stood  at  the  chief  gateway  of  our  immigration,  gathered  his  people 
around  him  with  paternal  solicitude,  and,  like  another  Jonathan,  slew,  with  pen  and 
tongue,  the  Know-nothing  philistine  who  dared  to  trespass  upon  their  rights! 

The  third.  What  shall  I  say  of  him?  Happily  he  still  lives.  You  all  know  him  as 
iveli  aa  I.  As  yet  in  the  midsummer  of  his  days,  he  has  already  written  his  nauio  iu 


76  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

characters  of  golden  light  upon  the  heart  and  brain  of  the  American  Church.  To  the 
eloquence,  activity,  and  learning  of  John  England,  John  Ireland  adds  the  combative 
courage  and  progressive  leadership  of  John  Hughes.  Loyal  to  the  core  to  Rome  and  to 
its  every  teaching,  he  is  intensely  American,  and  cherishes  as  the  apple  of  his  eye  the 
free  institutions  of  this  Republic.  He  has  a  hold  upon  the  popular  heart  which,  with  the 
possible  sole  exception  of  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  no  other  American 
prelate  ever  held.  Such  men  are  the  Church's  jewels,  which  she  cherishes  with  more 
than  a  Cornelia's  pride. 

I  now  come  to  the  latest  manifestation  in  the  Church's  development  in  the  United 
States.  Need  I  say  that  it  is  symbolized  by  the  magic  name  Satolli!  A  name  hailed 
and  revered  by  the  whole  American  people.  Why?  Because  it  means  law,  justice, 
liberty,  and  peace!  Because  it  means  progress  and  not  reaction.  Because  it  means 
home  rule  and  not  rule  of  4,000  miles  away,  with  all  its  chronic  difficulties  and  proverbial 
tardiness.  Because  it  means  that  henceforth  the  church  is  to  be  governed  in  the  United 
States  by  her  established  canons,  and  not  by  the  caprice  of  any  individual,  however 
learned  or  holy.  Because  it  means  that  the  Church,  now  grown  to  maturity,  has  burst 
her  missionary  swathing  bands;  that  she  stands  forth  not  only  emancipated  forevermore, 
but  that "  divinely  tall  and  most  divinely  fair,"  she  shall  no  longer  be  covered  with  the 
moth-eaten  rags  of  a  dead  and  buried  past,  but  shall  henceforth  be  clothed  in  the 
queenly  splendor  of  her  rightful  inheritance. 

But  Satollicism  means  even  more  than  this.  It  is  no  longer  a  question  whether 
America  is  hostile  to  the  institutions  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  burning  question  is, 
whether  the  Catholic  Church  is  hostile  to  the  free  institutions  of  America.  The  coming 
of  Satolli  is  a  final  and  irrevocable  answer  to  the  latter,  while  the  universal  outburst  of 
acclaim  that  signalized  his  advent  shows  the  hearty  friendship  with  which  America 
hails  the  co-operation  of  the  Church. 

I  shall  only  add  that  Satolli's  mission  here  is  beyond  recall.  He  is  here  with  the  per- 
manency of  Rome's  everlasting  rock.  All  blessing  and  glory  to  that  mission  and  to  the 
person  of  America's  first  resident  apostolic  delegate,  and  fadeless  laurels  for  the  peerless 
Pontiff  that  sent  him. 

A  valuable  and  suggestive  paper  was  read  during  this  session,  by  its 
author,  Rev.  James  M.  Cleary  of  Minneapolis,  on  the  subject  of 

THE    DRINK    EVIL. 

No  congress  of  earnest  men  in  our  time  and  country  can  justly  consult  the  best 
interests  of  their  fellowmen,  and  ignore  a  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  drink  evil. 
Many  honest  and  conservative  men  hesitate  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of  the  evils  of 
"intemperance,  and  to  openly  ally  themselves  with  temperance  workers  lest  they  be 
accused  of  fanaticism  or  misunderstood  by  those  whose  good  opinion  they  highly 
esteem.  Every  great  and  noble  work  in  the  history  of  human  progress  has  suffered 
from  the  intemperate  zeal  of  its  friends  and  from  the  hypocrisy  of  its  avowed  advo- 
cates. But  the  temperance  cause  has  suffered  more,  I  imagine,  from  the  apathy  of  timid 
friends  than  it  has  from  either  hypocrisy  or  fanaticism.  It  is  a  cause  that  in  a  special 
manner  needs  the  support  of  honest,  conservative,  and  thoughtful  men. 

Intemperance  is  a  crying  sin  of  our  land,  and  with  marvelous  ingenuity  has  kept 
pace  on  its  onward  march  with  our  unrivaled  prosperity  and  progress.  Something 
over  nine  times  as  much  intoxicating  drink  is  consumed  in  the  United  States 
to-day  as  there  was  forty  years  ago,  and  we  have  only  about  three  times  as  many  people 
as  we  had  then  within  pur  borders.  No  evil  existing  among  us  menaces  so  boldly  the 
peace,  prosperity,  happiness,  and  moral  and  religious  welfare  of  our  people  as  the  evil  of 
excessive  drinking.  No  other  social  evil  disturbs  the  family  relation  and  renders  the 
domestic  life  of  men,  women,  and  children  so  inhuman  and  hopeless  as  the  evil  of 
excessive  and  habitual  indulgence  in  strong  drink.  Intemperance  unfits  husband  and 
wife  for  the  duties  of  parentage,  the  most  sacred  and  solemn  in  the  entire  catalogue  of 
human  obligations.  It  destroys  the  sense  of  decency  and  honor,  silences  conscience,  and 
deadens  the  best  instincts  of  the  human  heart.  There  is  no  bright  side  to  the  picture 
of  strong  drink  in  the  home.  This  hideous  and  brutalizing  vice  can  not  be  condemned 
too  severely,  and  those  who  have  experienced  much  suffering  from  its  influence  may  be 
pardoned  if  they  are  unsparing  against  eyery  effort  that  tends  to  widen  the  way  for  the 
spread  of  habitual  drinking  among  us. 

The  Church,  through  the  united  voice  of  our  bishops  assembled  in  the  Third  Plen- 
ary Council  of  Baltimore,  warns  its  members  against  the  dangers  of  the  drink  habit 
and  the  temptations  of  the  saloon.  The  same  Council  warns  our  Catholic  people 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  77 

against  the  business  of  saloon-keeping,  as  "  An  Unbecoming  Way  of  Making  a  Living." 
A  man  can  not  be  a  good  Catholic,  a  loyal  follower  of  the  teachings  of  the  Church, 
and  be  a  good  friend  of  the  saloon.  We  should  at  least  have  the  courage  to  follow 
where  our  chief  pastors  lead,  and  our  Catholic  loyalty  is  not  above  suspicion  if  we  are 
not  as  ready  to  condemn  the  drink  evil  as  our  bishops,  who  have  been  placed  over  us 
to  rule  the  Church  of  God. 

It  is  the  crowning  glory  of  the  Catholic  Church  that,  true  to  the  spirit  of  her 
Divine  Founder,  she  has  never  become  the  Church  of  any  special  class,  as  also  she  has 
not  permitted  herself  to  be  narrowed  down  as  the  Church  of  any  particular  nation  or 
generation  of  men.  She  is  the  Church  of  all  times,  all  nations,  and  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions of  men.  She  is  the  living  voice  of  God  to  cheer,  instruct,  and  comfort  all  the 
people.  But  in  this  country,  owing  to  the  mighty  wave  of  immigration  from  less  fav- 
ored lands  during  the  past  half -century,  bearing  a  noble  army  of  toilers  to  our  hospit- 
able shores,  the  great  body  of  the  wage-earners,  the  masses  of  the  people,  crowd  around 
our  altars,  and  with  loyal  honest  hearts  appeal  to  our  Church  to  devote  her  best  efforts 
to  their  moral  and  spiritual  welfare.  The  great  army  of  labor,  the  sinew  of  the  nation, 
acknowledges  a  loyal  allegiance  to  the  Catholic  Church.  The  debasing,  brutalizing 
influence  of  excessive  drinking,  and  the  saloon  environments  fall  upon  the  laboring 
classes  of  our  people  with  more  disastrous  effect  than  upon  those  better  favored  by 
fortune.  The  dreadful  vice  of  intemperance  has  made  frightful  havoc  among  our  hard- 
working Catholic  people. 

What  else  but  this  spenthrift  vice  could  afflict  a  large  portion  of  our  people  with 
poverty  so  hopeless  as  to  be  like  an  incurable  disease,  a  people  to  whom  countless  mil- 
lions are  yearly  paid?  What  else  huddles  so  many  of  them  into  the  swarming  tenement 
Bouses?  1  make  no  odious  comparison  between  the  intemperance  of  the  wealthy  and 
the  intemperance  of  the  poor.  The  heathenish  vice  of  drunkenness  is  an  abomination 
wherever  its  foul  presence  is  known.  I  only  state  a  fact  which  can  not  be  set  aside;  a 
fact  which  the  philanthropist  and  the  statesman  can  not  ignore,  namely,  that  the  great- 
est curse  blighting  the  lives  and  desecrating  the  homes  of  the  poor  in  this  country  to- 
day is  the  curse  of  drink.  That  homes  of  comfort  are,  alas,  too  often  blighted  by  the 
presence  of  the  demon  of  intemperance  and  drunkenness  among  the  wealthier  classes 
of  the  people  is  equally  odious  and  even  more  disgraceful  than  among  the  poor.  But 
the  poor  are  greater  sufferers,  and  hence  enlist  our  deeper  sympathy  when  intemper- 
ance blights  their  lifes,  for  in  addition  to  the  heartache  and  sorrow  which  the  vice 
entails  equally  upon  rich  and  poor,  it  adds  the  horrors  of  penury,  beggary,  and  hopeless 
degradation  to  the  lives  of  the  children  of  toil. 

Great  and  long-standing  evils  are  not  remedied  in  an  hour.  When  we  have  to  deal 
with  human  passion  and  human  weakness,  when  we  must  conquer  bad  habits  anu 
diseased  appetite*,  our  progress  will  not  be  rapid,  and  discouragement  and  failure  will 
often  be  our  reward.  Evil  there  will  always  be  in  the  world,  and  human  energy  must 
not  slumber  because  wickedness  and  sin  remain. 

The  people  look  with  longing  and  hope  to  the  Catholic  Church  to  lead  them  away 
from  the  bondage  of  drink.  The  Church  that  civilized  the  savage  and  that  preserved 
the  civilization  which  it  erected  on  the  ruins  of  barbarism,  is  able  to  rescue  the  masses 
of  the  people  in  this  country  to-day  from  the  cruel  thralldom  of  drink.  The  drink-curse 
is  intrenched  in  custom,  hence  we  must  follow  it  into  society.  At  all  social  assemblages 
of  Catholics  let  them  deny  themselves  the  indulgence  in  intoxicating  liquors  and  thus 
publicly  proclaim  their  recognition  of  the  principles  of  self-denial.  At  the  reunion  of 
friends  and  family  connections,  whether  occasions  of  joy  or  of  sorrow,  let  Catholics 
show  their  horror  of  drunkenness  by  denying  themselves  the  use  of  strong  drink.  There 
is  no  gratification  worthy  of  a  Christian  that  can  not  be  enjoyed  without  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquors.  As  an  act  of  reparation  for  what  our  religion  has  suffered  from 
intemperance,  let  our  Catholic  people  proscribe  intoxicants  at  all  their  public  gatherings. 
Let  there  be  such  an  earnest  and  potent  public  sentiment  among  our  Catholic  people  that 
no  liquor-saloon  can  crowd  itself  right  up  to  the  doors  of  our  churches  and  thus,  by  its 
foul  presence,  tempt  weak  and  unwary  men  to  wickedness  under  the  very  shadow  of  the 
cross.  If  our  prelates,  priests,  and  people  join  hands  together  to  work  in  harmony  and 
strength  for  the  realization  of  the  admonitions  of  our  plenary  councils,  the  awful  curse 
of  intemperance  can  be  almost  entirely  eradicated  from  among  us.  We  must  encour- 
age, then,  our  total  abstinence  societies  by  every  means  at  our  command.  We  priests, 
mindful  of  Pope  Leo's  words,  must  "shine  as  models  of  abstinence,"  and  by  exhortation 
and  preaching  avert  the  many  calamities  with  which  the  vice  threatens  Church  and 
State. 

Let  there  be  a  general  and  generous  distribution  of  temperance  literature,  tracts. 


78  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

lectures,  statistics,  and  good  reading  among  our  people.  And  this  work  and  agitation 
in  favor  of  sobriety  and  temperance  must  be  constant  and  active.  The  allurements  of 
drinks  are  ever  thrusting  themselves  in  the  pathway  of  men.  Near  to  the  house  of 
prayer  the  workingman  finds  the  drinking-saloon,  cheerful,  enticing,  and  hospitable,  as 
he  goes  to  worship  God  on  Sunday  morning.  Close  to  the  gates  of  the  factory  or  mill 
the  agents  of  alcohol  ply  their  trade  and  tempt  the  weary  toiler  to  spend  for  a  moment's 
gratification  his  hard-earned  money  that  is  much  needed  in  his  humble  home.  Sur- 
rounded thus  by  attractive  temptations,  men  need  constant  warnings,  repeated  admoni- 
tions and  such  wholesome  influences  as  will  strengthen  and  safeguard  them  against  the 
overpowering  spell  of  drink. 

FOURTH    DAY. 

Thursday,  the  fourth  day  of  the  Congress,  might  well  be  called 
Woman's  Day,  the  claims  and  glories  of  the  gentler  sex  being  eloquently 
presented  by  some  famous  Catholic  ladies.  The  first  of  these  was  intro- 
duced by  Right  Reverend  Bishop  Burke  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  in  the 
following  terms: 

I  came  here  to-day  for  the  purpose  of  listening  to  a  lady  who  deserves  well  of  the 
Catholics  throughout  the  United  States,  one  whose  name  is  a  household  word  in 
every  Catholic  family  throughout  the  land,  who  has  written  and  lectured  on  the 
beauty,  and  culture,  and  refinement  of  the  Christian  art  set  forth  by  the  Church  in 
her  galleries  throughout  Europe,  the  product  of  Christian  artists,  in  a  manner  that  is 
hers  especially.  She  has  had  no  equal  among  us  in  this  respect.  I  came  here  to-day 
to  listen  to  her,  and  to  show  my  sympathy  with  the  great  work  of  this  Catholic  Con- 
gress, and  not  to  address  you.  I  will  only  say  that  it  is  an  exceeding  pleasure  for  me,  and 
for  every  ecclesiastic  who  has  witnessed  this  grand  assembly,  and  listened  to  the  elo- 
quent discourses;  we  have  been  in  admiration  with  all  the  people  of  this' great  city  at 
this  outpouring,  at  this  manifestation  of  Catholic  doctrine  and  Catholic  activity,  and 
culture  and  refinement. 

It  has  been  said  by  some  of  the  public  speakers  who  have  given  expression  to  their 
views  during  the  past  few  days,  that  the  United  States  is  a  country  of  great  possibilities, 
a  country  where  everything  can  be  accomplished  that  is  attempted  by  man;  and  it  has 
been  said,  too,  that  all  that  the  Catholic  Church  requires,  is  to  be  set  forth  before  the 
eyes  of  our  countrymen  to  be  appreciated,  loved,  and  respected  throughout  the  land. 
I  believe  never  before  in  the  history  of  the  American  Church  has  this  been  done  so 
eloquently,  so  magnificently  as  it  has  been  by  this  grand  Congress,  or  Congresses.  In. 
every  part  of  this  building  there  are  persons  setting  forth  the  glory,  and  the  power,, 
and  magnificence  of  the  Church  of  one  living  God;  and  the  newspapers  of  this  great  city 
are  full  of  our  doings.  They  are  flashed  to  the  ends  of  the  country,  and  our  name  to-day 
is  held  in  benediction  because  we  have  appeared  to  the  people,  I  believe,  as  we  have 
never  appeared  before. 

The  great  questions  that  have  agitated  the  human  mind  throughout  the  world  have 
been  treated  here  in  the  most  masterly  manner,  and  thoughts  and  problems  and  solu- 
tions have  been  set  forth,  based  on  the  solid  foundation  of  Christian  truth  and  conducted 
in  the  spirit  of  Christian  charity,  in  a  manner  that  is  marvelous  and  that  is  appreciated 
by  the  whole  community  in  which  we  live.  I  say  to  you,  however,  not  to  be  content 
with  what  you  see  and  hear  from  this  platform,  but  when  you  go  forth  to  the  World's 
Exposition  fail  not  to  see  the  works  of  Catholic  charity,  of  Catholic  intellect,  of  Cath- 
olic culture,  set  forth  for  the  admiration  of  the  world  as  they  have  never  been  set  forth 
before.  See  the  works  of  the  holy  nuns  who  are  hidden  from  our  gaze  in  their  cloisters, 
unknown  to  the  world  except  through  the  little  ones  of  Christ  as  they  grow  up  before 
us,  as  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth  did,  advancing  in  age  and  wisdom  before  God  and  man. 
See  the  works  of  education,  the  product  of  Christian  education,  refinement,  and  cul- 
ture, and  you  shall  be  astonished,  and  it  shall  not  be  necessary  for  ecclesiastics  to  set 
forth  before  you  the  necessity  of  Christian  education,  for  there  is  an  object-lesson  that 
lights  up  the  charity  of  Christ,  to  impress  you  with  the  work  that  is  being  done  in  this 
great  country.  There  is  this  remarkable  about  the  exhibit:  It  is  an  evidence  of  Cath- 
olic education  that  can  not  be  witnessed  in  any  other  department  of  the  great  Exposition^ 
it  is  one  in  which  to  the  knowledge  of  natural  things  there  is  given  a  refinement,  a  cul- 
ture, and  development  of  the  moral  nature  in  man. 

I  am  sure  that  the  hearts  of  the  ladies  will  rejoice  to-day  when  the  venerable  form 
of  Miss  Eliza  Allen  Starr  shall  be  presented  to  you,  and  you  shall  hear  from  her  lips. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  79 

words  of  beauty  and  eloquence,  describing  the  magnificence  and  the  beauty  of  Christian 
art. 

Beauty,  expressed  under  visible  forms,  may  be  called  the  soul  of  that  art  which, 
under  its  almost  infinite  variety  of  mediums,  marks  the  progress  of  the  human  race,  is 
one  of  the  tests  of  the  human  race,  is  one  of  the  tests  applied  to  nations  and  to  epochs. 
What  share  has  woman  had  in  this  beginning — that  is,  from  Eve  to  the  women  of  our 
own  generation?  For  we  must  go  quite  one  side  of  the  book  of  Genesis,  and  quite  one 
side  of  all  the  traditions  of  art,  not  to  recognize  that  Eve,  "  the  mother  of  all  the  liv- 
ing," contained  in  herself,  as  did  Adam,  the  germs  of  those  wonder-working  periods  in 
the  liberal  arts  and  sciences  which  have  won  our  admiration. 

"  A  perfect  woman,  nobly  planned,"  was  Eve,  and  we,  her  daughters,  look  back  over 
the  world's  five  thousand  and  almost  nine  hundred  years,  to  claim  for  her  those  endow- 
ments which  grace  the  highest  civilization  of  to-day.  No  mention  is  made  of  her 
•actual  occupation  in  Genesis,  but  the  old  rhyme  of  Adam  delving  and  Eve  spinning, 
which  the  artists  laid  hold  of  even  on  the  walls  of  Campo  Santo,  Pisa,  gives  us  the 
impression  that  the  first  exercise  in  decorative  art  for  the  human  race  might  have 
come,  very  naturally,  from  the  hand  of  Eve,  while  the  woman  who  remembered  the 
loveliness  of  Eden  must  have  had  images  of  beauty  in  her  mind  which  found  expression 
under  her  skillful  fingers.  Tubal  Cain  may  have  taken  from  his  mother,  Zillah,  what 
gave  grace  of  form,  as  well  as  sweetness  of  sound  to  the  musical  instruments  of  the 
antediluvian  artificer  in  metals;  and  we  are  quite  sure  that  Joseph's  coat  of  many  colors 
owed  its  beauty  to  feminine  hands. 

No  sooner,  however,  do  we  come  to  the  Mosaic  ritual  than  .the  skill,  which  monu- 
ments existing  to-day  prove  to  have  belonged  to  the  women  of  Assyria  and  Egypt,  is 
found  to  have  been  practiced  to  a  high  degree  by  the  Hebrew  women  under  the  shadow 
of  Mount  Sinai.  The  Greek  scholar  is  never  allowed  to  forget  the  web  woven  by  the 
faithful  Penelope,  which  not  only  gave  evidence  of  her  industry  but  of  the  imagination 
which  endeavored  to  express,  in  the  overshot  figures  of  her  tapestry,  her  admiration 
for  her  husband,  Ulysses;  while  no  barbarous  tribe  has  yet  come  to  light  without  giving 
numberless  examples  of  the  instinctive  expression  of  beauty  under  visible  forms  at  the 
hands  of  its  women. 

This  universality  of  endowment,  and  this  universality  of  its  exercise,  giving  the 
foundation  for  woman's  work  in  art  hitherto,  will  continue  to  be  the  foundation  on 
•which  her  achievements  in  art  will  be  based,  furnishing  an  argument  for  our  educators 
which  will  be  fruitful  of  results  favorable  to  those  virtues  that  show  most  fair  in  woman. 
Greece,  pre-eminently  the  home  of  beauty,  which  gave  heroes  and  poets  to  sing 
their  praises,  gave  sculptors,  also,  to  perpetuate  their  deeds  in  immortal  marble;  and  to 
a  daughter  of  Greece,  Kora,  who  helped  her  father,  Dibutades,  in  his  modeling,  we  owe 
the  reliefs  which  enabled  the  Attic  sculptors  to  tell  the  stories  of  the  gods  on  the  pedi- 
ments of  their  temples;  for  rilievo  must  always  be  regarded  as  the  sculptor's  medium 
of  narration. 

Of  those  who  worked  in  color,  we  hear  of  Helena,  belonging  to  the  age  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  who  painted  for  one  of  the  Ptolemies  the  scene  in  which  Alexander  van- 
quishes Darius,  a  painting  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  original  of  a  famous 
mosaic  found  at  Pompeii;  while  an  artist,  Calypso,  executed  a  picture  which  has  been 
transferred  from  Pompeii  to  Naples  under  the  title  of  "A  Mother  Superintending  Her 
Daughter's  Toilet."  A  Greek  girl,  Lala,  a  contemporary  of  Cleopatra,  was  so  celebrated 
for  her  busts  in  ivory  that  the  Romans  erected  a  statue  to  her  memory;  and  a  Roman 
paintress,  Lava,  using  her  brush  some  seventy-nine  years  before  the  coming  of  our  Lord, 
is  the  first  person  spoken  of  as  painting  miniature  likenesses  on  ivory,  which  she  exe- 
cuted with  marvelous  rapidity.  According  to  Pliny,  she  ranked  among  the  most  famous 
artists  of  her  time. 

We  shall  refer  to  this  miniaturist  again,  but  to  preserve  a  chronological  thread  on 
which  to  string  our  facts,  we  will  mention  here  that  benefactress  to  all  succeeding  time, 
•Galia  Placidia,  daughter  of  Theodosius  the  Great,  who,  in  440,  or  during  the  pontificate 
of  that  Leo,  the  first  of  all  pontiffs  to  be  called  great,  caused  to  be  executed,  under  his 
approbation,  that  arch  of  triumph  which  glorifies  even  the  new  Basilica  of  St.  Paul 
outside  the  walls;  this  mosaic  being,  as  Cardinal  Wiseman  declares  in  his  "Recollec- 
tions of  the  Last  Four  Popes,"  "  the  title-deed  of  the  modern  Church,"  to  the  veneration 
of  Christendom.  Not  only  this  venerable  monument,  but  very  interesting  mosaics  were 
executed  under  her  order  at  Ravenna,  before  which  the  traveler  pauses  under  the  spell 
of  their  Christian  significance  as  well  as  beauty. 

To  return  to  our  miniaturist,  Laya,  who  may  be  said  to  lead  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful processions  in  the  story  of  art,  for  she  was  followed  by  legions  of  monastic  workers 


8o  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

in  the  European  cloisters,  who,  in  the  silence  of  monastic  scriptoriums,  adorned  those 
choir  books  which  are  the  ever  increasing  wonder  of  the  lovers  of  art.  Many  of  these 
monks  are  high  on  the  roll  of  fame;  but,  working  even  more  hiddenly  than  the  monks 
of  St.  Columbkill's  time,  were  legions  of  women,  working  so  hiddenly,  in  truth,  that  it 
is  only  by  the  slip  of  a  pen  like  Montalembert's  that  we  are  likely  to  hear  of  these  nuns 
whose  names  were  caught  by  the  quick  ear  of  Saint  Bede  the  venerable;  but  the  names 
of  Saint  Lioba,  the  cousin  of  Saint  Boniface,  of  Saint  Walburga,  sister  of  Saint  Wilibald, 
the  nuns  of  Eiken  and  their  two  abbesses,  Harlinda  and  Renilda,  have  come  down  to 
us  by  the  fame  of  their  pious  labors  over  psalter  and  gospel;  and  all  this  in  the  7th 
century,  supplying  links  to  the  traditions  of  art  which  would  prepare  it  for  more  favored 
periods. 

Agnes,  Abbess  of  Quidlenberg.  was  celebrated  as  a  miniature  painter  in  the  12th 
century,  and  some  of  her  works  are  still  so  well  preserved  as  to  excite  admiration.  We 
know  that  at  this  present  time  painting  in  miniature,  on  vellum  or  paper,  is  practiced 
to  a  marvelous  degree  of  perfection  in  our  convents;  and  I  can  not  refrain  from  speaking- 
of  a  volume  of  transcribed  poetry  from  the  convent  of  the  Benedictine  nuns  in  our  own 
city,  with  charming  marginal  decorations  in  gold  and  color  by  a  Benedictine  nun;  while 
in  the  Convent  of  the  Holy  Cross,  St.  Mary's,  Ind.,  are  designs  on  panel,  silk,  vellum,, 
paper,  which  will  compare  with  the  celebrated  works  of  the  13th  and  14th  centuries. 

In  the  14th  century,  Sister  Plautilla,  a  Dominican  nun,  won  fame  which  compelled 
Vasari  to  name  her  pictures  with  praise;  especially  a  Madonna  bearing  her  Divine  Child 
on  her  knees  as  he  is  adored  by  the  magi,  of  which  I  have  a  photograph. 

Alongside  the  Van  Eycks,  Hubert  and  John,  is  found  their  sister,  Margaret 
Van  Eyck,  who  worked  in  miniature  under  the  patronage  of  the  court  of  Burgundy,  her 
fame  extending  to  the  far  South.  Often  she  worked  with  her  brothers  on  their  pictures, 
much  in  the  way  that  the  Robbia  family  worked  together  on  the  same  compositions, 
showing  that  her  style  or  handling  was  not  inferior  to  that  of  her  renowned  brothers. 
From  these  delicate  and,  as  they  are  often  called,  feminine  labors,  we  pass  to  the 
plastic  art,  in  which  Properzia  di  Rossi,  of  Bologna,  so  distinguished  herself  that  Clem- 
ent VII.,  having  gone  to  Bologna  to  crown  the  emperor,  Charles  V.,  inquired  for  her, 
greatl/  Desiring  to  see  her;  but,  to  his  deep  regret,  was  told  that  she  had  died  but  a  few 
days  before  his  arrival,  not  having  completed  her  thirtieth  year.  Her  works  are  still  to 
be  seen  in  the  cathedral  at  Bologna. 

It  was  to  Sabina,  daughter  of  that  Erwin  von  Steinback,  whose  monument  is  the 
Strasburg  Cathedral,  that  thj  ornamentation  of  this  wonder  of  ages  was  in  a  great  part 
committed.  Not  only  did  she  complete  the  spire  after  her  father's  death,  but  designed 
and  executed  the  sculptured  groups  of  the  portals,  especially  that  of  the  southern  isle. 
The  name  of  De  Pazzi,  associated  as  it  is  with  some  of  the  choicest  pages  of  saintly  lore, 
is  associated  also  with  art.  Caterina  de  Pazzi  was  born  in  1566,  of  the  old  Florentine 
family,  and  retired,  while  still  young,  to  a  Carmelite  convent,  under  the  name  of  Maria 
Maddelina.  There,  under  the  protection  and,  we  must  believe,  the  encouragement  of 
her  superiors,  she  threw  the  energy  of  her  ardent  and  noble  soul  into  the  works  of  her 
pencil  and  brush,  which  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  cloisters  of  the  Carmelites  at  Parma 
find  in  Santa  Maria,  in  Rome.  She  was  canonized  by  Clement  IX. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  cold  wave  which  passed  over  Europe  under  the  name  of 
the  reformation,  chilling  so  many  poetic  and  artistic  souls,  affected,  in  a  special  manner, 
the  sensitive  imaginations  of  women.  Hitherto  their  ideals  had  been  formed  by  that 
Faith  which  had  so  generously  nourished  arts  and  letters  as  well  as  souls.  With  a  recoil 
which  kept  the  traces  of  inherent  delicacy,  the  women  of  those  ages  turned  to  nature, 
studying  flowers,  fruits,  and  landscapes;  practicing,  also,  artistic  industries,  such  as 
engraving,  etching,  lithography,  indeed,  every  art  medium  which  united  them  to  the 
world  of  letters.  One  of  these  lovers  of  nature  was  Maria  Sybilla  Merian,  who  devoted 
herself  not  only  to  the  study  and  classification  of  plants  and  insects,  but  to  their  repre- 
sentation with  her  brush.  Not  contented  with  these  artistic  labors  in  her  native 
Holland,  she  visited,  in  1869,  Dutch  Guiana,  especially  Surinam,  remaining  two  years  in 
America.  On  her  return  to  Holland  the  admiration  excited  by  her  work  was  so  great 
that  she  was  induced  to  publish  her  researches  in  books  which  enjoyed  a  sale  of  suc- 
cessive editions. 

The  18th  century  was  beautified  by  a  genius  which  has  never  lost  its  charm — Maria 
Anne  Angelica  Kaufman.  .  Her  mind  turned  instinctively  to  painting,  which  she 
enjoyed  as  other  children  enjoy  play,  and  at  a  very  early  age  she  painted  the  Bishop  of 
Como.  In  1754  her  father  settled  at  Milan,  when  Angelica  came  directly  under  the 
influence  of  the  works  left  by  that  master  of  Greece,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and  of  the 
more  tender  Luini.  The  decoration  of  a  church  in  a  secluded  region  was  entrusted  to- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  Si 

her  father  and  herself,  her  own  share  winning  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the 
Bishop  of  Constance.  At  Florence,  and  again  at  Rome,  she  enjoyed  the  society  and 
instruction  of  the  venerable  Winckeimann.  Goethe,  with  his  aesthetically  critical  eye, 
was  compelled  to  praise  Angelica  Kaufman.  Art  was  to  her  the  breath  of  life,  and 
labor  was  her  greatest  delight.  She  died  at  Rome  in  November,  1807.  All  the  members 
of  the  Academy  of  St.  Luke  assisted  at  her  obsequies,  and  as  with  Raphael,  her  last 
picture  was  borne  after  her  bier. 

The  19th  century  brought  to  us  of  America,  a  warm  oreath  from  the  realms  of 
imagination.  One  hardly  knows  how  it  found  its  way  to  the  sparsely  adorned  Puritan 
homes,  and  to  the  secluded  ways  of  the  daughters  and  granddaughters  of  revolution- 
ary heroes.  But  the  fact  is  all  the  same,  and  the  growth  of  artistic  ideas,  moreover, 
seemed  an  indigenous  one.  Among  the  very  first  of  our  American  women  to  give 
herself  to  art,  was  Sarah  Freeman  Clarke,  the  only  daughter  of  a  physician  in  Newton, 
Mass.  Very  scanty  instruction  in  drawing,  of  any  sort,  was  given  in  those  days;  but 
she  got  a  glimpse,  in  some  way,  of  drawing  from  nature,  and  it  was  her  delight  to 
wander  over  the  picturesque  country  around  her  and  bring  home  sketches  of  hills,  and 
valleys,  and  homesteads. 

One  day  as  she  was  thus  engaged,  she  heard  some  one  come  up  behind  her,  look 
over  her  shoulder,  then  turn  away,  saying:  "  Oh,  I  thought  it  was  Mis'  James! "  Who 
could  this  Mis'  James  be  who  had  the  same  tastes  as  herself?  She  determined  to  find 
out,  but  even  the  doctor,  her  father,  failed  to  have  any  knowledge  of  Mis'  James,  when 
the  washwoman  was  questioned  as  a  last  resort.  "Mis'  James!  Don't  you  know  who 
Mis'  James  is?  The  crazy  woman  what  takes  her  knitting  and  sets  on  her  husband's 
grave!"  "And  thus,"  Miss  Clarke  says,  "my  first  artistic  studies  were  coupled  with 
insanity." 

Some  years  after  a  friend  mentioned  her  case  to  Washington  Allston,  who  invited 
her  to  bring  her  sketches  to  him,  and  he  went  so  far  as  to  paint  a  picture  with  her — his 
way  of  giving  lessons.  Thus  Miss  Clarke  was  Allston 's  first  and  only  pupil.  She  visited 
Europe  afterward  with  her  mother  and  brother  William,  who  is  associated  with  the 
early  days  of  Chicago.  On  their  return,  she  accompanied  him  to  our  Lake  City,  and  during 
her  expeditions  with  him  "  the  beauty,"  as  she  says,  "  of  the  prairie  was  made  known 
to  her." 

She  was  the  first  person  to  open  a  studio  in  Chicago,  and  her  magnificent  pictures 
of  oak  openings  and  prairie  adorned  the  homes  of  such  lovers  of  art  as  William  B. 
Ogden  and  Mr.  Newberry.  All  of  these,  however,  were  lost  in  the  great  fire  of  1871. 
One  of  her  most  remarkable  pictures  is  a  fragment  of  the  temple  of  Esnah,  Egypt, 
painted  for  Mrs.  Alexander  Mitchell,  of  Milwaukee,  for  whom  she  made  her  remarkable 
collection  of  Dante  sketches,  being  pen  and  ink  drawings  of  the  spots  mentioned  by  Dante 
in  his  "  Divina  Commedia,"  and  which  made  one  of  the  treasures  of  the  Centennial 
Exposition,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1876.  A  duplicate  of  this  collection  was  made  foi  Lady 
Ashburton. 

Following  closely  after  Miss  Clarke  was  Caroline  Negus,  born  among  the  hills  of 
Petersham,  Worcester  County,  Mass.  Caroline's  ambition  was  to  be  a  miniature 
painter;  to  learn  her  art  of  those  who  knew  Malbone,  and  to  do  this,  she  not  only 
taught  the  small  school  in  our  neighborhood,  to  which  I  was  sent  as  a  child,  but 
practiced  every  industry  her  facile  fingers  could  lay  hold  upon.  It  was  under  her  that 
my  own  young  fingers  found  guidance,  and  I  well  remember  her  charge  to  my  mother: 
"  Never  allow  her  to  copy  anything  but  nature."  Her  career  was  eminently  successful, 
her  pictures  on  ivory,  of  such  men  as  Emerson,  placing  her  in  the  highest  rank  of 
American  portrait  artists. 

The  first  sculptress  to  win  recognition  from  Europe  as  well  as  America  was  the 
daughter  of  a  physician  near  Boston,  who  gave  her  what  he  intended  to  be  a  training 
for  health,  but  which  developed  in  her  the  taste  for  plastic  art.  Every  opportunity  for 
a  thorough  course  of  sculpture  which  Boston  possessed  at  that  time  was  given  to  her, 
but  as  St.  Louis  gave  more  special  advantages  for  anatomical  studies  she  went  to  that 
city,  and,  in  1852,  found  in  the  sculptor  Gibson,  residing  in  Rome,  what  made  her 
mistress  of  the  technicalities  of  her  art. 

Although  her  works  are  to  be  seen  in  Europe  and  America,  for  she  has  enjoyed  a 
singularly  wide  distinction,  perhaps  her  most  charmingly  characteristic  creation  is  that 
of  Puck,  which  is  as  Shakspearean  as  Shakespeare  himself  in  its  poesy  and  drollery,  is 
an  exquisite  piece  of  modeling  and  finished  with  untold  pains.  But  it  is  to  her  latest 
work,  Isabella  of  Castile  giving  her  jewels  to  Columbus  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his 
first  voyage,  resulting  in  the  discovery  of  America,  that  Harriet  G.  Hosmer  has  intrusted 
her  fame.  This  was  modeled  in  Rome  from  studies,  as  to  likeness  and  costume,  made 
most  carefully  from  authorized  monuments  during  the  winters  of  1890, 1891,  and  1892. 


82  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  commission  for  this  statue  was  given  to  Miss  Hosmer  by  the  Queen  Isabella 
Association  to  be  cast  in  bronze  and  of  heroic  size  for  "The  World's  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion," as  a  tribute  from  American  women  to  the  co-discoverer  of  America.  The  full- 
sized  model  of  this  statue,  on  a  pedestal,  designed  by  the  best  architect  in  Rome,  in  a 
beautiful  material  fitted  for  indoor  exhibition,  stands  in  the  Isabella  pavilion,  just  out- 
side the  walls  of  "  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  "  grounds;  but  the  statue  which  is 
now  coming  through  the  foundry  of  Signor  Nelli,  Rome,  to  appear  in  all  the  glory  of 
bronze,  with  that  perfection  of  workmanship  which  belongs  to  the  eternal  city,  will 
stand  in  some  one  of  the  beautiful  parks  of  our  City  of  the  Lake  as  a  proof,  not  only  of 
the  noble  intention  of  the  Queen  Isabella  Association  to  honor  Isabella,  the  co-discoverer 
of  America,  thus  winning  for  itself  the  administration  and  best  wishes  of  the  Holy 
Father,  Leo  XIII.,  but  of  the  determination  of  the  Catholics  of  America,  above  all,  of  the 
Catholics  of  Chicago,  to  do  poetic  as  well  as  historical  justice  to  this  noblest  of  uncan- 
onized  women  and  peerless  Christian  queen. 

The  fame  of  a  Rosa  Bonheur  as  a  painter,  not  merely  of  animals,  but  of  animals 
under  the  influence  of  maternal  affection  or  under  the  inspiration  of  the  national  shows, 
the  fame,  too,  of  an  Elizabeth  Thompson,  who  has  brought  to  our  eyes  not  only  the 
horrors  of  war,  but,  with  a  most  womanly  instinct,  its  grandest  pathos,  show  how  wide 
the  pendulum  of  a  woman's  genius  may  swing  and  how  readily  the  technique  of  modern 
schools  is  appropriated  by  women. 

Who  was  it  that  lighted  up,  with  a  beauty  all  celestial,  the  gloomy  depths  of  a  cata- 
comb chamber  in  the  cemetery  of  Santa  Priscilla  before  the  close  of  the  1st  century  of 
the  Christian  era — before  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  had  won  their  crowns  or  their  palms? 
Lighted  it  up,  not  merely  by  her  own  maternal  loveliness,  but  by  the  divine  charms  of 
the  infant  nourished  at  her  virgin  breast,  and  before  whom  stands  the  prophet  Isaiah, 
pointing  to  the  star  above  her  head  as  typifying  the  star  which  had  arisen  out  of  Jacob, 
according  to  the  prediction? 

Who  is  it  that  is  found  again  and  again  in  the  subterranean  crypts  not  only  of  Santa 
Priscilla,  but  of  Santa  Domitilla  and  Santa  Agnes,  and  of  every  catacomb  lying  under 
the  smiling  Campagna  and  vineyards  of  Rome,  until  we  see  her  in  the  year  432,  in  all 
the  beauty  of  imperishable  mosaic,  on  the  arch  of  triumph  in  Santa  Maria  Maggiore; 
thence  onward,  on  the  apses  of  Rome's  loveliest  basilicas,  all  through  the  hidden  period 
of  antiphonals  and  psalters,  until  art  effloresced  under  Cimabue  and  Giotta  and  the 
holy  breath  of  St.  Francis  and  St.  Dominic;  onward  still  through  the  ages  of  Vienese 
and  Florentine  art,  until  Raphael,  under  what  has  always  seemed  a  direct  inspiration, 
gave  to  the  world  that  hitherto  unrivaled  conception  of  Mary,  the  Mother  of  God,  in  what 
we  know  and  reverence  as  the  Madonna  Sistina?  There  was  not  one  great  artist  in  all 
those  ages,  whether  monk,  or  nun,  or  courtier,  who  did  not  invoke  the  patronage  of 
Mary,  nor  is  there  a  school  or  academy  that  can  furnish  ideals  like  those  which  Mary 
gives  to  the  hearts  of  her  faithful  sons.  Can  she  do  less  for  her  faithful  daughters? 

Therefore  I  say  to  the  women  of  my  own  nation  —put  not  your  trust  in  academies 
or  in  schools  of  technique;  but  whether  in  the  cloister  or  in  the  world,  make  Mary  your 
art  mistress,  your  guide,  your  inspiration,  and  she  will  bring  to  your  imaginations  what 
you  will  seek  for  in  vain  elsewhere.  She  will  speak,  also  through  your  pictures  and 
your  sculptures  to  your  generation,  until  they  demand,  like  those  ages  of  which  we  read, 
the  works  of  your  brush  and  of  your  chisel  to  kindle  their  devotion  and  urge  them 
onward  in  the  heavenly  way.  Do  not  tell  me  that  the  atmosphere  of  your  native  land  is 
chilling  to  devotion.  Make  your  own  atmosphere;  make  it  by  frequenting  the  sacra- 
ments, by  lives  of  loving  devotion  to  the  saints,  by  a  frequent  observance  of,  and 
attendance  upon,  all  festivals;  and  not  only  will  your  own  atmosphere  be  one  springing 
forth  lilies  and  roses,  but  it  will  be  caught  by  your  countrywomen,  so  that  you  will  be 
asked  for  in  their  homes,  will  be  placed  before  their  children,  and — glory  of  glories  to 
a  true  Christian  painter  or  sculptor — you  will  live  and  speak  to  them  from  the  altar- 
piece  and  altar-niche. 

Rouse  then,  oh  my  countrywomen,  to  the  fullness  of  your  vocation  as  artists!  Use 
all  the  opportunities  afforded  you,  not  to  win  the  poor  fame  awarded  by  gallery  or 
salon,  but  aspire  to  that  ideal  which  we  have  seen  consistent  with  a  life  of  a  conse- 
crated nun  and  even  that  of  the  saint— the  Christian  work  of  a  Christian  woman  in 
Christian  art. 

In  an  essay  entitled  "Women  and  Mammon,"  Mrs.  Rose  Hawthorne 
Lathrop,  daughter  of  America's  famous  novelist,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  pict- 
ured in  words  of  beauty  the  ideal  woman,  and  then  drew  impressive 
contrasts  and  teachings.  Among  many  bright  passages  were  these: 


BISHOP  GABRIELS. 

OGDEN8BURG. 

BISHOP  MAIS, 

COVINGTON. 

BISHOP  JENSEN, 

BELLVILLE. 


BISHOP  SPALDING, 

PEORIA. 

BISHOP  COSGROVE, 

DAVENPORT. 


BISHOP  BRADLEY, 

MANCHESTER. 

BISHOP  McCLOSKY, 

LOUISVILLE. 

BISHOP  RYAN, 

ALTON. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  83 

WOMAN    AND     MAMMON. 

The  word  man  conveys  to  us  the  meaning  at  once  only  of  courage,  energy,  construct- 
ive force.  But  when  the  word  woman  is  presented  to  the  mind,  two  diametrically 
opposed  types  are  surely  evoked  —  the  woman  who  is  pure  and  elevating  and  the  woman 
who  is  at  most  pure  in  a  limited  sense,  and  who  lives  in  an  atmosphere  of  such  attract- 
iveness as  is  not  elevating.  This  is  the  sort  of  woman  who  would  rather  disenchant  her 
husband  with  life  than  give  up  the  approving  glances  of  a  half-dozen  admirers. 

We  will  not  describe  her  any  more  minutely,  for  it  would  be  a  picture  of  a  frequent 
companion.  A  companion  not  all  wicked,  shining  brightly  in  her  beauty,  seemingly 
sweeter  than  the  women  of  true  hearts,  petted,  clever,  and  gracious.  But  she  worships 
mammon  in  that  half-conscious  way  in  which  so  many  of  us  are  guilty  of  evil.  It  is 
only  righteousness  which  is  always  awake  to  its  responsibilities,  eager  for  its  success  in 
meeting  them,  and  quick  to  detect  the  ease  and  unkindness  of  low  principles. 

Mrs.  Lathrop  described  at  length  the  influence  upon  the  world  of  these 
two  classes  of  women  and  concluded  as  follows: 

Can  it  be  that  woman  is,  in  the  majority,  forever  to  serve  mammon?  Is  she,  who  is 
the  mother  of  all  perfect  impulses,  to  be  represented  anywhere  forever  as  the  adorer  of 
vanity?  Is  she  always  anywhere  to  appear  laden  with  jewels,  like  a  jeweler's  show- 
case, and  with  jewels  that  are  very  likely  gathered  upon  her  bosom  at  the  expense  of 
health,  or  even  the  honesty  of  her  husband?  Must  woman,  who  stands  for  the  highest 
note  of  human  perfection,  who  should,  above  all  created  beings,  worship  God,  erect,  up- 
ward-looking, must  she  stoop  to  mammon  in  coquettish  courtesy,  anywhere  in  this 
world  of  God?  Oh,  woman,  the  hour  has  struck  when  you  are  to  arise  and  defend  your 
rights,  your  abilities  for  competition  with  men,  intellect,  and  professional  endurance. 
The  hour  when  your  are  to  prove  that  purity  and  generosity  are  for  the  nation  as  well 
as  for  the  home.  If  it  is  well  for  you  to  imitate  the  profoundest  students,  the  keenest 
business  minds,  the  sublimest  patriots,  is  it  not  well  for  you  to  imitate  the  noblest  and 
tenderest  of  your  sex? 

A  most  instructive  and  eloquent  paper  by  Miss  Eleanor  C.  Donnelly  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  was  next  read  to  the  Congress  on  the  subject  of 

WOMAN    IN    LITERATURE. 

It  was  the  genius  of  a  woman,  the  generosity  of  a  woman,  that  first  made  possible 
the  discovery  of  America.  But  years  before  Isabella  offered  to  sacrifice  her  jewels  that 
Columbus  might  sail  out  of  Palos,  an  Essex-born  woman  over  in  England,  near  St. 
Albans,  had  launched  her  little  bark  upon  a  sea  almost  as  wide  and  trackless,  almost  as 
dim  and  perilous,  as  that  through  which  the  Santa  Maria  was  later  to  plough  its  way. 
Dame  Juliana  Barnes,  or  Berners,  a  Catholic  nun  of  Herefordshire,  was  the  first  person 
to  write  English  verse.  The  father  of  Anglo-Saxon  poesy  was  Caedmon,  the  monk  of 
Whitby.  The  mother  of  English  female  authorship  was  Juliana,  prioress  of  Sopewell 
Nunnery. 

Food  is  here  for  much  triumphant  exultation  in  the  glories  of  creed  and  sex.    Our 

tosoms  make  haste  to  swell  with  honest  pride,  with  womanly  self-gratulation.     But,  my 

disters,  festina  lente!     The    iconoclasts,  alas,  are  busy  and  almost  cruel.    Modern  and 

most  destructive  biographers  rudely  dispel  the  flattering  illusions  that  have  long  veiled 

the  memory  of  our  literary  primogenitrix. 

Remorselessly  they  tell  us  that  the  venerable  Dame  Berners  wrote  verses  on  the 
most  unfeminine,  the  most  un-nunlike  themes;  that  the  "  Book  of  St.  Albans,"  published 
at  Westminster  in  1486  from  some  old,  discarded  type  of  Caxton,  contained  her  three 
rhyming  treatises  on — on  —  (stop  your  ears,  oh,  outraged  shades  of  the  mystic  and 
aesthetic  nine)  —  on  "Hunting,"  "Hawking,"  and  "Coat  Armor." 

In  the  shock  of  this  early  English  revelation,  in  the  shame-faced  effort  to  marry 
the  mythical  prioress  to  her  verse,  we  remind  ourselves  that  Dame  Juliana  was  a  lady 
of  high  degree,  when  the  wine  of  youth  ran  red  and  hot  in  her  veins,  a  15th  century 
Diana,  in  plumed  hat  and  flying  robes,  following  the  chase  with  the  gay  knights  and 
ladies  of  the  court,  and  we  say  to  ourselves:  before  this  valiant  woman  hid  her  noble 
presence  and  masterful  mind  behind  the  convent  grille  she  posed  on  her  palfry  among 
the  gallants  of  the  greenwood,  her  soul  straining  at  its  social  restraints,  and  sounding 
the  warning  chime  of  its  deliverance,  even  as  the  hooded  falcon  on  her  wrist  strained 
at  its  silken  jesses  and  jingled  its  silvern  bells. 

If  Bales  describes  the  noble  Juliana  as  "an  ingenious  virago,"  he  frankly  admits  that 


84  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

her  personal  and  mental  endowments  were  of  the  highest  character;  and  he  goes  oil  to 
explain,  that,  "among  the  many  solaces  of  human  life,  she  held  the  sports  of  the  field 
in  great  estimation,  and  was  desirous  of  conveying  these  arts,  by  her  writing,  to  the 
youth,  as  the  first  elements  of  nobility.  In  the  three  centuries  following  the  prioress  of 
Sopewell  Nunnery,  few  of  her  own  countrywomen  ventured  after  her  into  the  new  world 
of  letters. 

Germany  had  produced  her  sacred  poet  and  dramatist,  the  Benedictine,  Dame 
Hrosvitha,  Italy  her  Catherine  of  Sienna,  her  Caterina  Adorni,  her  Victoria  Colonna. 
Spain  had  given  birth  to  the  mystical  Teresa  Ahumada  (better  known  as  Saint  Teresa 
of  Jesus);  and  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Church  rejoiced  in  the  brilliant  glory  reflected 
on  her  by  the  works  of  Marie  de  France,  Marie  de  Gourney,  Madame  Guyon,  Madame 
de  Sevigne,  and  Madame  Deshonilliere. 

But,  up  to  the  middle  of  the  18th  century  the  number  of  English  women, 
writers  of  any  note  could  be  reckoned  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand.  To  the  originality 
and  keen  perceptions  of  one  noble  poetess,  however  (to  Annie,  Countess  of  Winchelsae, 
who  wrote  in  the  17th  century),  Mr.  Wadsworth  pays  this  tribute:  "  It  is  remarka- 
ble that,  excepting  the  "  Nocturnal  Reverie"  by  Lady  Anne,  and  a  passage  or  two 
in  Pope's  "  Windsor  Forest,"  the  poetry  of  the  period  intervening  between  the  publica- 
tion of  "  Paradise  Lost "  and  the  "  Seasons,"  does  not  contain  a  single  new  image  of  exter- 
nal nature. 

"Literature,"  says  Dr.  Brownson,  "can  not  come  before  its  time.  We  can  not  obtain 
the  oracle  before  the  pythoness  feels  the  God."  And  he  further  directs  attention  to 
the  fact  that  "  there  is  no  literature,  ancient  or  modern,  which  is  not  indebted  for  its 
existence  to  some  social  fermentation,  or  some  social  change  or  revolution. 

The  intellectual  life  of  the  18th  century  seems  to  have  been  fermented  by  the 
strongest  leaven  of  "  social  change,"  even  as  its  civil  atmosphere  was  surcharged  with 
the  electric  currents  of  widespread  revolution.  Amid  the  upheaval  of  nations  and  the 
dismemberment  of  kingdoms  certain  volcanic  tremors  foretold  the  coming  emancipation, 
of  woman's  intellect. 

Prior  to  the  Augustian  age  of  English  literature  there  were  few  inducements,  few- 
opportunities  for  secular  women  to  enter  the  arena  of  letters.  Men  barely  tolerated 
their  literary  sisters,  or  cauterized  them,  if  successful,  with  sneers  and  satires. 

The  very  soubriquet  "  Blue  Stocking,"  originated  in  1786,  as  a  term  of  derision  for 
literary  ladies;  and  the  measure  of  approval  accorded,  at  that  era,  to  the  works  of 
Hannah  More  was  mainly  due,  we  are  told,  to  the  egotistic  patronage  of  Garrick  and 
Dr.  Johnson.  Sara  Coleridge,  daughter  of  the  poet,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  in  one  of 
her  letters:  "  The  great  mogul  of  literature  (Johnson)  was  gracious  to  a  pretender, 
whose  highest  ambition  was  to  follow  him  at  a  humble  distance.  He  would  have  sneered 
to  death  a  writer  of  far  subtler  intellect  and  more  excursive  imagination  who  dared  to 
deviate  from  the  track  to  which  he  pronounced  it  good  sense  to  be  confined.  He  even 
sneered  a  little  at  his  dear  pet,  Fanny  Burney.  She  had  set  up  shop  for  herself,  to  use 
a  vulgarism;  she  had  ventured  to  be  original." 

In  truth,  although  Johnson  protested  to  Mrs.  Trale  that  "  there  were  passages  in 
Evelina  which  might  do  honor  to  Richardson,"  no  one  can  read  the  "  Diary  and  Letters 
of  Fanny  Burney  "  (Madame  d'Arblay),  gossipy  and  self -conceived  as  they  are,  without 
discerning  the  difficulties  that  handicapped  the  career  of  a  lady  of  letters,  even  in  the 
time  of  the  third  George.  That  boorish  king  rehearsing  to  one  of  his  court  ladies  a 
certain  interview  with  Dr.  Burney  reveals  the  latter's  extraordinary  terror  at  the  dis- 
covery of  his  daughters  authorship.  "  Her  father,"  said  the  king,  "  told  me  the  whole 
history  of  her  Evelina,  and  I  shall  never  forget  his  face  when  he  spoke  of  his  feelings  at 
first  taking  up  the  book;  he  looked  quite  frightened,  just  as  if  he  were  doing  it  at  that 
moment.  I  can  never  forget  hie  face  while  I  live." 

But,  thank  heaven,  the  day  of  class  prejudice  and  narrow  jealousies  anent  woman's 
work  in  literature  has  forever  passed  away.  Through  the  widening  of  woman's  sphere, 
through  the  opening  of  innumerable  avenues  to  her  higher  education  and  intellectual 
advancement,  the  queen  hath  come  at  last  to  her  own.  The  barefooted  beggar  maid 
before  King  Cophetua  hath  been  lifted  at  last  to  her  rightful  throne  at  his  side  in  the 
kingdom  of  letters. 

While  we  agree  with  Brownson  that  woman  was  made  for  man  and  "  in  herself  is 
only  an  inchoate  man" — from  a  literary  standpoint  we  must  be  willing  to  admit  with 
Tennyson  that 

Woman  is  not  undevelopt  man, 

But  diverse. 

Not  like  to  like,  but  like  a  difference 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  85 

And  be  willing  to  accept  from  the  same  standpoint  the  dead  Laureate's  prophecy  that 

In  the  long  years  liker  must  they  gro  ff ; 
The  man  be  more  of  woman,  she  of  man. 
He  gain  in  sweetness  and  in  moral  height, 
She,  mental  breadth,  nor  fail  in  childward  care. 

"Till  at  length  her  work  shall  set  itself  to  man's  like  perfect  music  into  noble  words." 
If  she  be  the  queen  of  beauty  in  the  tournament  of  the  world's  thought,  she  must  also 
be  the  queen  of  truth  and  purity.  Like  the  woman  of  the  gospel,  she  must  hide  her 
leaven  in  her  three  measures  of  meal;  she  must  hide  the  truth  of  Christ,  the  purity 
of  Christ,  in  poesy,  fiction,  and  journalism,  until  the  whole  is  leavened. 

As  Cardinal  Newman  said  of  Philip  Neri's  work  in  Rome,  she  must  make  use,  in  a 
corrupt  and  faithless  generation,  of  th?  great  counter  fascinations  of  purity  and  truth; 
she  must  direct  the  current  which  she  can  not  stop;  sweeten  and  sanctify  what  God  has 
made  good,  but  man  has  corrupted  and  profaned. 

Not  mere  elegance  of  diction,  brilliancy  of  style,  or  perfection  of  technique,  shall 
serve  her  ends.  Her  mission  is  a  higher  and  holier  one  than  the  polishing  of  clever 
verses,  or  the  perfecting  of  "  a  filigree  tale  in  a  paper  cover." 

Artificial  flowers,  fashioned  by  a  Parisian  hand,  may  be  exquisite  in  form  and  colorv 
but  they  lack  nature's  fragrance  and  honey-dew.  All  the  pressure  in  the  world  can  not 
distil  from  them  one  drop  of  the  attar  of  roses,  such  as  is  yielded  by  the  smallest  bud  in 
the  rose  gardens  of  Ghazebor. 

An  elaborate  setting  is  employed  to  enhance  an  inferior  gem;  and  the  meretricious 
glitter  of  stage  jewels  often  does  duty  for  the  pure  radiance  of  diamonds  of  the  first 
water. 

"  We  are  not,"  says  Ruskin,  "  to  set  the  meaner  thing,  in  its  narrow  accomplish- 
ment, above  the  nobler  thing,  in  its  mighty  progress;  not  to  esteem  smooth  minuteness 
above  shattered  majesty." 

Thought  must  be  great  enough,  wise  enough,  strong  enough  to  seize  and  shape  its 
vehicle,  making  style  ever  secondary  to  sentiment. 

"  Landscape  Gardening  "  is  Emerson's  synonym  for  an  over-devotion  to  technique, 
and  close  and  stifling  is  the  confined  atmosphere  of  Boyle  O'Reilly's  carver  of  cherry- 
stones  in  the  "  Art  Master." 

For  such  rude  hands  as  dealt  with  wrongs  and  passions, 

And  throbbing  hearts,  he  had  a  pitying  smile. 
Serene  his  ways  through  surging  years  and  fashions. 

While  heaven  gave  him  his  cherry-stones  and  file! 

If,  perforce,  the  queen  must  step  down  from  her  royal  dais  to  champion  the  "  rude 
hands  "  of  social  reformers,  or  to  deal  in  her  own  realm  with  "  wrongs  and  passions  and 
throbbing  hearts,"  she  must  not  soil  her  white  sandals  or  bedraggle  the  trailing  splendor 
of  her  fair  robes  in  the  mire  of  the  slums.  It  is  proverbial  that  the  worst  corruption  is 
of  the  best.  Woman's  influence  in  letters  can  never  be  an  uncertain  or  negative  one. 
If  she  does  not  elevate  and  strengthen  she  degrades  and  enervates. 

The  day  was,  when  the  startling  realism  of  the  Bronte  sisters  (to  put  it  mildly)  met 
with  the  sternest  censure  and  fiercest  ostracism  of  right-thinking  people.  Dr.  Browr- 
son  goes  the  length  of  declaring  that  " there  are  passages  in  'Jane  Eyre'  which  show 
that^  women  can  enter  into,  and  describe  with  minute  accuracy,  the  grossest  passions  of 
man's  nature,  which  men  could  not  describe  to  their  own  sex  without  a  blush."  And 
yet,  in  their  biography  of  its  author,  Mrs.  Gaskill  would  have  us  believe  that  when 
Charlotte  Bronte  violated  convention  (again,  to  put  it  mildly),  she  did  so  unwittingly; 
and  that  the  daring  utterances  of  the  Yorkshire  curate's  daughters  were  simply  the 
innocent  expression  of  morbid  temperaments  acted  on  by  exceptional  environments. 
Apologists  have  also  been  found  for  the  agnostic  sophisms  and  psychological  subtleties 
of  Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward,  on  the  grounds  that  they  are  not  set  forth  in  "Robert  Els- 
mere  "  and  "  David  Grieve  "  with  malice  prepense  and  aforethought,  for  the  destruction 
of  believing  souls,  but  that  they  are  merely  the  grave,  troubled  exposition  of  the  writer's 
private  uncertainties  in  ethics,  her  own  personal  perplexities  in  dogma  and  doctrine. 
But,  whether  it  be  a  question  of  murder  or  manslaughter,  whether  it  be  an  indeliberate 
slaying  of  souls  or  a  cold-blooded  intent  to  kill,  woe  betide  the  woman  who  unsettles  or 
confuses  convictions  of  right  and  wrong  in  her  readers'  minds,  or  who  leads  them  astray 
in  issues  of  the  affections  or  of  the  marriage  relations !  Like  the  fisherman  of  the 
Arabian  legend,  she  has  let  forth  unto  destruction  an  evil  and  powerful  genii  whom  she 
will  never  again  be  able  to  imprison  in  the  gloomy  casket  of  her  own  fancy. 

It  is  in  the  field  of    fiction  that    the    woman    writer  of    the  19th  century  has 


$6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

attained  her  highest  success,  has  won  her  most  enduring  fame.  Yet,  sorrowful  to  say, 
the  crab-like  tendency  of  some  of  our  modern  women  novelists  seems  to  be  to  work 
backward  to  the  contemplation  and  delineation  of  pagan  models.  They  forget  that  the 
passionate  song  of  Sappho  must  give  way  to  the  chaste  "  Magnificat "  of  Mary.  Their 
gross  indelicacy  is  due  either  to  greed  for  gain  or  itch  for  notoriety.  It  is  even  said 
that  a  young  authoress  once  begged  an  editor  to  denounce  her  work  as  indecent,  in  the 
hope  that  the  scathing  review  might  do  for  her  novel  what  barring  the  mails  did  for 
"  Ki-eutzer  Sonata" — sellhalf  a  million  copies  of  it!  Too  often,  however,  the  women 
who  befoul  their  pens  in  the  cesspools  of  lewd  sensualism  and  erotic  romance  (like 
certain  delineators  of  the  nude  in  art),  pander  unblushingly  to  the  pruriency  of  the 
fleshly.  They,  indeed,  create  "  words  that  burn" — yea,  that  burn  with  the  lurid  and 
unquenchable  fires  of  hell,  not  with  the  pure  and  cleansing  flame  of  Isaiah's  celestial 
coal.  Their  muse,  instead  of  swinging  before  the  Most  High  a  golden  censer,  sending 
forth  delicious  incense  from  consecrated  resins,  flourishes  before  the  golden  calf  a 
brasier  of  dusky,  smoldering  charcoal,  whence  issue  the  deadly  fumes  of  asphyxiation 
to  all  that  is  pure  and  noble  in  humanity. 

Such  women  are  the  "  Dorothy  Draggletails  "  of  literature.  They  may  have  learned, 
in  common  parlance,  "  to  call  a  spade  a  spade,"  but  in  so  doing  they  have  furnished 
themselves  with  a  spade  to  dig  the  grave  of  their  own  womanly  delicacy  and  self- 
xespect. 

Ye  nymphs,  that  reign  o'er  sewers  and  sinks, 

The  river  Ehine  it  is  well  known 

Doth  wash  your  city  of  Cologne; 

But,  tell  me.  nymphs,  what  power  divine 

Shall  henceforth  wash  the  river  Khine. 

Commenting  upon  the  assertion  of  Julian  Hawthorne  and  others,  that  "  literature 
in  America  is  emasculated  by  convention,"  a  reviewer  not  long  since  boldly  declared  in 
a  leading  Eastern  magazine  that  "  it  is  the  fear  of  the  young  that  emasculates  it!  " 

Surely,  this  out-Herods  Herod. 

Accursed  is  the  age,  accursed  the  commonwealth,  that  ceases  to  respect,  to  rever- 
-ence,  the  innocence  of  the  young.  Even  the  pagans  wrote:  "Maxima  debetur  puero 
reverentia; "  and  the  ancient  Egyptians  at  the  obsequies  of  their  dead,  proclaimed  the 
departed  spirit  damned  or  saved,  according  as  it  had  wronged  or  reverenced  little  chil- 
dren during  life.  Conscientiously  careful,  tenderly  strong,  must  be  the  pen  that  traces 
the  first  impressions  upon  the  soft,  pure  wax  of  the  virgin  mind.  Those  gravings  will 
outlive  the  inscriptions  cut  upon  bronze  and  granite.  "  Take  your  vase  of  Venice  glass 
out  of  the  furnace,"  says  Ruskin:  "and  strew  chaff  over  in  its  transparent  heat,  and 
recover  that  to  its  clearness  and  rubied  glory,  when  the  north  wind  has  blown  upon  it; 
but  do  not  think  to  strew  chaff  over  the  child  fresh  from  God's  presence,  and  to  bring 
back  the  heavenly  colors  to  him,  at  least  in  this  world." 

What  Christian  father  would  dare  read  aloud  to  his  young  sons  the  immoral  trage- 
dies or  the  disgraceful  figures  of  George  Sand?  What  Christian  mother  would  dare 
lay  open  before  the  innocent  eyes  of  her  young  daughters  the  shameless  pages  of  "  The 
Quick  and  the  Dead,"  or  "The  Doomswoman,"  or  deliberately  put  into  their  hands  the 
lucubrations  of  Miss  Braddon,  or  of  that  hydraheaded  and  sensuous  gorgon  of  romance, 
yclept  the  Duchess? 

Literature,  il  is  true,  as  Cardinal  Newman  reminds  us,  can  never  be  anything  else 
than  the  manifestations  of  human  nature  in  a  human  language;  that,  as  science  is  the 
reflection  of  physical  nature,  literature  is  the  reflection  of  nature  moral  and  social.  We 
can  not  eliminate  the  evidences  of  human  passion  from  the  records  of  human  life,  and 
our  age  of  fiction  is  pre-eminently  introspective  and  analytical.  But  surely,  my  sisters, 
in  order  to  be  true  to  nature,  we  are  not  called  upon  to  dip  our  pens  into  the  stinking 
slush  of  foul  and  debasing  passions.  In  order  to  be  faithful  to  reality  we  are  not 
obliged  to  lay  bare  to  the  vulgar  the  most  sacred  esoteric  mysteries;  to  make  our  toilets 
in  public;  to  expose  ourselves,  as  a  master  mind  has  phrased  it,  unveiled  in  the  market- 
place, unveiled  and  unrobed  to  the  gaze  of  a  profane  world. 

Surgeons  do  not  dissect  their  subjects  on  street  corners.  There  is  a  native  delicacy 
in  true  science  as  well  as  true  art.  Of  Rembrandt's  famous  picture,  "  The  Lesson  in 
Anatomy,"  it  has  been  remarked  that  the  artist  rivets  the  gazer's  attention  on  the  glow- 
ing, lifelike  figures  of  the  professor  and  his  students  rather  than  on  the  vivid,  repulsive 
corpse  that  lies  before  them  on  the  dissecting  table. 

If  we  must  faithfully  portray  nature  in  our  works,  my  sisters  and  colaborers,  let  us 
not  forget  the  God  of  nature  in  his  works.  Let  us  give  to  the  world  something  better 
than  the  vintage  of  an  intoxicating  and  effervescing  romance  pressed  from  the  dried 
grapes  of  exhausted  passion  and  erotic  pruriency.  Let  us  offer  it,  not  "  devil's  wine," 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  87 

but  "  God's  wine" — a  distillation  from  the  fresh  herbs  and  sweet-Hmelling  simples  of  a 
chaste  pasturage,  giving  to  fainting  souls  and  faltering  heart  the  royal  cordial  of  the 
golden  and  La  Grande  Chartreuse.  The  dove  that  goes  forth  from  the  saving  ark  of  a 
purified  literature  must  not  pause  to  dissect  the  putrid  carcasses  tossed  upon  the  rocks 
by  the  receding  deluge  of  human  passions. 

"  Let  the  carrion  rot."  Leave  it  to  glut  the  rapacious  raven,  which  shall  return  no 
more  to  gladden  the  yearning  eyes  of  the  watchers ;  which  surfeited  with  rottenness 
shall  never  bring  back  to  any  longing  soul  the  olive  branch  of  God's  eternal  peace. 

Once,  in  a  literary  circle  of  unusual  brilliancy  and  culture,  an  American  writer  of 
some  note  read  a  paper  to  prove  that  there  had  never  really  existed  a  female  poet! 
Beginning  with  poor,  "sweet,  smiling,  violet-crowned  Sappho,"  whose  broken  snatch  of 
Grecian  melody,  sounding  through  twenty  centuries,  he  scoffed  at  to  the  echo,  he  ran 
the  gamut  of  the  fair  singers  of  the  ages,  dealing  death  to  their  pretensions  and  destruc- 
tion to  their  fame.  His  coup-de-grace  was  a  showing  of  the  post-mortem  decline  of  Mrs. 
Browning's  literary  repute.  He  enlarged  upon  the  fact  that  during  her  lifetime,  when 
any  pilgrim  visited  the  home  of  the  Brownings  in  Italy,  it  was  less  with  the  view  of 
meeting  Robert  Browning  than  his  gifted  wife,  Elizabeth  Barrett.  But  that,  strange  to 
say,  since  the  latter's  death,  the  star  of  her  glory  has  been  steadily  declining,  whilst  the 
orb  of  her  husband's  fame  had  been  as  steadily  mounting  to  its  zenith. 

A  listener  suggested  that  this  might  be  because  an  age  devoted  to  technique  had 
launched  its  fiat  against  effusions  which  Miss  Barrett  wrote  rapidly  and  from  impulse, 
glorying,  as  Mr.  Bethune  remarks,  "in  her  expedients  to  save  time,  though  they  took  the 
shape  of  false  rhymes  or  distorted  syllables."  But,  when  it  was  presently  shown  that 
a  like  decadence  had  waited  upon  the  fame  of  Mrs.  Hemans,  Mrs.  Osgood,  Miss  Landon, 
the  Carey  sisters,  and  others,  whose  technical  expression  was  more  painstaking  and 
polished,  we  were  forced  to  conclude,  with  Emerson,  that  some  of  the  immortals  were 
merely  contemporaries;  that,  as  a  lady  writer  in  the  Century  has  lately  shown  in  com- 
menting on  the  oblivion  fast  closing  around  the  name  and  works  of  the  American, 
Margaret  Fuller,  it  is  to  a  strong  personality  that  certain  popular  songstresses  have 
owed  their  power  over  men,  and  that,  with  the  vanishing  of  their  personality,  their 
power  has  ceased  to  exist.  This  is  especially  true  of  women  of  the  transcendental 
school. 

But  to  the  19th  century  alone  belongs  the  authorship  of  American  Catholic  women. 
It  has  scarcely  more  than  reached,  indeed,  its  golden  jubilee  of  existence.  Yet  while 
England  points  with  pride  to  Adelaide  Proctor,  Lady  Fullerton,  Lady  Herbert,  Mary 
Howitt,  Alice  Meynell,  Emily  Bowles,  and  Mother  Theodpsia  Drane,  Ireland  to  Rosa 
Mulholland,  Julia  Kavanagh,  Kathleen  O'Meara,  Cecelia  Caddell,  Ellen  Downing, 
Katherine  Tynan,  and  Mrs.  Cashel-Hoey,  France  to  Eugenie  de  Guerin  and  Mrs.  Craven, 
Germany  to  Countess  Hahn-Hahn,  Spain  to  Cecelia  Bohl  de  Faber,  and  Italy  to  Maria 
Brunnamonti,  America  enshrines  in  her  Catholic  heart  of  hearts  the  names  of  Anna  Han- 
son Dorsey,  Elizabeth  Allen  Starr,  Margaret  Sullivan,  Christian  Reid,  Louise  Guiney, 
Katherine  Conway,  Sara  Trainor  Smith,  Agnes  Repplier,  Mary  Elizabeth  Blake,  Harriet 
Skidniore,  Ella  Dorsey,  the  gifted  Sadliers  ( mother  and  daughters ),  Ellen  Ford,  Mary 
Josephine  Onahan,  Helen  and  Grace  Smith,  the  cloistered  singers,  Mercedes  and  Mother 
Austin  Carroll,  and  a  host  of  others  who  blend  their  sweet  voices  in  the  grand  cantata 
of  Columbian  Catholic  literature. 

No  meed  of  earthly  glory  shall  fill  the  aspirations  of  the  true  Catholic  woman  writer. 
No  crown  of  laurel  or  of  pine  shall  satisfy  the  brow  created  for  the  amaranth  of  eternity. 
Her  face  is  set  toward  the  white  city  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem;  her  pen  is  illumined 
with  the  splendor  that  streameth  from  its  gates  of  pearl;  her  highest  ambition  is  to 
write  her  name  in  the  book  of  life,  beside  the  names  of  those  whom  her  genius  has 
ennobled,  whom  her  gifts  have  drawn  closer  to  God,  whom  her  works  have  established  in 
the  perfection  of  his  law.  She  may  not  be  crowned  after  death  as  one  of  fame's 
immortals;  her  memory  and  her  writings  may  not  long  survive  her  own  day  and  gener- 
ation, but,  having  done  what  she  could,  in  her  time,  with  the  talent  that  was  intrusted  to 
her  (and  with  it  instructed  "  many  unto  justice  "),  she  shall  be  crowned  by  the  Lord  God 
in  his  everlasting  kingdom  as  one  of  those  blessed  toilers 

Whose  works  shall  last, 

Whose  names  shall  shine  as  the  stars  on  high, 
When  deep  in  the  dust  of  a  ruined  past 
The  labors  of  selfish  souls  shall  lie! 

The  history  and  workings  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul's  Society,  whose  dele- 
gates had  been  holding  their  Convention  in  one  of  the  lesser  halls,  were  thus 
presented  to  the  Congress  by  Joseph  A.  Kernan,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia. 


83  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

THE  WORK  OF  ST.  VINCEXT  DE  PAUL. 

Before  an  audience  of  Catholics  it  would  seem  hardly  necessary  to  say  anything  in 
explanation  of  the  origin  and  aims  of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  now  in  exist- 
ence in  France  for  sixty  years  and  in  our  own  country  for  almost  half  a  century,  and 
yet  there  is  evidently  a  very  imperfect  knowledge  of  it,  except  in  a  general  way.  It  is 
not  unusual  to  hear  even  clergymen  epeak  of  the  society  as  it  now  exists  as  being 
founded  by  its  illustrious  patron,  St.  Vincent  himself,  which  is  a  natural  error;  but 
much  graver  ones  are  the  result  of  ignorance  on  the  subject.  To  those  who  have  read 
the  highly  interesting  life  of  Frederick  Ozanam,  by  the  late  Kathleen  O'Meara,  some 
portion  of  this  paper  will  be  a  repetition  of  what  they  have  already  learned,  but  as  there 
are  still  good,  active  Vincentians  who  zealously  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  their  founder 
and  yet  are  ignorant  of  this  charming  book,  it  may  safely  be  presumed  that  there  are 
others  in  the  same  category. 

What  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  accomplished  in  the  cause  of  charity  is  incorporated  in 
tne  "  Lives  of  the  Saints  "  and  in  the  "  History  of  the  Church  in  France,"  and  existing 
monuments  in  the  shape  of  institutions  which  owe  their  origin  to  his  great  zeal,  for  the 
poor  are  daily  reminders  of  his  wonderful  success.  More  effective  still,  perhaps,  in 
recalling  and  perpetuating  his  memory,  are  his  "Daughters  of  Charity,"  as  they  were 
originally  called,  but  whom  we  now  recognize  as  "  Sisters  of  Charity,"  known  through- 
out the  world,  and  especially  in  France,  where  their  services  in  the  hospitals  and  upon 
the  field  of  battle  have  been  honored  by  a  government  which  ignores  the  crucifix  they 
bear— the  image  of  one  whose  religion  that  government  seeks  to  abolish.  In  our  own 
sad  days  of  strife  they  rendered  like  service,  and  in  these  "  piping  times  of  peace.''  which 
may  God  prolong  indefinitely,  they  quietly  succor  the  orphan  and  the  afflicted  and  allay 
the  sufferings  of  the  sick  with  their  kindly  care  and  ministrations;  but  the  society  of 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul  is  everywhere  a  living  witness  to  the  great  spirit  of  charity  for  which 
the  saint's  name  has  been  so  long  a  synonym. 

In  1833,  the  year  of  its  foundation,  France  had,  within  a  few  decades,  passed  through 
two  revolutions,  had  gloried  in  its  first  empire,  and  was  not  entirely  free  from  the  influ- 
ence of  the  prestige  of  the  great  conqueror  who  founded  it.  She  had  seen  three  resto- 
rations of  the  old  monarchy,  and  was  drifting  toward  another  revolution,  and  that  republic 
which  was,  in  its  turn,  to  be  wiped  out  by  a  coup  d?etat,  and  followed,  or  swallowed  up, 
by  the  second  empire.  As  has  been  said,  the  shadow  of  the  first  Napoleon,  who  had 
sought  to  subjugate  the  Church,  yet  brooded  over  her.  There  was  still  the  pride  of 
race  in  the  hearts  of  her  old  nobility,  there  was  revolutionary  blood  in  the  veins  of  her 
citizens,  and  these  were  irreconcilable.  The  teachings  of  Voltaire  were  widespread,  the 
indifference  of  the  self-styled  Catholics  was  demoralizing,  the  general  discontent  of  the 
masses  apparent.  The  Church  was  fettered;  her  clergy  had  not  the  influence  to  be 
expected  in  a  nation  called  the  "  eldest  daughter  of  the  Church,"  but  happily  France, 
with  all  her  faults  and  her  decadence,  was  never  wan  ting  in  champions  of  the  Faith.  In 
every  age  she  had  faithful,  exemplary,  and  valiant  sons  and  daughters  among  the  clergy, 
the  religious,  and  the  laity,  to  fight  her  battles  against  infidelity  and  indifference;  to 
take  a  stand  for  law  and  order  and  Christian  civilization  against  anarchy  and  its  causes, 
and,  if  need  be,  to  lay  down  their  lives. 

The  government  of  the  period  was,  practically,  in  the  hands  of  men  who  were  not 
Christians;  Guizot,  Cousin,  Hugo,  Lamartine  were  the  prominent  men  of  the  day.  the 
last  of  these  being  classed  among  the  dilettante  order  of  Catholics.  At  the  same  time, 
that  restless  and  restive  spirit,  the  Abbe  de  Lammenais,  then  in  the  zenith  of  his 
popularity,  together  with  his  milder,  but  not  less  distinguished  associates,  Lacordaire, 
Chateubriand,  and  Montalembert,  were  battling  for  the  Church  and  its  rights  and 
privileges. 

De  Lammenais  seemed  the  most  brilliant  star  of  the  galaxy,  but  his  "  nonserviam  " 
was  a  serious  misfortune  to  the  cause  of  Catholicity  and  still  more  disastrous  to  himself, 
for  the  great  master  mind,  which  could  not  learn  humility  and  brook  submission  to  the 
universal  pastor,  soon  lost  his  influence  and  suffered  the  inevitable  eclipse  which  attends 
all  refractory  children  of  the  Church.  But  Lacordaire  was  faithful,  and  Montalembert 
and  the  others  stood  firm,  and  they  gathered  about  them  leeser  lights  but  devoted  fol- 
lowers. The  spirit  of  faith  and  practical  Catholicity  in  daily  life  among  the  laity  was 
to  be  revived  by  the  fervid  eloquence  of  the  great  Dominican,  and  the  ardor  of  the  rank 
and  file  to  be  awakened  and  strengthened  by  the  writings  of  his  associates  and  their 
arguments  in  the  senate  and  assembly. 

The  old  college  of  the  Sorbonne  (now  demolished,  in  part,  to  make  way  for  a  new 
structure),  with  its  souvenirs  of  its  founder,  and,  also,  of  its  famous  patron,  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  was  the  great  center  of  learning;  but  none  of  its  scientific  or  even  philosophical 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  89 

teachings  were  allied  to  religion;  on  the  contrary,  its  lecture  halls  resounded  with 
the  logic  of  materialism.  Students  of  the  Lyceum,  the  College  Stanislas,  and  other 
smaller  schools  of  learning,  where  they  either  imbibed  their  faith  or  were  taught 
to  preserve  it,  were  here  exposed  to  the  danger  of  losing  it,  unless  they  were  fervent, 
steadfast  souls.  Among  these  were  a  few  youths,  of  one  of  whom  especially  we  have 
to  speak. 

Frederick  Ozanam  was  born  in  1813,  at  Milan,  where  his  father  settled  during  the 
first  empire.  The  family  traced  its  origin  not  only  back  to  the  period  when,  hundreds 
of  years  before,  it  became  Christianized  in  France,  but  also  to  that  Hebrew  race,  which 
formed  the  chosen  people  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  whose  genealogies  are  to  be  found 
in  the  Bibie.  Ozanam's  father  had  served  with  distinction  under  the  consulate,  but 
when  the  first  consul  made  himself  emperor,  the  faithful  officer,  who  seemed  to  be 
neither  royalist  nor  imperialist,  became  disgusted  with  the  new  regime  and  refused  a 
position  under  the  imperial  government,  preferring  to  take  up  his  residence  in  Milan, 
where  he  became  an  accomplished  and  successful  physician.  He  was  an  exemplary 
Catholic,  and  it  was  natural  that  with  such  a  sire  and  such  a  mother  as  was  Madame 
Ozanam,  Frederick  should  have  passed  his  boyhood  in  the  practice  of  the  faith.  His 
later  environment  in  Paris  exposed  him,  as  it  did  a  great  many  others,  to  temptations  to 
waver,  but  his  early  training  made  him  strong,  and  so  we  find  him,  at  twenty,  a  youth 
of  steadfast  character,  serious  but  enthusiastic.  He  went  to  Paris  to  pursue  his  law 
studies  with  assiduity  and  thoroughness,  and  later  on  —  his  ability  being  duly  recog- 
nized—  he  received  the  appointment  of  professor  of  commercial  law  in  Lyons,  and 
subsequently,  was  made  professor  of  foreign  literature  at  the  Sorbonne.  It  was  in  this 
position  that  his  genius  shone  out  most  brilliantly,  and  his  Faith  as  well.  He  also  entered 
the  field  of  journalism  and  did  good  service  for  the  cause  of  religion.  His  natural 
leanings  were  toward  democracy,  with  more  or  less  Utopian  ideas  of  the  grand  republic 
that  was  to  be  the  great  remedy  for  all  political  difficulties,  the  panacea  for  all  social 
grievances,  the  great  millennium  for  the  poor  and  the  oppressed.  Like  all  earnest 
minds,  he  dreamed  of  the  days  that  were  never  to  come,  of  the  ways  that  were  never  to 
be  adopted,  and  he  descanted  upon  those  possibilities  of  the  future  which  were  never 
even  to  take  the  shape  of  probabilities.  He  was,  however,  in  no  sense  a  dreamer,  but  a 
practical  Christian  and  a  valiant  champion  of  the  right. 

When  fame  and  position  were  achieved  and  from  the  rostrum  of  that  same  old 
college  of  the  Sorbonne  he,  in  his  turn,  lectured  the  students  who  loved  him  so  well, 
nothing  deterred  him  from  defending  the  truth  and  exposing  error,  and  he  seemed  to 
have  had  the  peculiar  gift  of  ably  answering  the  sophistry  of  his  opponents  and  bring- 
ing their  fallacious  arguments  to  naught.  His  contributions  to  literature  indicate  the 
high  order  of  talent,  patient  research,  and  convincing  logic  which  characterized  his 
lectures  and  his  writings.  It  was  at  the  early  period  of  his  life  from  which  the  society 
dates  that  Ozanam  felt  the  lack  of  Christian  teaching  and  the  support  of  Christian 
example  and  companionship,  as  well  as  the  longing  for  something  higher  and  purer  to 
actuate  every-day  life  than  the  average  student  was  satisfied  with.  Hence,  in  response 
to  these  aspirations  and  in  direct  answer  to  the  taunts  of  his  sneering  associates,  who 
asked  for  some  tangible  proof  of  his  disposition  to  accomplish  something  practical,  he 
and  a  few  kindred  spirits,  encouraged  by  a  friend  of  maturer  years,  M.  Bailly,  started 
the  first  "  Conference  of  Charity,"  which  was  the  nucleus  of  the  present  wide-spread 
society.  They  first  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Mother  of  God,  making 
the  sanctification  of  their  own  souls  their  main  object.  Their  next  aim  was  the  allevia- 
tion of  the  sufferings  of  the  poor,  their  moral  and  physical  ailments — the  former  to  be 
reached  by  assiduously  caring  for  the  latter. 

A  brief  life,  but  a  noble  one,  was  that  of  Frederick  Ozanam.  We  have  only  an 
imperfect  portrait  of  him;  a  pen  and  ink  sketch,  which  sho\ys  little  more  than  a  profile 
of  a  serious  face  upon  which  much  study  and  the  conscientious  discharge  of  laborious 
duty,  together  with  the  suffering  entailed  by  disease,  have  left  their  unmistakable 
traces;  but  he  was  cheerful  and  patient  withal,  a  good  son,  brother,  husband,  and 
father,  faithful  to  his  friends  and  charitable  to  his  enemies — if  he  had  any.  Although 
cut  off  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  he  lived  to  see  the  great  success  of  the  society  which 
he  had  helped  to  establish,  for  he  always  disclaimed  the  honor  of  being  the  sole 
founder.  For  some  time  before  his  death,  failing  health  forced  him  to  intermit  his 
duties,  and  he  traveled  in  Italy  and  Spain,  where  his  footsteps  were  marked  by  the 
establishment  of  conferences.  The  last  of  his  excursions  was  to  the  little  seaport  of 
Antignano,  which  he  left  in  the  fall  of  1853,  hoping  to  breathe  his  last  in  Paris,  the 
scene  of  his  labors,  but  the  Lord  willed  otherwise,  and  shortly  after  his  arrival  in 
Marseilles  the  closing  scene  set  in  and  he  died  there  on  the  8th  of  September. 


£0  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

He  has  long  ago,  we  trust,  received  his  reward,  and  his  confreres  continue  to  cherish 
his  memory  with  a  respect  and  affection  which  will  long  survive  the  appreciation  of  his 
literary  labors.  He  has  had  many  worthy  successors,  also  men  of  talent  and  distinc- 
tion, in  the  government  of  the  society — particularly  in  the  council-general  in  Paris — 
and  before  giving  a  brief  sketch  of  its  progress  and  position  in  America,  it  may  not  be 
out  of  place  to  make,  parenthetically,  a  few  reflections  on  the  influence  of  such  men  in 
the  community.  While  we  know  that  God  has  usually  chosen  the  humblest  instru- 
ments to  propagate  his  Church,  and.  at  times,  some  special  devotion,  still  we  all  recog- 
nize the  marked  effect  in  our  own  day  of  good  example,  notably  among  that  higher 
class  of  the  laity  to  whom  we  are  naturally  inclined  to  look  for  models.  We  may  recur 
to  an  incident  in  the  life  of  Ozanam  himself,  as  an  illustration  of  this. 

A  prey,  momentarily,  to  that  weakness  which  is  most  fitly  called  human  respect — 
a  powerful  motive,  especially  with  Frenchmen — he  entered  a  church  in  passing  (for  he 
was  a  devout  man  always),  and  there  he  saw,  kneeling  absorbed  in  prayer  before  the 
altar  of  Our  Lady,  that  great  scholar,  the  elder  Ampere,  in  whose  family  he  had  happily 
found  a  home  at  a  critical  time.  The  young  man  confessed,  afterward,  that  he  was 
indescribably  impressed  and  strengthened  by  the  spectacle. 

There  are  brave  men,  we  know,  in  the  humblest  walks  of  life,  but  their  deeds  are 
not  so  manifest  nor  so  likely  to  inspire  emulation  as  the  example  of  those  in  higher 
positions.  The  private  in  the  ranks  is  as  gallant  and  daring  as  his  commanding  officer, 
but  when  the  latter  is  at  the  head  of  the  charging  columns  all  eyes  are  fixed  on  him  and 
all  hearts  filled  with  the  resolution  to  follow  his  valiant  leadership. 

While  the  practical  work  of  the  conferences  was  the  fundamental  one  of  relieving 
the  poor  by  personal  visits  and  direct  assistance,  no  work  of  charity  was  ever  to  be  for- 
eign to  the  society;  and  so  we  find  it,  notably  in  France,  taking  up  and  developing  the 
patronages,  which  have  been  so  successful,  and  which  were  really  the  foundation  of 
institutions  of  a  kindred  nature  now  so  widespread,  and  which  have  taken  the  shape, 
with  our  Protestant  friends,  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations.  All  the  needs  of 
the  poor,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  have  become  the  special  care  of  the  society,  which 
also  occupies  itself  with  remedying  the  causes  of  poverty.  Hence  its  exhortations  to 
temperance  and  economy  in  both  old  and  young;  the  establishment  of  "penny  banks" 
in  England ,  following  the  example  of  our  French  confreres,  who  have  also  many  other 
expedients,  such  as  co-operative  kitchens,  and  the  various  plans  which  have  been  found 
practical  for  the  prevention  as  well  as  the  alleviation  of  the  misery  entailed  by  ignor- 
ance and  improvidence.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  no  limit  to  the  projects  and 
labors  of  a  Vincentian  in  the  field  of  charity.  He  has  penetrated  into  the  northern  wilds 
of  the  British  possessions  on  our  own  continent,  and  although  we  can  not  trace  his  foot- 
steps as  far  as  Cape  Horn,  he  is  to  be  found  in  various  points  in  the  intervening  land, 
from  Maine  to  California,  in  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America.  Conferences  exist  in 
all  the  great  nations  of  Europe  with  the  exception  of  Russia;  in  Asia,  embracing  Arabia 
and  the  Holy  Land,  and  we  know  of  at  least  one  native  Arabian  conference.  On  the 
"  dark  continent "  in  Egypt,  upon  the  banks  of  old  father  Nile  and  not  far  from  the  great 
pyramids,  whence  "forty  centuries  look  down  on  them,"  brethren  are  to  be  met  with; 
and  in  this  connection  we  may  mention  that  our  fellow-citizens  of  African  descent  have 
been  gathered  into  the  fold  in  Washington  and  Boston,  St.  Louis  and  Indianapolis.  If 
not  "Greenland's  icy  mountains  to  India's  coral  strand,"  we  count  at  least  members  in 
Norway  and  Denmark;  they  gather  together  also  upon  the  classic  soil  of  Greece,  as  well 
as  under  the  dominion  of  the  turbaned  Turk  and  amid  the  gorgeous  paganism  of  the 
Indies.  China  has  been  long  since  invaded,  and  in  distant  Australasia  Macaulay's 
dreaded  New  Zealander  (who  is  supposed  to  be  cultivating  an  artistic  eye  for  prospect- 
ive English  ruins)  has  in  his  midst  the  disciples  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul. 

From  the  latest  statistics  in  our  possession  the  present  condition  of  the  society  may 
be  summed  up  in  the  following  figures: 

In  the  United  States  about  500  conferences,  with  an  active  membership  of  about 
9,000,  while  the  total  membership  of  the  society  is  about  90,000,  and  the  number  of  con- 
ferences 5,000. 

The  work  of  the  patronages  has  reached,  in  France,  a  development  which  dwarfs 
our  efforts  here,  and  these  efforts  seem  insignificant  in  comparison  with  what  our  Prot- 
estant brethren  accomplish  in  the  same  field,  having  borrowed  from  our  society  the  idea, 
and  elaborated  it,  thanks  to  their  ample  means.  Unfortunately  for  us,  our  resources 
are  extremely  limited,  and  where  our  Catholic  brethren  are  wealthy  there  does  not  seem 
to  be  so  much  liberality  in  helping  to  found  and  sustain  these  institutions.  In  Paris 
they  have  established  auxiliary  societies  of  lady  patronesses  of  all  walks  of  life,  whose 
efforts  are  bent  to  secure  the  funds  necessary  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of  these 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  ^i 

noble  institutions.  In  London  the  same  work  has  been  already  taken  in  hand  quite 
energetically. 

In  Boston,  especially,  the  children  of  the  poor  are  looked  after  in  the  most  thorough 
manner.  As  in  New  York,  they  have  agents  at  the  courts  to  rescue  Catholic  children 
from  commitment  to  Protestant  homes;  Catholic  ones  are  provided;  occupations  are 
found  for  those  who  are  old  enough  to  work,  and  it  is  highly  interesting  to  read  of  the 
ingenuity  exercised  in  amusing  the  children  on  the  "outings  "  given  them  in  pleasant 
weather.  The  abandoned  or  neglected  infants,  through  the  paternal  care  of  the  confer- 
ences, get  the  next  best  thing  to  proper  maternal  nursing,  arrangements  having  been 
made  to  place  them  in  good  hands,  which  has  resulted  in  materially  reducing  the  mor- 
tality among  these  little  ones.  Thus  the  society  in  Boston  is  doing  the  work  of  a  found- 
ling asylum. 

The  organization  of  its  early  days  obtained  the  approval  of  the  late  Pope  Pius  IX. 
of  blessed  memory,  who  enriched  it  with  many  spiritual  favors,  and  our  present  Pontiff, 
Leo  XIII.,  has  endowed  it  with  like  testimonials  of  his  paternal  affection.  The  last 
council  of  Baltimore  spoke  in  flattering  terms  of  the  society,  and  placed  it  in  the  front 
rank  of  lay  organizations.  Those  of  the  hierarchy  and  the  clergy  who  know  best  its 
objects  and  its  aims  and  what  it  accomplishes,  are  anxious  for  its  establishment,  propa- 
gation, and  success,  and  always  give  it  their  heartiest  support.  Even  our  municipal 
authorities  recognize  it  in  a  most  practical  way  by  giving  it,  in  some  places,  a  share  in 
the  distribution  of  the  public  funds  devoted  to  charity,  because  they  realize  that  the 
application  of  the  money  will  be  direct  and  undiminished  by  salaries  of  distributors;  and 
it  has  conquered  the  respect  and,  in  many  instances,  the  co-operation  of  our  separated 
brethren,  who  admit  its  quiet  efficacy  in  succoring  the  poor.  It  is  essentially  a  lay 
society,  seeking  always  to  work  in  harmony  with  the  clergy,  to  whom  it  is  a  valuable  aid, 
and  it  is  par  excellence  the  most  important  lay  society  in  the  Church.  It  remains  there- 
fore for  Catholic  laymen  to  recruit  its  ranks.  Its  rules  are  simple;  no  great  sacrifices 
are  exacted;  no  very  onerous  duties  are  imposed. 

We  should  have  many  more  upon  pur  rolls  of  active  membership;  men  of  all  classes 
and  conditions.  In  Europe,  and  especially  in  France,  conferences  are  thus  composed; 
while  in  America  we  see  few  names  of  the  wealthy  and  distinguished  upon  the  confer- 
ence lists.  With  accessions  from  this  class,  dare  we  not  hope  that  in  addition  to  its 
multifarious  works  of  charity,  it  may  have  its  humble  share  in  solving  the  serious  prob- 
lem which  agitates  all  nations  and  peoples,  the  great  living  question  of  the  relations 
between  the  rich  and  the  poor;  the  conflict  between  capital  and  labor,  and  the  other 
social  questions  involved.  Only  faith  and  hope  and  charity  can  surmount  the  obstacles 
which  these  antagonisms  present,  and  lead  to  a  better  understanding  of  relative  rights 
and  mutual  duties.  "And  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity;"  "for  the  poor  we  have 
always  with  us." 

"  Indian  Rights  "  was  next  stated  by  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  McGolrick,  of 
Duluth,  Minn.,  his  address  embodying  a  mass  of  statistics  not  deemed 
appropriate  here. 

*  THE    INDIAN    IN    THIS    REPUBLIC. 

Our  young  Republic,  but  now  in  the  beginning  of  its  development,  has,  for  the  most 
part,  pursued  a  policy  of  conciliation  in  its  treatment  of  the  Indian  tribes.  To  those 
who  were  supposed  to  represent  the  Government,  to  its  agents  and  officers,  must  be 
generally  attributed  the  evils  which  have  fallen  on  these  wards  of  the  nation,  which 
have  well-nigh  blotted  out  a  nomadic  race,  about  whose  extinction  there  appears  to  be 
slight  doubt,  as  they  recede  before  the  white  man's  advancing  tread. 

The  commission  of  nine  appointed  by  General  Grant  in  1869,  after  enumerating  the 
many  notorious  grievances  of  the  Indians,  summed  up  by  declaring  that  "  the  history 
of  the  Government  connections  with  the  Indians  is  a  shameful  record  of  broken  treaties 
and  unf ulfilled  promises."  "  Theft,  lying,  robbery,  broken  promises " — such  is  the 
summing  up  of  Helen  Hunt  Jackson,  when,  in  pleading  for  the  rights  of  the  Indians, 
she  recounts  the  story  of  their  woes. 

Professor  Painter,  agent  of  the  Indian  Rights  Association,  in  his  report  of  1888, 
states  as  his  conclusion,  after  a  careful  investigation,  that  "the  whole  management  of 
Indians  has  been  abnormal,  with  little  or  absolutely  no  opportunity  for  the  najilr&riaws 
regulating  social  life  to  operate." 

"The  aboriginal  population  of  the  West  Ind  es,  of  Mexico,  of  CentraT  and  South 
America,"  writes  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Marty,  so  well  known  for  his  active  interest'  \fljHiie 


Q2  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Indians,  "  was  preserved,  Christianized,  and  in  great  part  civilized.  Forty-six  millions 
of  Catholic  people  now  inhabit  those  countries,  with  a  proportion  of  white  people  to  the 
mixed  and  purely  aboriginal  elements  near'y  everywhere  the  same — 20  per  cent,  white; 
43  per  cent,  mixed;  37  per  cent,  aboriginal.  North  of  Mexico,  the  fate  of  the  aborigines 
has  been  extermination." 

In  the  report  of  the  commission,  charged  with  the  distribution  of  the  fund  for  Cath- 
olic mission  work  among  the  negroes  and  Indians,  and  of  which  His  Eminence,  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  is  the  chairman,  the  Indian  population  is  marked  as  being  about  285,730.  The 
report  of  the  Government  Commissioner  of  Indian  affairs  for  1892  gives  the  Indian  popu- 
lation, exclusive  of  Alaska,  as  248,340;  with  about  3,000  employes.  The  location  of  the 
Indian  population,  together  with  the  statistics  of  Catholic  Indians,  churches,  sister- 
hoods, and  religions  for  the  year  1892,  makes  very  interesting  reading. 

In  1891  the  total  Indian  population  was  given  as  249,273,  and  of  these  80,891  were 
Catholics.  In  the  statistics  of  1876  there  were  enumerated  260  different  tribes  in  the 
United  States,  amounting  to  about  300,000  Indians.  These  were  widely  scattered,  roam- 
ing around  in  the  chase  during  the  year  and  only  settled  in  their  camping  grounds  during 
the  winter  and  early  spring.  For  many  of  these  tribes  the  Government  holds  in  trust 
certain  funds  belonging  to  them  and  for  which  they  receive  the  annual  interest. 

Five  tribes,  civilized,  the  Cherokees,  Chickasaws,  Choctaws,  Seminoles,  and  Creeks, 
have  a  trust  fund  of  $8,008,525.99,  with  an  annual  interest  of  $413,790.11,  while  thirty 
other  tribes  have  about  $16,000,000  for  their  benefit.  This  fund,  if  well  managed  and 
properly  disbursed  would  be  a  great  assistance  to  the  Indians,  but  the  commissioners, 
clerks,  inspectors,  supervisors,  agents,  boss  farmers,  physicians,  teachers,  and  all  the  rest 
of  the  multitude  to  whom  the  Indian  is  so  valuable,  take  to  themselves  a  very  large  per- 
centage of  the  fund  belonging  to  these  poor  people. 

The  constant  advance  of  the  white  man,  and  the  ever-increasing  demand  for  land, 
gradually  drove  back  the  Indian  to  remote  western  wilds.  Before  the  shrewd  and  often 
unscrupulous  pioneer  the  Indian  had  to  retreat  or  become  completely  helpless. 

The  general  government  was  gradually  forced  to  exercise  unlimited  control  over  the 
aborigines  and  their  property.  They  became  wards  of  the  nation,  to  be  governed  and 
directed  in  all  their  affairs  until  they  could  be  formed  into  civilized  men.  Prisoners  in 
their  own  homes,  they  are  strictly  kept  within  lines  called  reservations.  There  they  are 
forced  to  remain,  and  can  not  leave  but  by  special  permission  and  with  a  pass, on  which 
is  marked  the  number  of  days  they  are  allowed  to  be  absent.  The  agent  has  full  power 
over  these  people,  and,  if  he  be  tyrannical,  can  govern  more  absolutely  than  the  Czar  of 
Russia. 

The  number  of  these  reservations  and  agencies  increased  up  to  1870,  when  General 
Grant  inaugurated  the  Indian  peace  policy.  Of  the  seventy  agencies  under  this  new 
system  eight  were  assigned  to  the  Catholic  Church.  In  other  agencies,  where  the  large 
number  of  Indians  were  Catholics,  their  demands  for  a  Catholic  priest  were  ignored, 
and  they  were  handed  over,  body  and  soul,  to  those  who  were  in  many  cases  hostile  to 
Catholicity. 

At  this  period,  twenty-three  years  ago,  more  than  forty  mission  houses,  with  over 
300  stations,  at  which  100,000  Indians  received  instruction  and  the  sacraments,  were 
built  up,  but  under  this  new  system  complaints  grew  ever  louder,  showing  that  the 
Government  agents  were  using  all  their  powers  to  counteract  the  labors  of  Catholic 
missionaries,  to  prevent  their  mission  work  and  destroy  their  control  of  the  Indians. 
In  many  places  the  Catholic  missionaries  were  driven  out  of  the  reservations,  and,  as 
Archbishop  Bailey  declared,  "  this  action  was  taken  under  a  government  policy  of  itself 
wise  and  humane." 

Under  this  policy,  non-Catholic  missions  and  schools  were  erected  and  established 
among  the  Indians  already  Catholic,  and  amongst  pagans  who  for  years  had  been  peti- 
tioning for  schools  and  churches  under  the  influence  of  Catholic  missionaries. 

The  sad  story,  which  can  only  be  hinted  at,  of  the  gross  immorality  of  white  men 
and  Indians  in  many  of  the  reservations ;  the  dissolute  white  man  and  the  savage  in 
league  to  destroy  every  remnant  of  purity  in  the  poor  Indian  girl ;  the  parents  them- 
selves, the  natural  guardians  of  the  children  for  whom  they  have  such  warm  love, 
engaged  in  forcing  their  daughters  to  lives  of  shame — alas  !  how  often  has  all  this  been 
rehearsed  as  the  common  tale  of  the  reservations  ! 

But  what  a  change  when  the  good  Sisters  came  amongst  the  children  of  these 
wretched  people !  In  the  midst  of  privations  and  trials,  these  brave  women  fighting 
the  good  fight  against  superstition  and  darkest  temptation  preserved  the  children  en- 
trusted to  them  pure  and  holy ;  gave  the  Indian  mother  a  new  life  of  freedom,  before 
unknown,  and  investing  them  with  Christian  purity  made  the  Indian  family  a  fit 
subject  of  rejoicing  both  to  angels  and  to  men. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  93 

"  Give  us,"  said  the  chief  of  the  Gull  Lake  band  of  Chippewas,  Minnesota,  speaking 
in  July,  1892,  to  the  bishop  of  Duluth,  "  give  us  a  black-gown  to  teach  ourselves  and  our 
children." 

"  I  have  been  twenty  years  on  the  reservation  here,"  said  an  old  chief,  "  and  the 
promises  made  to  us  1  never  saw  fulfilled;  give  us  a  priest  and  a  school  for  our  children 
and  we  will  be  satisfied." 

Many  of  these  were  pagans,  but  they  had  centered  their  hopes  for  their  children  in 
the  sisters'  school. 

The  act  of  Congress,  February  8,  1887,  giving  the  Indians  an  individual  title  to  cer- 
tain lands,  and  thus  bringing  them  under  the  ordinary  laws  of  regular  citizens  of  the 
country  is  the  last,  and  it  would  seem  final  attempt  to  settle  the  Indian  question. 

The  amount  of  land  given  to  each  Indian  varies  with  the  locality;  the  Modocs 
received  forty  acres  each;  the  Senecas,  160  acres;  and  the  Quapaws,  200  acres  each. 

From  February,  1887,  to  November  30, 1892,  there  were  made  15,182  allotments  on 
reservations  under  the  general  allotment  act;  4,550  allotments  by  special  act  of  Congress; 
1,242  allotments  on  public  domain  outside  reservation 

As  the  Indian's  mode  of  life  and  traditions  are  altogether  opposed  to  this  settled  life, 
it  will  be  wise  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  see  that  these  people,  rendered  so  help- 
less by  long  years  of  reliance  on  the  Government  care,  may  be  protected  in  their  rights 
and  prepared  gradually  for  the  change  to  regular  citizenship.  Children  of  nature,  care- 
less of  future  needs,  if  present  wants  be  satisfied,  never,  in  any  period  of  their  history,  do 
they  need  more  the  advice  and  encouragement  of  the  faithful  missionary. 

Amongst  them  the  demon  of  intemperance  has  had  its  thousands  of  victims.  This, 
their  greatest  curse,  of  itself,  would  complete  their  destruction,  but  the  Government,  by 
wise  restrictive  laws,  aided  in  diminishing  the  evil.  Still  there  were  ever  hordes  of 
white  men  watching  to  supply,  through  greed  of  gain,  the  "fire-water"  which  changed 
the  Indian  into  a  devil. 

The  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  had  from  the  commencement  to  deal 
with  a  population  ever  increasing  at  a  rate  unparalleled  in  any  other  country  in  the 
world.  Her  missionaries  were  few,  unable  for  many  years  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
growing  towns  and  with  little  possibility  of  attending  the  new  settlers  scattered  over  a 
country  of  immense  distances.  Many,  too,  had  come  to  make  this  land  their  home, 
whose  traditions  taught  a  hatred  of  Catholicity.  History,  which  should  have  been  a 
record  of  the  truth,  became  the  medium  of  shameless  lying  and  the  disseminator  of 
calumny.  Catholics  and  Catholicity  were  judged  and  condemned  on  such  testimony ;  so 
we  noed  now  the  active  co-operation  of  the  religious  orders.  Let  them  prepare  men  and 
women  missionaries  well  schooled  in  the  various  Indian  languages  and  dialects;  let 
them  prepare  such  useful  books  as  may  suit  the  present  generation,  and  the  future  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  Church. 

The  day  of  the  nomadic  Indian  is  gone;  soon  to  be  settled  on  the  lands,  many  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  old  missionary  work  will  have  passed  away,  but  this  is  the  critical 
period,  and  the  Church  naturally  turns  to  her  reserve  corps  for  self-sacrificing  men,  now 
as  in  the  past. 

How  sad  it  is  to  read  the  letter  of  Archbishop  Salpointe,  who  tells  us  of  20,000 
Navajoes  "that  the  Gospel  has  never  been  preached  to  them;  that  they  are  intelligent 
and  many  of  them  would  be  won  over  easily  to  Catholicity."  Priests  are  wanting.  Sad- 
der still  is  it  to  learn  from  the  same  source  that  the  agents  of  government  commission- 
ers, hostile  to  the  Church,  "do  all  in  their  power  to  ruin  our  schools  and  to  pervert  our 
poor  Catholic  Indians,  by  means  fair  and  foul;  their  efforts  being  especially  directed 
against  the  faith  and  Catholic  allegiance  of  the  Pueblos." 

Nearly  every  bishop  who  has  to  deal  with  the  Indians  has  a  like  story  of  poverty, 
of  difficulty  in  finding  missionaries  and  of  bigoted  obstruction.  Yet  is  it  not  consoling, 
in  the  face  of  all  these  troubles,  to  find  that  over  2,000  Indians  have  been  received  into 
the  Church  in  the  last  year,  1892? 

Bright  are  the  prospects  of  the  future.  "We  have  good  hopes,"  writes  Bishop 
Lemmens,  of  Vancouver,  "  that  all  the  Indians  on  the  west  coast  will  ultimately  be 
Catholics;  the  majority  are  so  now.  The  missions  on  the  Yukon  River  and  in  the 
southwest  of  Alaska  are  very  successful." 

The  red  man  turns  to  the  Catholic  Church  as  to  a  true  friend.  May  we  in  our  day 
find  missionaries  as  of  old,  ready  to  acquit  themselves  as  men  of  God  to  win  to  the 
civilizing  influences  of  religion  the  souls  of  these  poor  wanderers  from  light  and  life. 
The  question  for  earnest  discussion,  and  which  must  meet  with  prompt  response  is 
this:  "  Can  we  devise  a  plan  by  which  the  present  demands  of  our  Indian  population 
may  be  answered?"  In  this  new  phase  of  the  Indian  question  are  we  equal  to  our 
golden  opportunity? 


94  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union  held  its  convention  in  the 
hall  of  Washington,  in  the  Art  Institute. 

This  convention  was  a  notable  gathering  of  the  representatives  of  the 
rising  generation  of  Catholics  in  the  United  States.  The  proceedings  were 
enlivened  by  the  opening  address  by  James  F.  O'Connor,  president  of  the 
Chicago  branch  of  the  Union;  an  address  by  Rev.  Francis  McGuire,  of 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  President  of  the  Union,  and  a  paper  by  Warren  E.  Mosher, 
of  Youngstown,  Ohio,  all  of  which  will  be  found  later  on  in  this  book  under 
the  fifth  day's  proceedings. 

Archbishop  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  made  a  short  address,  among  other  things  he 
advised  them  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  manly  independence,  self-respect,  and  regard  for 
the  rights  of  others.  He  said  that  the  old  prejudice  against  the  Catholic  religion  was 
fast  dying  out,  acd  the  time  had  now  come  when  men  were  regarded  from  the  point  of 
view  of  character  more  than  on  the  account  of  their  religious  convictions.  He  solemn ly 
impressed  upon  them  their  great  responsibility  as  young  men,  and  said  they  were 
accountable  to  Almighty  God  for  the  influence  they  exerted  on  society.  He  advised 
them  to  read  the  writings  of  Edmund  Burke,  and  try  to  catch  therefrom  something  of 
the  ideals  which  that  great  statesman  held  up  for  the  guidance  of  men  in  public  life. 
The  young  men,  he  said,  should  adopt  that  grand  old  maxim  of  that  grand  old  states- 
man, Henry  Clay,  the  saying:"!  would  rather  be  right  than  be  President."  He 
mentioned  William  E.  Gladstone,  a  name  that  brought  forth  a  storm  of  cheers,  as  a 
man  that  always  had  the  courage  to  do  his  duty  in  the  face  of  opposition,  misunder- 
standing, and  calumny,  and  who  always  felt  his  responsibility  to  God  and  to  the  public. 
He  said  that  no  better  type  of  a  public  man  could  be  mentioned  than  that  of  Grover  Cleve- 
land. Mr.  Cleveland  represented  the  people  of  the  United  States  perhaps  better  than 
any  man  who  had  occupied  the  presidential  chair  since  the  days  of  Washington. 

After  an  address  by  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Burke,  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  the 
regular  work  of  the  Convention  was  taken  up  by  the  reading  and  discussion 
of  numerous  valuable  papers.  On  this  fourth  day,  the  C.  Y.  M.  Union  heard 
other  papers  and  eloquent  addresses  from  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Gabriel,  of 
Ogdensburgh,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Dolan,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  also  from  Father 
J.  B.  Daley,  of  New  York  City  Cathedral.  Besides  its  election  of  officers  and 
other  customary  business,  the  Union  then  passed  the  following  resolutions. 

C.  Y.  M.  X.  U.  RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved,  That  the  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union,  in  convention  assembled, 
tender  to  our  most  Holy  Father,  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  assurance  of  our  love  and  devotion. 

Resolved,  That  we  renew  our  belief  in  him  as  the  infallible  representative  of  Christ, 
and  express  our  filial  devotion  to  him,  and,  also,  to  his  representative,  Mgr.  Satolli,  whom 
he  has  appointed  the  Apostolic  Delegate  to  America. 

Resolved,  That  each  society  make  especial  effort  to  lend  itself  to  literary  work,  and, 
also,  to  the  establishment  of  classes  in  the  ordinary,  and,  if  convenient,  in  the  particular 
branches  of  learning  for  the  boys  of  our  colleges  and  parochial  schools;  and,  also,  for  our 
working  boys,  believing  that  the  great  cause  of  the  young  men  can  be  best  served  by 
taking  care  of  the  boys  and  molding  their  character. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  with  gratification  and  a  keen  sense  of  its  far-reaching  useful- 
ness we  have  watched  the  work  and  progress  of  the  Catholic  Summer  School  of  America, 
and  that  we  do  heartily  indorse  the  aim  and  objects  for  which  it  was  established,  and 
would  recommend  the  establishment  of  some  plan  or  movement  by  which  the  young 
men's  societies  can  make  use  of  the  benefits  of  the  Catholic  Summer  School. 

Resolved,  That  we  heartily  commend  the  work  of  the  Bishop's  Memorial  Hall,  con- 
ducted by  Professor  Edwards,  of  Notre  Dame  University,  and  of  the  American  Catholic 
Historical  Society,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  special  object  is  the  collection  of  all  material 
pertaining  to  the  history  of  the  Church  in  this  country,  and  the  publication  of  articles 
making  known  important  events  in  our  history. 

Resolved,  That  we  congratulate  the  young  ladies  of  many  sections  of  the  country 
upon  the  successful  establishment  of  reading  circles,  and  that  we  encourage  female 
societies  to  aid  us  in  oar  laudable  object  of  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  social  advance- 
ment. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  95 


FIFTH  DAY. 

The  fifth  day  of  the  Columbian  Congress  was  chiefly  devoted  to  the  great 
question  of  education,  and  was  signalized  by  the  delivery  of  a  momentous 
paper  on  "  Catholic  Higher  Education"  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Rector  of  the  Cath- 
olic University  at  Washington.  Following  is 

BISHOP  KEANE'S  ADDRESS. 

For  the  right  understanding  of  the  subject  which  I  have  been  requested  to  treat,  it 
is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  form  a  clear  idea  of  what  is. meant  by  higher  educa- 
tion as  compared  with  elementary  and  secondary  education. 

Elementary  education  is  the  education  of  the  child  up  to  the  age  of  twelve  or  four- 
teen. It  consists  of  a  knowledge  of  "  the  three  R?s,"  which  are  the  first  instruments  of 
all  learning,  and  it  ought  to  impart  through  these  instrumentalities  an  elementary 
acquaintance  with  the  three  great  books  which  lie  ever  open  before  human  eyes — the  book 
of  nature,  the  book  of  man,  and  the  Book  of  God.  Elementary  education  is  ordinarily 
imparted,  all  the  world  over,  in  schools. 

Secondary  education  is  the  education  of  youth,  from  the  age  of  twelve  or  fourteen 
up  to  seventeen  or  nineteen.  It  consists  in  acquiring  the  use  of  other  instrumentalities 
of  learning,  namely,  languages  ancient  and  modern,  and  of  arriving  through  these  at  a 
more  thorough  acquaintance  with  nature  or  science,  with  the  thoughts  and  achieve- 
ments of  men  in  literature  and  history,  and  with  divine  things  in  themselves  and  in 
their  influence  on  the  life  of  mankind.  In  different  countries  different  names  are  given 
to  the  institutions  in  which  secondary  education  is  imparted.  In  Germany  they  are 
called  gymnasia;  in  Prance,  lycees;  in  England  and  America,  high  schools  or  colleges. 

Higher  education  is  the  education  of  man,  of  one  who  has  passed  through  the  ele- 
mentary and  the  secondary,  and  who  presses  on  in  the  paths  of  learning,  usually  from 
the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  up  to  twenty-four  or  twenty-five.  And  here  let  me 
remark,  once  for  all,  that  in  speaking  of  the  education  of  man,  I  have  no  intention  of 
excluding  women.  On  the  contrary,  I  firmly  believe  in  giving  her  every  educational 
advantage  which  she  desires  and  which  she  finds  profitable  to  her.  Waiving  for  the 
present  as  not  now  concerning  us,  the  practical  question  this  involves,  I  wish  it  under- 
stood that  I  use  the  word  man  in  the  generic  sense,  concerning  both  sexes  as  far  as  the 
subject  concerns  them  both. 

The  youth  leaving  college  at  eighteen  must  know  that  he  is  not  a  learned  man.  If 
he  thinks  he  is,  then  he  had  better  close  his  books,  for  further  study  will  be  apt  to  do 
him  but  little  good.  But  if  he  has  in  him  the  stuff  to  make  a  learned  man,  then  he 
knows  that  he  has  only  seen  what  learning  is  and  the  way  to  it. 

He  knows  that  he  can  not  hope  to  obtain  it  in  the  busy  struggle  of  life  ;  he  craves 
more  time  for  deeper  and  wider  and  more  philosophical  study,  study  that  he  will  carry 
on  with  the  seriousness  of  a  man,  of  a  disciplined  mind.  His  aim  may  be  a  learned  pro- 
fession, law  or  medicine,  giving  position  and  emolument.  It  may  be  to  master  the  great 
social,  political,  and  economic  problems,  and  thus  become  not  only  au  intelligent  citizen, 
but  a  leader  of  public  thought,  a  moving  and  guiding  power  in  the  life  of  the  com- 
munity. Or  his  fitness  or  taste  may  run  in  the  direction  of  the  natural  sciences,  and 
then  his  aim  will  be  to  acquire  that  profound  acquaintance  with  some  one  of  them  or 
some  group  of  them,  which  may  not  only  give  him  skill  but  scholarly  eminence  in  some 
of  the  various  lines  of  engineering  or  applied  science ;  or  fit  him  to  be  one  of  those 
scientific  investigators  who  benefit  mankind,  and  perhaps  earn  fame,  by  extending  the 
boundaries  of  human  knowledge.  Or  he  may  have  chosen  literature  for  the  field  of  his 
life-work,  and  he  longs  for  time  and  opportunity  to  acquire  that  acquaintance  with  the 
best  thoughts  of  the  best  writers  ;  that  thorough  mastery  of  the  special  line  of  subjects 
on  which  he  would  wish  to  write ;  that  wide  knowledge  of  the  facts  of  nature  and  his- 
tory from  which  he  is  to  draw  themes  and  illustrations  ;  that  correctness  and  dignity 
and  beauty  of  style — in  a  word,  to  acquire  such  share  as  he  is  capable  of  in  that  combi- 
nation of  qualities  which  make  the  great  writer.  Or  God  may  have  put  into  his  soul  the 
noble  ambition  to  perfect  himself  in  one  or  another  line  of  sacred  studies,  or  more 
thoroughly  grasp  their  entirety,  in  order  to  do  nobler  work  for  religion  and  for  the 
highest  welfare  of  mankind  than  the  training  of  the  ordinary  theological  seminary 
would  suffice  to  fit  him  for. 

In  whichever  of  all  these  various  directions  the  cravings  of  his  soul  may  turn,  the 
object  of  his  desires  is  what  we  call  the  higher  education,  and  the  places  in  which  it  is 
to  be  found  is  all  the  world  over  called  the  university. 


96  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Owing  to  the  present  tendency  to  specialization,  many  institutions  maybe  found 
which  are  special  schools  or  institutes  aiming  at  the  exclusive  development  of  one  or 
another  of  these  lines  of  higher  study.  But  these  special  schools  are  really  departments 
of  the  university  that  have  gone  off  to  themselves,  and  the  notion  of  a  complete  uni- 
\\  rsity,  it  is  now  generally  recognized,  includes  them  all. 

In  the  next  place,  we  must  consider  the  relative  importance  of  these  various 
degrees  of  education. 

Multitudes  receive  only  the  elementary.  Probably  it  will  always  be  so  with  the 
bulk  of  the  sons  of  toil.  To  supply  it  to  them  all  and  of  as  excellent  a  quality  as  possible 
is  one  of  the  most  imperative  duties  of  civilization. 

Secondary  education  is  reached  by  that  more  fortunate  portion  of  the  community 
who  are  ordinarily  styled  the  "middle  classes."  Such  classes  will  naturally  be  formed 
wherever  industrial  freedom  exists,  wherever  energy  and  ability  have  a  chance  to  rise. 
It  is  manifestly  necessary  that  they  should  advance  in  culture,  as  they  rise  in  the  social 
respectability  which  their  improved  condition  entails.  Thus  high  schools  and  colleges 
become  a  necessity  of  every  civilized  community,  and  the  increase  in  the  number  of  their 
students  may  be  considered  a  good  criterion  of  the  community's  advance  in  civilization 
and  the  increase  of  popular  prosperity. 

But  God  has  put  intc  the  hearts  of  his  creatures  an  instinctive  craving,  not  only 
for  the  good  and  the  better,  but  also  and  especially  for  the  best.  Knowledge  acquired 
makes  the  mind  hunger  for  the  greater  abundance  of  knowledge  which  it  sees  beyond 
it,  and  by  following  the  craving  the  soul  develops  its  noblest  faculty  and  grows  in  the 
dignity  and  beauty  of  its  being.  God  wills  it  so.  And  knowledge  is  a  mighty  power, 
not  only  for  one's  own  improvement,  but  also  for  the  utility  of  our  fellow-men.  This  is 
another  reason  for  the  providential  instinct  which  impels  the  mind  toward  its  fullest 
improvement. 

Hence,  with  the  development  of  civilization  has  ever  advanced  the  development  of 
the  educational  system.  The  truest  pride  of  a  civilized  nation  is  in  the  universal  spread 
of  its  schools,  in  the  multiplication  of  its  colleges;  but  its  chief  glory  is  in  the  number 
and  excellence  of  its  universities. 

Since  the  Son  of  God  sent  forth  his  Church  to  be  the  light  of  the  world,  she  has  ever 
been  the  foremost  promoter  of  education  in  all  its  degrees.  She  knows  well  that  her 
divine  mission  can  never  be  furthered  by  darkness,  by  ignorance  or  stupidity,  for  "  God 
is  the  light,  and  there  is  no  darkness  in  Him."  She  has  ever  blessed  and  guided  minds 
emerging  into  the  first  beginnings  of  knowledge;  she  has  fostered  the  sacred  thirst  for 
knowledge  as  it  grew,  and  has  everywhere  encouraged  and  directed  the  establishment 
of  the  colleges  which  fanned  the  sacred  flame  and  led  onward  into  the  light;  she  has, 
with  special  affection  and  care,  encouraged  and  spurred  on  those  minds  of  noblest 
calibre,  that  longed  for  the  deepest  draughts  of  the  waters  of  truth,  and  in  nothing 
does  she  more  fondly  glory  than  in  being  the  mother  of  nearly  all  the  great  universities 
of  the  world.  She  knows  that  it  is  God  who  has  implanted  in  man  that  craving  for  the 
fullest  truth,  and,  in  her  perfect  loyalty  to  both  God  and  to  humanity,  she  fosters  the 
craving  and  does  all  in  her  power  to  satisfy  it.  She  knows  it  is  "the  Father  of  Lights, 
from  whom  every  good  and  perfect  gift  cometh,"  who  has  given  to  superior  knowledge 
its  present  influence  among  mankind,  and  for  the  world's  good  she  desires  to  see  that 
influence  brought  to  the  utmost  perfection,  and  used  by  good  men  through  noblest 
motives  for  the  best  ends.  This  is  the  reason  of  the  part  she  has  taken  in  education, 
and  especially  in  its  highest,  noblest,  and  most  influential  department. 

In  our  age,  more  than  in  any  that  has  prececed  it,  and  in  our  country,  more  than 
in  any  other  country  in  the  world,  reasons  of  special  importance  urge  both  on  the 
Church  and  on  civilization  the  necessity  of  encouraging  and  diffusing  the  advantages 
of  the  higher  education,  and  of  making  it  as  complete  and  as  sound  as  possible. 

Human  society  is  passing  through  the  agonies  of  a  very  deep  and  wide  recon- 
struction. Social  conditions  are  being  leveled  upward.  Privileged  classes  are  passing 
away,  and  lingering  vestiges  of  caste,  of  feudal  arrogance,  of  autocratic  Czesarism, 
evoke  only  protest  and  indignation.  Natural  inequalities  have  to  be  accepted,  but 
artificial  inequalities  are  dams  and  dikes  which  will  not  long  withstand  the  flood-tide. 
In  this  condition  of  things,  the  existence  of  which  no  man  can  question,  there  are 
grave  dangers  to  be  guarded  against;  but  there  are  also  weighty  principles  of  right 
which  have  to  be  respected  and,  above  all,  there  is  a  world-transformation  which  it 
is  the  duty  of  prudence  to  foresee  and  to  provide  for. 

Now,  how  are  these  tendencies  to  be  wisely  directed?  How  is  the  future  to  be 
wisely  molded?  In  one  word,  the  procese  of  leveling  up  must  be  encouraged  and 
helped.  Loyalty  to  humanity  demands  it;  loyalty  to  the  Creator  of  humanity,  to  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  97 

blessed  Father  of  us  all,  demands  it;  it  can  be  discountenanced  and  resisted  only 
through  loyalty  to  traditions  of  men  which  too  often  make  void  the  will  of  God. 

And  how  is  that  leveling  up  to  be  safely  accomplished?  Tnrough  education;  by 
making  elementary  education  more  and  more  universal  and  steadily  elevating  its  level; 
by  lifting  larger  and  larger  numbers  from  elementary  into  secondary  education,  till  the 
multitudes  in  the  schools  be  rivaled  by  the  multitudes  in  the  colleges;  and  in  a  special 
manner,  by  bringing  the  advantages  of  the  very  highest  education  within  the  reach  of 
every  child  of  the  masses  to  whom  God  has  given  the  highest  qualities  of  brain.  The 
day  is  past  when  it  could  be  pretended  that  the  finest  quality  of  brain  could  be  found 
only  in  the  privileged  classes.  Intellectual  power  is  a  gift  which  God  dispenses  as  He 
will,  and  wherever  God  has  given  it  He  has  given  with  it  a  right  to  its  full  development. 
And  the  day  is  past — nay,  the  day  never  has  been— when  privilege  and  conventionality 
of  any  kind  could  look  down  on  intellectual  pre-eminence.  Therein  lies  the  highest 
respectability,  the  loftiest  influence,  a  dignity  before  which  artificialties  of  position  must 
bow,  a  power  which  even  the  might  of  wealth  can  not  lastingly  withstand.  Place  these 
advantages  bounteously  within  the  reach  of  everyone  whom  God's  providence  has  made 
fit  for  them;  bring  them  especially  within  reach  of  the  gifted  poor;  let  it  be  distinctly 
understood  that  poverty  shall  debar  no  man  from  the  intellectual  pre-eminence  for 
which  God  has  fitted  him;  let  the  offspring  of  the  sons  of  toil  mount  to  that  degree  of 
learning,  and  consequent  respectability  and  influence,  to  which  their  Creator  by  theii 
endowments  calls  them  — thus,  better  than  by  any  or  all  other  means,  shall  the  social 
problem  of  the  future  be  solved.  Thus  shall  complaints  of  injustice  and  chafing  against 
inequalities  be  stilled.  Thus  shall  human  society  be  leveled  up,  as  far  as  God  and  nature 
mean  that  this  should  be  done.  Thus  shall  the  wrongs  of  humanity  be  righted  and  its 
rights  secured— not  by  violence,  which  only  entails  reaction  and  worse  disaster,  but  by 
the  gentle,  irresistible  force  of  the  true  and  the  just,  acting  together  in  God's  ways  for 
the  real  and  lasting  elevation  of  His  creatures. 

In  the  reconstruction  of  the  world,  Divine  Providence  has  given  a  mission  of  special 
influence  in  America.  She  is  giving  the  keynote  of  the  world's  future;  and  God  has 
meant  her  to  do  so.  In  America,  therefore,  above  all,  must  that  universal  abundance 
and  excellence  of  elementary  education,  and  that  universal  freedom  and  facility  of  the 
highest  education,  prevail. 

But  here  we  are  faced  by  a  thought  of  tremendous  importance.  Intellectual  power, 
like  any  other  power,  may  be  used  for  purposes  of  evil  as  well  as  purposes  of  good, 
may  be  a  curse  or  a  blessing  to  its  possessor  and  to  those  who  come  within  its  influence. 
It  may  do  the  work  of  the  Father  of  Light,  leading  to  light  and  peace  and  welfare, 
temporal  and  eternal;  or  it  may  do  the  work  of  Lucifer,  who  ever,  as  in  Eden,  offers 
what  he  claims  to  be  a  higher  knowledge,  ending  in  darkness  and  disaster. 

Hence  the  natural  relationship  of  the  Church  of  God  to  education.  Hence  espe- 
cially her  relation  to  the  higher  education,  since  it  is  this  which  forms  the  men  of  intel- 
lectual power  and  influence,  who  shape  the  thought  and  action  of  their  generation  and 
lead  the  millions  through  true  principles  or  false  ones  in  the  ways  of  wisdom  or  of  folly 
and  evil.  Having  in  her  custody  both  the  philosophy  cf  human  experience  in  all  ages, 
and  the  far  higher  philosophy  of  divine  revelation,  being  the  divinely  established  power 
for  the  world's  moral  and  spiritual  improvement,  hers  is  naturally  the  influence  which 
perfects  education,  which  breathes  a  living  soul  into  it,  which  insures  its  tending  toward 
heaven's  appointed  ends,  and  its  being  used  for  the  temporal  and  eternal  welfare  of  man- 
kind. That  is  why  Providence  made  her  the  civihzer  of  the  barbarians  and  the  educa- 
tor of  the  modern  world;  that  is  why  her  influence  never  can  be  spared  from  education 
and  why  its  absence  is  always  a  grave  danger  to  human  society. 

Therefore  does  she  stand  amid  the  surging  mass  of  mankind  blessing  its  upward 
aspirations,  smiling  maternal  approval  on  the  "  excelsior"  which  ever  sounds  forth  from 
its  heart.  Again  and  again  of  late  we  have  heard  that  word  of  benediction  on  the 
aspirations  of  humanity  from  the  lips  of  Leo  XIII.,  and  the  world  has  rejoiced  at  the 
sound. 

Therefore  does  she  exult  at  the  mighty  energies  which  God  has  put  into  our  young 
America,  and  with  uplifted  hands  pray  that  these  energies  may  ever  be  used  for  the 
world's  good.  Therefore  does  she  bend  all  her  powers  to  bestow  on  this  favored  land 
the  fullest  blessings  of  Christian  education.  Therefore  does  she  long  to  see  the  multi- 
plication of  schools  in  which  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Christ  shall  be  the  soul  of 
the  education  there  imparted.  Therefore  does  she  strive  in  like  manner  to  multiply 
Christian  colleges  and  to  spur  her  people  to  the  noble  ambition  of  making  their  advance 
in  educational  advantages  keep  pace  with  their  advance  in  earthly  means  and  in  social 
position.  Therefore  has  she,  for  over  thirty  years,  as  the  proceedings  of  her  councils 


9s 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


show,  longed  to  crown  the  system  of  Christian  education  with  a  university  that  would 
be  worthy  of  her,  worthy  of  our  age,  worthy  of  America.  From  the  Fathers  of  the  Sec- 
ond Plenary  Council  in  1866  that  wish  burst  forth  as  a  longing  and  a  prayer,  for  the 
realization  of  which  the  condition  of  the  Catholic  flock  was  not  yet  ready.  From  the 
Fathers  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  in  1884  it  thundered  forth  as  a  resolution  no  longer 
to  be  delayed,  and  at  last,  blessed  and  spurred  on  by  the  approval  and  exhortations  of 
Leo  XIII.,  the  hierarchy  of  the  United  States  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Catholic 
University  of  America. 

A  woman  was  the  instrument  of  Providence  to  supply  the  means  for  the  beginning 
of  the  great  work.  May  her  name  stand  forever  in  honor  among  the  women  of  America. 
Other  women,  and  some  men,  too,  emulate  the  noble  example.  From  among  the  clergy 
and  the  people  of  the  country  hundreds— whose  names  shall  ever  form  a  roll  of  honor  in 
our  country  and  history — responded  to  the  appeal  of  the  hierarchy,  and  to  the  soul- 
stirring  exhortation  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  that  all  should  rally  with  united  devotedness 
to  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  work.  National  associations  and  unions  have  rec- 
ognized in  it  an  object  worthy  of  their  united  endeavor,  the  worthiest  means  of  rendering 
monumental  honor  to  great  names  which  they  wished  to  immortalize. 

Here  let  me  especially  pay  a  tribute  of  grateful  acknowledgement  to  the  Catholic 
Total  Abstinence  Union  of  America  for  having,  by  the  endowment— though  not  yet 
complete — of  a  professorial  chair  in  the  university,  erected  the  worthiest  of  centennial 
monuments  to  the  apostle  of  temperance.  I  regret  that  the  endowment  was  received 
after  our  official  announcements  for  the  next  scholastic  year  had  already  been  printed, 
and  that  the  Union  does  not,  therefore,  appear  in  the  list  of  the  founders  of  chairs.  But 
I  am  happy  to  make  this  public  announcement  of  their  noble  deed,  which  shall  forever 
stand  inscribed  in  the  university's  official  documents,  as  well  as  in  the  imperishable  tab- 
lets on  her  walls. 

And  so  the  beginning  of  the  great  work  has  been  made.  It  is  as  yet  only  a  begin- 
ning, but  yet  such  a  beginning  as  to  have  already  outstripped  any  previously  existing 
work  of  Catholic  education  in  the  land  and  to  give  noble  presage  and  encouragement 
for  a  great  future.  One  faculty  is  already  established  and  endowed  in  perpetuity, 
secure,  as  far  as  human  things  can  be  secure,  against  all  possibilities  of  financial  embar- 
rassment—  and  that  one  the  noblest  of  all  the  faculties,  the  faculty  of  divinity,  •which 
places  God  and  Christ  in  the  center  of  the  whole  work  as  its  inspiration  and  guide  for- 
ever, and  which,  for  four  years  past,  has  already  been  bestowing  on  the  clergy  of  America 
the  first-fruits  of  the  intellectual  blessings  so  ardently  sighed  for  by  our  predecessors  in 
the  Lord's  vineyard. 

Now,  responsive  to  the  repeated  exhortations  of  our  glorious  founder,  Leo  XIII.,  all 
efforts  are  being  made  to  establish  and  endow7  another  great  faculty,  the  faculty  of 
philosophy,  science,  and  letters,  wrhich  will  throw  open  to  the  laity  the  beginning  of  those 
educational  advantages  which  are  meant,  in  God's  good  time,  to  rival  the  best  which 
advancing  civilization  and  the  Church  of  God  have  offered  to  eager  intellects  in  the 
grand  seats  of  learning  in  the  Old  World.  How  soon  that  opening  will  be  made —  how 
ample  will  be  the  learned  training  and  opportunities  which  from  the  beginning  it  will  be 
able  to  offer;  how  rapidly  its  development  shall  goon;  how  soon  there  shall  bud  forth 
from  it  the  faculties  of  law  and  medicine;  how  soon  the  university  shall  sttind  before 
the  eyes  of  America  and  of  the  world,  in  the  full  proportions  which  Leo  XIII.  craves  to 
have  it  attain  —  all  this  depends  on  the  good  will  of  the  Catholics  of  America,  on  their 
appreciation  of  the  supreme  importance  of  the  work,  and  of  that  national  character 
impressed  on  it  by  the  Holy  Father,  which  he  meant  should  bring  it  home  to  the  sym- 
pathies and  to  the  honest  pride  of  every  Catholic  in  the  land. 

It  takes  time  for  every  great  idea  to  reach  its  full  appreciation  and  welcome,  and 
we  are  willing  to  be  patient.  Nay,  more;  every  great  idea  must  expect  to  be  disputed 
and  contradicted,  and  we  are  quite  willing  to  take  our  share  in  the  crucible.  There  are 
naturally  those  who,  when  the  project  was  first  proposed,  believed  it  inopportune ;  who, 
when  its  plan  was  determined  by  competent  authority,  believe  it  mistaken;  who,  when 
the  attempt  was  made,  considered  it  doomed  to  failure,  and  who,  naturally,  would  be 
somewhat  glad  to  wag  their  heads  and  say,  "  I  told  you  so."  Some  people  are  proof  even 
against  Papal  pronouncements,  and  invulnerable  against  the  logic  of  accomplished 
facts.  Their  imagination,  having  made  up  its  mind  to  the  worst,  can  see  chimeras  dire 
peeping  over  the  walls  of  the  new  institution,  threatening  the  destruction  of  all  ortho- 
doxy in  the  land.  The  Pope  and  his  delegate  say  the  contrary.  "  But  that  makes  no 
difference,  you  know;  you  see  we  know  better."  Nay,  they  even  discover  that  it  is  an 
ogre  plotting  the  overthrow  of  the  Catholic  school  system  in  our  country.  True,  it  is 
an  integral  part  of  the  system  of  Catholic  education,  and  it  is  rather  an  unheard-of 


BISHOP  FOLEY. 

DETROIT. 

BISHOP  HEALY. 

PORTLAND. 

BISHOP  SCANNELL 

OMAHA. 


BISHOPJRADAMACHER. 

FT.  WAYNE. 

BISHOP  KEANE, 

WASHINGTON. 


BISHOP  BURKE, 

ST.  JOSEPH. 

BISHOP;  MCGOLKICK, 

DULUTH. 

BISHOP  MESSMKR. 

GREEN    HAY. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  99 

thing  for  the  superstructure  of  a  house  to  plot  against  its  own  foundations;  true,  the 
utterances  of  its  rector  have  always,  as  is  well  known,  been  strongly  in  advocacy  of 
Catholic  education  in  all  its  departments.  "  But,  nevertheless,"  say  these  wiseacres, 
"  we  know  it  is  so  and  the  university  is  laboring  to  destroy  our  schools." 

Well,  we  are  willing  to  have  patience  with  all  this  silly  misrepresentation,  sorry  for 
those  who  disseminate  or  believe  it,  and  regarding  the  hindrance  which  it  may  throw  in 
the  way  of  the  work  as  only  a  ripple  at  its  prow.  The  work  of  the  hierarchy  of  the 
United  States  and  of  Leo  XIII.  can  afford  to  be  magnanimous  with  such  obstacles,  and 
to  press  on. 

Only  a  few  weeks  ago  the  glorious  Pontiff,  in  long  private  audience,  most  lovingly 
granted  to  one  of  the  professors  of  the  university,  discoursed  with  him  at  great  length 
on  the  progress  thus  far  made  by  the  university,  and  on  the  difficulties  and  hindrances 
which  it  had  to  encounter.  Then  the  Holy  Father  reminded  the  professor  how  he, 
when  Nuncio,  in  Belgium,  had  seen  the  early  struggles  and  difficulties  of  the  University 
of  Louvain;  how  he  had  sympathized  with  the  university  and  aided  it  in  its  struggles, 
and  how  he  had  lived  to  see  it  the  glory  of  Catholic  Belgium,  with  2,000  eager  studen.s 
crowding  its  academic  halls.  "Such,"  said  the  Holy  Father,  "has  been,  and  shall  be 
my  course  in  regard  to  the  Catholic  University  of  America.  It  is  my  work;  I  am  its 
founder;  I  shall  be  its  protector;  and  it,  too,  must  yet  see  the  day  when  its  students 
shall  be  numbered  by  the  thousand."  Such  words  from  the  heart  and  lips  of  the  Vicar 
of  Christ  are  for  us  answer  enough  to  all  objections,  and  assurance  enough  against  all 
prognostications  of  evil.  They  and  the  apostolic  benediction  that  went  with  them  will 
sink  into  the  hearts  of  the  Catholics  of  America,  and  bring  forth  the  fruit  so  earnestly 
desired  by  the  Vicar  of  Christ.  Like  the  crusaders  of  old,  they  will  exclaim  together 
"  God  wills  it,"  and  strive  with  an  eagerness  and  a  generosity  worthy  of  the  Church's 
mission  in  America  to  make  this  the  noblest  national  seat  of  Christian  learning  that 
the  world  has  yet  beheld ;  a  great  power  of  higher  education,  exerting  a  beneficent, 
elevating  influence  on  the  whole  system  of  Catholic  education  throughout  the  United 
States;  a  great  beacon-light  of  sweetly  blended  natural  and  supernatural  truth,  shining 
forth  from  our  country's  capital  city,  a  guide  in  the  pathway  of  our  country's  future. 

The  gifted  Brother  Ambrose  of  De  La  Salle  Institute,  Chicago,  next 
read  a  paper  entitled,  "  Lessons  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit,"  refer- 
ring to  the  magnificent  display  of  the  work  of  Catholic  schools,  etc.,  which 
had  formed  a  most  attractive  feature  of  the  great  Columbian  Exposition: 

A    VOICE    FROM    DE    LA    SALLE. 

The  district  school  teacher  and  the  hedge  schoolmaster  have  passed  away.  In  their 
place  we  have  the  educator.  He  is  no  longer,  the  coming  man;  he  is  here.  To-day  his 
work  is  admitted  to  be  the  aristocracy  of  the  labors.  The  world  had  to  be  taught  that 
truth.  Those  old-time  monks  and  shaven  priests  and  long  dead  martyrs  knew  it  well. 
The  Gersons  and  the  Roger  Bacons  and  the  Bedes  and  the  Cassiana  put  their  energies 
into  it.  They  knew  the  school-house  was  a  giant  factor  in  civilization.  They  left  the 
glories  of  the  battlefield  to  their  masters,  but  kept  for  themselves  the  struggles  of  the 
mind.  And  they  won;  won  everlasting  victories.  They  soon  taught  the  world  that  to- 
day there  are  schools  for  everything.  Apprenticeships  as  served  forty  years  ago  fire 
virtually  dead.  Murillos  of  to-day  send  their  Sebastians  to  art  schools.  The  chisel, 
the  brush,  the  rudest  handicraft,  as  well  as  that  which  requires  the  greatest  deftness 
— each  has  its  school.  There  are  schools  of  architecture  and  schools  of  design,  schools 
of  pottery-making  as  well  as  schools  of  medicine,  law  schools  and  schools  of  agriculture, 
schools  of  art  and  schools  of  science. 

Let  not  our  modern  educators  deceive  themselves  in  the  belief  that  these  good 
things  have  come  with  them  and  because  of  them.  The  truth  is,  they  have  happen  d 
along  about  the  time  the  world  caught  the  idea  that  Christianity  has  been  thrusting 
before  its  mental  eye  for  centuries.  "  We  will  dignify  labor,"  cry  the  advocates  of  man- 
ual training.  "  Laborare  est  orare,"  centuries  back,  said  the  old  Benedictine  monk, 
whether  he  illumined  the  page  or  taught  the  feudal  farmer  to  care  for  his  crops.  And 
farther  back  than  he  the  Fathers  in  their  homilies  on  the  text  "  Pray  always,"  made  the 
explanation  that  gave  the  Benedictine  the  idea  he  so  tersely  expressed.  And  still  farther 
back  than  they,  the  warm  wind  that  blew  over  the  sea  of  Tiberias  kissed  the  lips  of  Him 
that  uttered  the  sweet  command  "  Pray  always."  And  so,  all  that  is  good,  and  all  that 
is  true,  and  all  that  is  beautiful  in  modern  civilization  may  be  traced  back  to  the  gentle 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  was  the  inspirer  of  the  old  masters;  He  and  His  mother  and  His 


ioo  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

saints  and  angels  gave  themes  to  the  sculptor's  chisel  and  the  artist's  brush.  If  the 
world  to-day  has  the  literature  of  the  ancients,  it  is  because  there  were  Christian  monks 
who  treasured  it.  If  Europe  to-day  has  a  single  university,  the  name  of  some  Christian 
bishop,  prince,  or  priest  is  written  on  its  foundation  stones.  It  was  the  Christian  monk, 
Alcuin,  who  would  have  made  France  a  Christian  Athens.  If  the  decree  of  the  eternal 
brotherhood  of  man  has  at  last  been  accepted,  the  slave  whose  shackles  have  been 
stricken  off  must  bend  his  knee  in  thanksgiving  to  the  God-man,  Christ.  If  to-day 
woman  is  admitted  into  this  eternal  brotherhood,  if  yesterday  chivalry  raised  her 
on  a  pedestal  and  worshiped  her  with  reverence  untold,  it  is  and  it  was  because  the 
Virgin  Mother  of  Jesus  was  the  peerless  woman  of  prophecy,  the  Immaculate  Virgin, 
Mary. 

Our  silver  dollars  bear  the  legend  "  In  God  we  trust."  We  are  a  Christian  people. 
The  Constitution  of  our  country  is,  in  its  very  essence,  Christian.  Our  standing  army 
has  its  Christian  chaplains.  Our  President  each  year  sets  aside  one  day  on  which  to 
return  thanks  to  the  God  of  the  Christians  for  the  favors  received  at  his  hands.  The 
very  birthday  of  the  founder  of  Christianity  is  a  legal  holiday.  But  in  our  State  schools 
the  tenets  of  Christianity  may  not  be  taught.  The  army  may  have  its  chaplains,  the  nation 
its  days  of  thanksgiving,  the  people  their  churches,  but  the  young  in  their  class  hours  must 
be  without  the  God  whose  name  is  graven  on  the  dollars  with  which  their  teachers  are 
paid.  Oh!  well  might  the  prophet  of  old  take  down  his  harp  from  the  weeping  willow, 
and  tuning  its  strings  to  the  minor  keys  sing  as  once  he  sang  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon: 
"  The  little  ones  have  asked  for  bread,  but  there  are  none  to  break  it  unto  them."  Oh! 
well  indeed  could  he  so  sing  to-day,  if  Christ  had  never  come.  But  Christ  has  come; 
and  the  centuries  that  have  passed  bear  evidence  to  the  quickening  activity  of  His 
philosophy.  That  philosophy  accepted  is  Christian  faith.  And  Christian  Faith  has 
stimulated  private  enterprise  to  sprinkle  the  land  with  schools  in  which  the  tenets  are 
taught. 

Now,  if  the  religion  of  Christ  was  the  force  that  changed  the  savage  to  the  gentle- 
man, that  taught  him  the  arts  of  peace,  that  struck  the  shackles  off  the  slave,  that 
welded  woman  unto  the  brotherhood  of  man,  that  laid  the  foundation  stone  of  the  hy- 
mantled  universities  to  serve  as  beacon  lights  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  that  induced 
men  and  women  to  forego  every  legitimate  pleasure  in  life  that  they  might  "  break  the 
bread  to  the  little  ones,"  that  to-day  urges  the  Catholics  who  can  to  add  their  mite  to 
the  support  of  schools  wherein  the  influence  of  Christian  truth  may  be  made  active,  tell 
us  what  are  these  Christian  schools  doing  for  truth  and  for  light? 

At  creation's  dawn  God  said,  "Let  there  be  light,"  and  light  was.  At  Christianity's 
dawn  the  Church  said:  "  Let  there  be  light."  Go  out  to  the  Catholic  educational  exhibit 
at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  and  there  behold!  "Light  is."  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  worry  you  with  the  recital  of  the  history  of  that  display.  You  have  heard  it.  you 
have  read  it  over  and  over  again.  Those  whose  efforts  shaped  it  need  no  commendation 
from  my  poor  lips.  Their  monument  is  their  deed.  Catholic  education  in  its  minutest 
detail  is  there.  If  you  wish  the  full  force  of  its  grandeur  and  magnificence  to  strike 
you,  examine  the  educational  exhibits  by  which  it  is  surrounded.  When  you  have  done 
you  will  pass  away  with  a  luscious  sense  of  honest  pride  you  never  felt  before.  Then 
go  to  your  homes  in  the  East  and  the  West,  the  North  and  the  South.  That  school-house 
in  the  shadow  of  your  parish  church,  be  it  bright  with  its  newness  or  dingy  with  age.  will 
henceforth  wear  a  lustre  to  your  eye.  You  never  dared  to  dream  that  through  its  hum- 
ble portals  such  evidences  of  success  could  be  sent  forth.  Then  tell  the  people  who, 
with  you,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  heard  the  hard-working  pastor  ding-donging  for  the 
dimes  and  the  dollars  that  built  the  schools  and  put  the  teachers  in  them— tell  them 
what  has  been  done,  because  they  made  the  necessary  sacrifices.  Bring  them  the  good 
news  and  give  them  the  taste  of  the  sweet  peace  of  joy.  They  wrill  bless  you  for  it,  and 
they  will  know  "  How  beautiful  upon  the  mountain  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth 
good  tidings  and  shall  preach  peace." 

Ignorance  is  not  the  evil  of  this  day.  Quantitative  doses  of  religious  instruction 
given  half -hourly  each  day  are  not  the  "  cure  all"  for  the  world's  ills.  The  woods  are 
filled  with  people  who  know  better  than  they  do.  Their  heads  are  right.  The  wrong  is 
with  their  hearts.  To  set  hearts  right  is  the  real  object  of  the  Catholic  school.  Re- 
ligious education,  not  religious  instruction,  is  their  real  support.  To  accomplish  this  is 
the  why  and  the  wherefore  of  religious  teaching  orders  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Fifty- 
two  bodies  of  religious  teaching  orders  have  done  the  actual  work  that  produced  the 
results  displayed  in  the  Catholic  educational  exhibit.  How  many  Catholic  schools 
would  there  be  in  this  wide  land  of  ours  were  it  not  for  these  religious  educators  ? 
They  have  made  the  vast  majority  of  these  schools  a  possibility.  Go  out  to  the  Cathol'c 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  iQt 

educational  exhibit  and  see  if  the  cassock  and  the  cowl  and  the  nun's  dark  veil  throw 
the  shadows  of  gloom  upon  the  minds  of  the  little  ones  and  keep  from  them  the 
light  of  to-day. 

I  hold  as  a  psychological  axiom  that  soul  is  best  fitted  to  raise  others  to  higher 
things  which  is  freest  from  purely  natural  affections.  Witness  Diogenes  when  he  would 
elevate  his  followers.  Witness  Plato,  who  at  twenty  followed  Socrates,  renounced  mar- 
riage, and,  like  his  master,  lived  content  with  the  barest  necessaries,  in  order  to  give 
himself  entirely  to  the  things  of  the  mind.  The  religious  teachers  of  to-day  are  untram- 
meled.  Look  on  this  young  man  or  that  young  woman,  clothed  in  the  religious  habit, 
standing  before  the  students  in  a  Catholic  school-room.  Do  you  for  a  moment  appre- 
ciate all  the  sacrifices  they  have  made  to  be  there?  They  stood  before  God's  altar,  and, 
taking  their  heart  strings  in  their  hands,  they  wrenched  them  from  the  bleeding, 
quivering  heart  that  they  dashed  to  the  floor.  Then,  kneeling  down,  they  swore  away 
their  liberty,  by  oath  renounced  the  right  of  ownership,  and  thus  made  themselves 
more  penniless  than  the  pauper.  Do  you  think  they  did  not  feel  it?  Ay!  they  did  and 
they  do.  But  onward  they  move,  forgetful  of  all  things  save  Christ  and  his  little  ones. 
Thus  do  they  "  rise  on  stepping-stones  of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things."  There  is 
nothing  to  come  between  them  and  the  cause  they  have  wedded.  Ambition?  Wealth? 
The  pleasures  of  life?  Whoever  knew  of  them  between  the  nun's  fair  veil  or  the  sombre 
cassock  of  the  religious?  The  treadmill  of  the  class-room  affords  no  opportunity  for  the 
play  of  such  passions.  The  love  of  home,  of  father,  of  mother,  of  brother  and  sister  — 
oh !  it  burns  in  their  hearts  with  a  steady  flame,  and  the  days  make  it  stronger  and  the 
years  make  it  brighter.  But  the  voice  of  Christ  is  sounding  in  their  hearts  and  they 
may  not  leave  His  side.  Age  comes  with  its  wrinkles,  disease  with  its  pains,  and  still 
they  are  feeding  the  lambs  of  Christ's  flock.  This  is  devotion.  Look  for  it  where  you 
will,  it  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  Tell  me,  is  there  beneath  God's 
blessed  sky  a  grander  thing  than  such  devotion  and  such  sacrifices?  The  world  is  filled 
with  men  and  women  who  are  courting  its  joys  and  sipping  its  cups  of  pleasure.  Any- 
body can  do  that!  But  it  is  only  the  chosen  few  who  can  rise  to  the  grandeur  of  the 
deed  done  by  those  who  have  labored  in  the  class-rooms  from  whence  have  come  tne 
glories  of  the  Catholic  educational  exhibit. 

Priceless  gifts  of  heaven,  you  Catholic  educators,  I  salute  you  !  Bright  jewels  in 
the  crown  of  Holy  Church,  I  hail  you  !  Your  sombre  robes,  your  simple  homes,  your 
sweet,  retiring  ways  can  never  dim  the  lustre  of  your  deeds.  Jewels  of  Mother  Church 
on  earth,  yours  shall  it  be  to  shine  as  stars  in  heaven  for  all  eternity. 

H.  L.  Spannhorst  of  St.  Louis,  in  a  paper  upon  "Catholic  Societies,"  gave 
valuable  suggestions  to  the  Congress,  as  follows,  upon  the  subject  of 

CATHOLIC    ORGANIZATION. 

I  shall  speak  of  such  societies  which  were  meant  by  the  pastoral  letter  of  the  arch- 
bishops and  bishops  assembled  at  Baltimore  in  1884,  when  they  said:  "It  is  not  enough 
for  Catholics  to  shun  bad  or  dangerous  societies;  they  ought  to  take  part  in  good  and 
useful  ones."  Again  has  the  voice  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ  been  heard,  giving  approval 
and  encouragement  to  many  kinds  of  Catholic  associations,  not  only  as  a  safeguard 
against  the  elements  of  secret  societies  but  also  as  a  powerful  means  of  accomplishing 
much  of  the  good  that  our  times  stand  in  need  of.  Not  only  should  the  pastors  of  the 
Church  be  diligent  in  building  up  "  the  spiritual  house,"  the  tabernacle  of  God  with 
men,  "  but  every  hand  among  the  people  of  God  should  share  in  the  labor." 

We  find  sufficient  ground  for  the  encouragement  of  organizations  and  the  susten- 
ance of  Catholic  societies.  We  find,  furthermore,  that  which  is  mentioned  as  desired 
has  become  a  necessity  in  our  time,  and,  I  may  say,  more  so  than  at  the  time  since  the 
mentioned  pastoral  was  issued.  It  is  not  simply  the  name  which  constitutes  a  society 
Catholic,  but  it  is  the  effect  the  organization  creates  and  sustains  upon  its  members  in 
the  practice  of  their  religion  in  every  day's  life. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  the  church  in  which  all  are  alike;  station  or  position  with  it 
in  a  spiritual  sense  cuts  no  figure;  the  Confessional  and  Holy  Sacraments  are  for  all,  and 
approachable  by  all  through  the  same  source  and  channel.  The  Church  has  time  and 
again  told  us  to  organize  Catholic  societies— or  rather  Catholics  into  societies.  Look  at 
the  roll  of  your  societies  of  Catholic  men.  Who  are  they?  Generally  men  of  small  means 
and  humble  stations;  many  of  them  look  upon  the  societies  of  which  they  have  become 
members  as  their  protectors  and  supporters  in  time  of  reverses,  sickness,  and  need. 
Why  then  not  join  in  and  become  members  of  a  society  with  an  object  BO  noble,  a  work 
of  two-fold  charity? 


102 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


To  help  support  your  brother  when  in  need,  and  also  to  give  proof  of  your  love  and 
affection  toward  him,  who  is  your  equal  before  God,  is  a  duty  for  every  person.  Cath- 
olic societies  are  the  need  of  our  time.  Under  the  circumstances  surrounding  us,  it  is 
to  be  feared  that  not  a  few  of  our  own  people,  who  are  not  too  practical  in  their  duties, 
may  for  various  considerations  be  entrapped,  and  finally,  through  indifference  and  con- 
stant association,  led  astray,  either  through  ignorance  or  indifference  lose  their  faith 
and  become  enemies  of  their  mother  Church;  we  must,  through  our  own  activity,  stop 
this  and  regain  what  has  been  already  lost. 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  many  of  our  Catholic  men  look  upon  societies  with 
indifference  as  being  a  matter  to  be  left  entirely  to  those  who  may  need  at  some  time, 
through  adversities,  sickness,  or  other  ailings,  assistance  and  help,  they  believing  them- 
selves so  well  fixed,  not  expecting  want  of  any  kind  or  help,  thus  forgetting  their  duty 
toward  their  fellowman,  commanded  by  our  Saviour  when  He  said:  "  Do  unto  others  as 
you  would  have  them  do  unto  you." 

When  I  speak  of  the  societies 
which,  in  my  judgment,  are  best 
adapted  to  accomplish  the  most  good 
in  our  time,  I  mean  and  recommend 
so-called  benevolent  societies,  which 
years  ago  were  so  very  popular.  If 
to-day  they  are  not  as  popular  as  fif- 
teen and  twenty  years  ago,  there 
must  be  a  reason  for  this,  which  I 
find  in  the  fact  that  men  of  Catholic 
societies  are  gradually  falling  into 
classes,  i.  e.,  those  who  have  been 
successful  in  acquiring  a  better  con- 
dition of  life  during  their  days,  have 
by  toil  or  some  successful  stroke, 
operation,  or  speculation — the  latter 
the  most  ruinous  of  all  operations 
of  our  day,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
pretty  widespread — housed  their 
share  of  worldly  rewards,  this  class 
actually  believing  themselves  better 
than  the  poorer  and  laborer.  The 
latter,  who  in  many  cases  is  a  better 
Christian,  has  remained  practical, 
and  brings  up  his  family  in  the  faith 
and  in  the  practice  of  religion. 

There  was  a  time  when  benevolent 
societies,  i.  e.,  societies  which,  gener 
ally  mostly  by  monthly  contributions 
by  its  members,  paid  to  a  member  or 
his  family  a  certain  sum  weekly  dur- 
ing his  inability  to  follow  his  daily 
vocation,  or  in  case  of  death  provided 
for  the  widow  or  orphan  left  behind. 
To  the  credit  of  the  German  Catho- 
lics, it  must  be  said  that  this  class  of 

societies  is  to-day  in  its  prime.  There  are  about  550  societies,  numbering  between  55.000 
and  60,000  Catholic  men  throughout  the  United  States.  This  organization,  known  as 
the  "  German  Roman  Catholic  Central  Verein,"  will  hold  its  thirty-eighth  annual 
convention  in  St.  Louis,  commencing  September  17th.  None  of  these  societies  is 
yet  fifty  years  old. 

These  societies  have  contributed  to  sufferers  by  calamities,  fires,  etc ,  including 
$3,142.98  for  the  Peter's  pence,  $28,682.35.  During  the  last  twelve  years  they  have  paid 
to  57,624  sick  calls  $1,348,290.19;  to  widows  and  orphans  of  deceased  members  81,323,- 
538.73. 

The  Bohemians  and  Poles  work  in  entire  harmony  and  successfully.  The  Irish 
Catholic  Benevolent  Union,  too,  is  an  organization  working  in  the  same  direction. 
Within  the  last  twenty  years  numerous  organizations  have  been  formed  which  make  a 
specialty  of  what  is  termed  life  insurance  upon  principles  different  from  tha1:  followed 
by  the  substantial  and  tried  life  insurance  proper. 


MOST    REV.    ARCHBISHOP    KEXRICK. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  103 

As  a  result  of  the  withdrawal  from  some  Southern  States  of  the  regular  life- 
insurance  companies,  people  were  left  without  life  insurance  or  chances  to  get  any. 
Plans  were  adopted  which  have  since  become  popular— one  by  assessment,  the  other  by 
the  contributing  plan.  By  the  first,  assessments  are  made  on  every  living  member, 
generally  according  to  their  ages,  to  pay  for  the  death  losses  occurring,  limiting  the 
amount  of  benefit  from  $1,000  to  82,000.  The  other  plan  is,  each  living  member  con- 
tributes for  each  death  occurring  a  stipulated  sum,  thus  creating  a  fund  out  of  which 
deaths  occurring  are  paid. 

Upon  those  who  are  interested  in  the  management  of  such  institutions,  and  those 
who  organize  them,  there  rests  a  great  responsibility.  Two  items  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten, that,  like  in  regular  life  insurance,  the  largest  number  of  laboring  and  middle 
classes  would  not  seek  and  acquire  life  insurance,  unless  urged  thereto;  and  that,  sec- 
ondly, but  a  small  per  centum  acquire  the  age  allotted  them  by  the  experience  tables  of 
life  insurance,  and  where  there  is  no  reserve  fund  there  is  no  surety. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  say  that  I  deem  benevolent  societies,  to  which  I  have  referred, 
of  great  benefit  for  any  parish;  not  only  because  of  the  immediate  contribution,  but  also 
because  a  united  body  of  men,  organized  into  a  society  by  the  advice  and  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  pastor  in  a  congregation,  can  always  be  made  a  telling  instrument  for  good. 

Dr.  Maurice  Francis  Egan,  of  Notre  Dame  University,  Indiana,  pre- 
sented a  very  instructive  paper  on  "  The  Needs  of  Catholic  Colleges,"  which 
is  given  in  substance  as  follows: 

The  object  of  the  writer  of  this  paper  is  not  to  find  fault  with  existing  institutions, 
or  the  management  of  them,  but  to  accentuate  .the  fact — sufficiently  well  known  but 
jot  enough  considered — that  a  crisis  has  come  in  higher  Catholic  American  education, 
and  that  if  it  remain  stationary  now  it  must  eventually  go  backwards.  The  primary 
object  of  this  paper,  then,  is  to  point  out  means  by  which  a  forward  movement  may  be 
carried  out. 

Catholic  colleges  have  suffered  both  from  ignorant  fault-finders  and  equally 
ignorant  or  narrow-minded  supporters.  More  than  all,  from  that  almost  slavish  adher- 
ence to  tradition  which  goes  by  the  name  of  conservatism.  However  satisfactory  this 
state  of  affairs  may  be  to  those  who  do  not  actually  suffer  from  it,  we  can  not  believe 
that  it  is  satisfactory  to  those  who  are  not  content  to  remain  within  the  Chinese  walls 
which  such  conservatism  would  build  around  them.  However  we  may  strive  to  excuse 
ourselves  for  our  isolation  with  the  saying  that  the  outside  world  is  bad,  we  can  not 
prevent  our  children  from  taking  their  part  as  men  in  it,  nor  can  we  afford  to  neglect 
due  preparation  for  their  struggle  in  this  world.  I  can  best  justify  this  paper  by 
quotation  from  Cardinal  Newman's  "  Idea  of  a  University,''  which  I  shall  take  as  my 
text.  On  page  15  of  his  preface,  he  says: 

"  Our  ecclesiastical  rulers  view  it  as  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  religion  that 
there  should  be  any  cultivation  of  mind  bestowed  upon  Protestants  which  is  not  given 
to  their  own  youths  also.  Protestant  youths,  who  can  spare  the  time,  continue  their 
studies  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  or  twenty-two.  *  *  *  I  conceive  that  our  prelates 
are  impressed  with  the  fact  and  its  consequences  that  a  youth  who  ends  his  education 
at  seventeen  is  no  match  for  one  who  ends  it  at  twenty-two. 

"  All  classes  indeed  of  the  community  are  impressed  with  a  fact  so  obvious  as  this. 
The  consequence  is,  that  Catholics  who  aspire  to  be  on  a  level  with  Protestants  in  dis- 
cipline and  refinement  of  intellect  have  recourse  to  Protestant  universities  to  obtain 
what  they  can  not  find  at  home.  Assuming  (as  rescripts  from  propaganda  allow  me  to 
do)  that  Protestant  education  is  inexpedient  for  our  youth,  we  see  here  an  additional 
reason  why  those  advantages,  whatever  they  are,  which  Protestant  communities  dispense 
through  the  medium  of  Protestantism  should  be  accessible  to  Catholics  in  a  Catholic 
form." 

The  need  of  a  Catholic  university  and  of  the  most  adequate  colleges  is  as  great  in 
this  country  as  it  ever  was  in  England.  We  have  much  to  learn  from  the  example  of 
the  English  in  higher  educational  matters;  but  the  lessons  we  gain  from  them  are  in 
the  nature  of  warnings.  We  Catholics  in  the  United  States  are  not  so  isolated  from 
our  non-Catholic  neighbors  as  the  Catholic  English  are.  We  know  that  some  of  their 
greatest  minds  have  regretted  this  isolation,  and  we  know,  too,  that  the  same  spirit  of 
conservatism  which  would  make  them  content  with  an  inferiority  of  instruction  and 
education  in  this  world,  under  a  false  impression  that  they  may  be  helped  by  it  to  be 
among  the  aristocrats  in  the  next,  would,  if  permitted,  produce  similar  effects  on  the 
Catholic  body  here.  If  it  be  the  duty  of  a  Catholic  to  consider  himself  as  a  being  apart, 
with  no  duty  to  any  of  his  neighbors  except  to  those  of  his  own  faith,  then  men  like 


104 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


Cardinal  Newman  and  the  late  Lord  Petre  have  tried  to  place  a  visionary  and  useless 
object  before  their  fellow-countrymen.  The  nature  of  our  American  social  system  and 
government  has  prevented  the  tendencies  to  exclusiveness  and  appalling  narrowness, 
which,  in  addition  to  bigoted  restrictions,  deprive  the  whole  system  of  Catholic  higher 
education  in  England  of  any  stimulus  or  hope  for  us. 

In  truth,  we  can  not  look  abroad  for  models.  In  that  other  English-speaking 
country,  Ireland,  which  might  afford  us  some  help,  we  have  had  the  mortification  of 
seeing  a  great  university  to  which  our  fathers  liberally  contributed  become  a  failure. 
And  the  present  condition  of  Catholic  education  in  Ireland  is  in  its  highest  branches 
dependent  on  the  future  action  of  the  bishops  and  the  political  parties.  But  fortu- 
nately we  have  not  upon  us  the  weight  of  English  conservatism,  nor  are  we  dependent 
— and  we  can  thank  God  for  it — on  any  political  movement.  We  have  it  in  our  own 
power  to  decide  whether  the  number  of  Catholic  young  men— serious  and  earnest 
young  men —  shall  increase  every  year  at  such  secular  institutions  as  Harvard,  Yale, 
Cornell,  Ann  Arbor,  and  Johns  Hopkins,  or  enable  them  to  gain  under  true  religious 
influences  such  an  equipment  as  the  world  of  to-day  demands. 

We  believe  that  no  height  of  culture,  no  amount  of  skill,  no  success  in  the  world 
will  compensate  for  the  absence  of  a  knowledge  of  the  purest  morality  and  philosophy 
and  the  intention  to  inculcate  their  precepts  by  our  example.  The  church  is  truth, 
and  we  fail  to  fulfil  the  greatest  of  all  commands,  which  is  to  love  our  neighbor  as  our- 
selves, if  we  selfishly  refuse  to  let  the  light  within  us  shine  before  men.  1  he  highest 
patriotism  is  the  highest  Catholicity;  it  is  the  tenderest  charity;  it  is  the  first  Christian 
duty.  Our  experience  teaches  us  that  ideals,  no  matter  how  fine,  if  clothed  in  forms 
that  are  unsympathetic  or  impracticable,  fail  of  their  influence.  We  make  high  claims 
for  Catholic  education.  We  are  not,  with  all  our  humility,  above  praising  what  we 
have  done.  The  Catholic  press  has  been  uniformly  kind  to  our  colleges.  The  annual 
commencement  is  never  unaccompanied  by  amiable  comments  which  give  great  con- 
solation to  the  optimist  and  corroborate  Pope's  dictum,  "  that  whatever  is,  is  right." 
Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  noble  men  who  in  religious  communities  have 
laid  the  corner-stone  of  Catholic  education  in  their  life  blood,  our  colleges  have 
achieved  only  a  limited  influence  in  American  social  life.  They  need  much  more  than 
they  have  to  make  them  widely  effective.  The  time  has  come  when  they  must  broaden 
their  scope,  when  they  must  reach  the  people  at  large  or  be  content  to  remain  small 
and  isolated  eddies  apart  from  the  main  stream.  We  who  are  the  heirs  of  the  ages 
ought  to  be  men  of  our  time.  Ascetical  or  mystical  models  need  to  be  fitted  to  a 
modern  environment  to  be  of  any  use  at  all.  We  can  not  reasonably  close  our  eyes  to 
facts,  and  this  fact  is  evident,  that,  no  matter  how  ascetic  or  mystical  the  theories  of 
the  Catholic  teacher  among  us  may  be,  he  is  seldom  averse  to  acknowledge  the  value 
of  material  success.  We  need,  first  of  all  in  our  Catholic  colleges,  a  firm  insistence  on 
some  system  which  will  make  men  rather  than  exotics.  We  need  a  system  of  discipline 
which  will  lay  more  stress  on  the  honor  of  the  youth  and  less  on  the  subtle  distinctions 
between  venial  and  mortal  sin. 

Another  need  of  our  Catholic  colleges  is  that  they  should  have  more  students.  The 
transient  element — that  element  which  comes  into  them  without  special  aim,  and 
which  obtains  only  a  partial  benefit  from  them — has  always  been  too  large.  It  is  an 
axiom  that  no  school  can  be  entirely  efficient  while  it  is  dependent  on  the  fees  of  its 
students.  The  necessity  of  considering  the  financial  question  very  carefully  has  forced 
some  of  our  colleges  to  accept  as  inmate  or  boarder  (I  wish  to  make  a  distinction 
between  the  student  and  the  mere  boarder),  any  lad  not  absolutely  a  criminal,  and  the 
same  necessity  obliged  some  of  them  to  take  pupils  without  proper  conditions  or  ade- 
quate examination.  Whether  this  be  true  of  other  American  schools  is  another  ques- 
tion; I  am  solely  concerned  with  the  Catholic  schools.  The  necessary  attention  given 
to  the  ways  and  means  by  which  the  expenses  of  the  Catholic  colleges  should  be  paid 
has  occupied  attention  and  absorbed  energies  which  are  required  in  other  directions. 
It  is  the  duty  of  all  laymen  interested  in  the  present  and  future  of  the  highest  form  of 
education  to  assist  in  any  plan  by  which  these  energies  may  be  directed  into 
their  proper  channel.  They  must  be  helped  to  the  greater  glory  of  God  and  a 
better  development  of  society.  At  present  the  Catholic  college  does  not  obtain  its 
proper  quota  of  real  students  because  it  must,  in  order  to  exist,  accept  boarders — mere 
sojourners  sent  to  be  kept  until  called  for.  When  the  boarding-house  anomaly  and  the 
reformatory  atmosphere  are  eliminated  in  the  public  mind  from  the  reputation  of  some 
of  our  colleges  higher  education  will  have  begun  uO  progress.  It  is  well  that  the  col- 
lege should  keep  its  students  beneath  its  own  roof,  but  let  them  all  be  students. 

The  Catholic  College  needs  more  men  who  want  to  be  students.    At  present  there 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  105 

is  a  gap  between  it  and  the  higher  parochial  or  public  school  which  ought  to  be  filled. 
Harvard,  Yale  and  Cornell  and  Ann  Arbor  have  brought  themselves  by  means  of 
scholarships  directly  in  contact  with  the  most  studious  and  worthy  classes  of  our  young 
men.  The  pupil  of  the  parochial  school,  no  matter  how  industrious  and  clever  he  may 
be.  no  matter  how  ambitious,  must  in  order  to  obtain  further  instruction  be  financially 
well  off  or  have  a  friend  who  will  pay  his  tuition  at  a  Catholic  college.  Failing  in  these 
things,  he  can  obtain  through  s,ome  of  the  public  high  schools  a  scholarship  in  one  of 
the  secular  colleges.  This  accounts  in  some  manner  for  the  rapidly  increasing  number 
of  Catholic  students  at  secular  colleges.  It  is  evident  that  the  pupil  of  the  parochial 
school  has  no  advancement  in  a  logical  direction  to  look  forward  to  unless  he  has 
money.  The  Catholic  college  must  have  fees  in  order  to  live ;  it  lives  solely  by  its  fees ; 
it  is  without  endowment,  except  the  gratuitous  services  of  self-sacrificing  Christians. 
Its  fees,  including  board,  are,  owing  to  this  flesh-and-blood  endowment,  comparatively 
low,  and  yet  the  endowments  in  money  and  the  scholarships  which  reduce  the  expenses 
of  the  student  at  secular  colleges  place  our  colleges  in  immediate  competition  with 
them.  And  the  prestige  in  the  public  eye  of  certain  secular  colleges  seems  an  additional 
advantage  to  the  graduate. 

Our  colleges  need  at  present  not  only  more  students  but  more  ambitious  and  per- 
severing students.  These  come,  as  a  rule,  from  that  class  whose  grip  on  the  world  is 
dependent  on  its  own  exertions,  and  yet  this  is  the  class  which  the  colleges  find  it  most 
difficult  to  reach.  It  costs  from  $400  to  $500  a  year  to  keep  a  student  decently  at  the 
best  of  our  colleges — this  lowest  estimate  includes  traveling  expenses  and  clothes.  But 
there  is  no  way  of  lessening  it  unless,  as  at  Notre  Dame,  there  are  some  opportunities 
of  a  student's  paying  part  of  his  tuition  in  manual  or  other  labor.  At  Harvard,  for 
instance,  a  scholarship  very  frequently  reduces  the  yearly  expenses  of  the  student  to 
the  one-fifth  part  of  $500.  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  the  sons  of  the  people  are  always 
well  represented  in  the  graduating  classes  at  Harvard,  and  that  at  Cornell  the  poorer 
Catholic  who  has  secured  a  scholarship  is  enabled  to  gratify  his  ambition  to  stand  as 
the  equal  of  any  man  in  his  fight  for  a  place  in  society. 

The  reason,  then,  why  our  colleges  do  not  attract  the  hardest  working  class  of 
students  is  because  the  Catholic  pupil  in  the  parochial  school  is  cut  off  from  gaining,  by 
his  own  exertions,  the  benefits  of  the  higher  Christian  education.  This  condition  of 
affairs  has,  no  doubt,  led  some  of  our  bishops  to  encourage  the  establishment  of 
Catholic  clubs  and  libraries  as  part  of  the  secular  university  system.  The  recent 
founding  of  guilds,  under  Catholic  auspices,  at  Harvard,  Cornell,  and  Ann  Arbor,  show 
that  these  far-seeing  prelates  have  chosen  to  make  the  best  of  what  we  can  only 
regard,  at  its  best,  as  an  expedient.  The  attendance  of  Catholics  at  the  secular 
universities  can  be  accurately  characterized  by  no  other  term. 

The  Catholic  colleges  need  endowment.  But,  more  than  all,  they  need  scholarships. 
And  with  the  scholarships  will  come  just  such  students  as  they  ought  to  have.  And 
with  such  students  will  cease  the  maintenance  of  a  system  of  discipline  which  can  only 
be  justified  on  the  presumption  that  each  older  student  is  possessed  of  a  devil  which 
can  not  be  exorcised,  but  which  must  be  caged.  Lay  professors  of  character  and  of 
acquirement  are  needed,  too.  No  college  which  is  entirely  manned  by  ecclesiastics  can 
thoroughly  do  its  work  or  obtain  its  proper  effect  on  society  in  America.  This  is 
admitted  by  thoughtful  and  observant  men  who  talk  and  write  on  the  subject  of  higher 
Catholic  education.  Happily  there  is  now  no  Catholic  college  in  the  country  in  which, 
when  a  vacancy  occurs,  the  place  can  be  supplied  by  any  layman,  with  or  without  char- 
acter, who  is  willing  to  work  for  a  mere  pittance.  And  there  is  now  no  Catholic  college 
in  this  country  where  the  sacrament  of  holy  orders  is  supposed  to  give  a  man  all  the 
requisites  of  an  ideal  character. 

It  lies  with  us  laymen  to  supply  the  present  need  of  the  Catholic  colleges.  We  can 
no  longer  wait  for  the  bishops  or  the  religious  communities  to  take  the  initiative.  We 
are  primarily  responsible  for  the  souls  of  our  children.  We  only  are  responsible  before 
our  fellow-citizens  for  the  position  we,  as  a  body,  take  in  the  intellectual  and  social  life 
of  our  country,  and  we  feel  most  heavily  the  results  of  any  system  of  education  which 
would  leave  us  in  the  rear  of  the  onward  march  of  American  progress.  Besides,  a  sen- 
timent of  gratitude  to  those  self-sacrificing  men  who,  by  their  own  devotion,  have  given 
us  the  foundations  of  the  higher  education  ought  to  lead  us  to  crown  their  work 
through  our  own  exertions.  We  who  come  in  daily  contact  with  the  world  know  better 
than  even  the  most  learned  and  pious  priests  the  requirements  for  legitimate  success 

The  needs  of  Catholic  colleges  are  chiefly  money  and  the  right  kind  of  students. 
Endowments  for  professorships  we  can  not  hope  for  at  once.  But  we  can  have  scholar- 


106  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

ships  at  once.  If  every  man  with  an  income  of  $1,500  a  year  would  contribute  $10 
and  every  man  with  §3,000  a  year  $20,  we  should  have  a  fund  which  would  give  each 
ambitious  and  deserving  Catholic  boy  in  this  country,  whether  in  a  parochial  or  public 
school,  an  opportunity  of  securing  that  education  which,  in  the  present  condition  of 
things,  he  can  not  get. 

We  must  put  our  brains,  our  hearts,  and  our  sympathy  into  this  work.  We  can 
not  look  to  the  rich;  we  ought  not  to  look  wholly  to  them.  Let  us  put  our  shoulders 
to  the  keel  of  this  ship  of  education  which  is  lying  on  the  dock  waiting  for  the  tide 
which  may  never  come.  One  good  push,  gentlemen,  one  strong  effort,  and  we  can  send 
it  steadily  into  midstream,  onward  to  the  rising  sun. 

A  deeply  interesting  paper  by  Katherine  E.  Conway,  of  Boston,  on  "The 
Catholic  Summer  School  and  the  Reading  Circles,"  was  one  of  the  features 
of  the  Congress.  The  paper  was  as  follows  : 

"Your  mission  is  to  make  America  Catholic."  This  was  Archbishop  Ireland's 
greeting  to  the  assembled  delegates  at  the  Catholic  Centenary  Congress  in  Baltimore 
four  years  ago.  And  this  was  the  charge  with  which  he  sent  them  back  to  their  homes. 
Patriotic  and  religious  enthusiasm  were  at  flood-tide,  and  all  hearts  were  willing  to 
respond,  like  the  first  Crusaders  at  the  call  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  "  God  wills  it." 

The  archbishop's  charge  was  mainly  to  the  laity,  and  the  apostolate  to  which  he 
pledged  them  was  on  the  lines  of  secular  opportunity.  But,  with  dispersion,  the  electric 
current  of  brotherly  sympathy  was  broken.  Individuals  stood  apart,  each  no  longer 
feeling  the  strength  of  1,000  behind  his  own  good  intent.  Men  questioned,  not  in 
doubt,  not  in  discouragement,  but  in  reverent  expectation  of  an  answer  :  "  How  shall 
this  be  done  ?  " 

The  answer  came,  and  we  know  one  term  of  it  by  the  resultant  action.  "  First  fit 
yourselves  for  the  mission.  Foster  the  community  spirit  among  Catholics.  Raise  the 
Catholic  intellectual  average.  Prove  your  strength  in  the  mass." 

Association  became  the  watchword  of  the  time.  New  organizations  sprang  up  on 
every  side,  and  new  life  was  transfused  through  existing  bodies.  The  first  immediate 
result  of  the  Congress  on  this  line  was  the  Catholic  Truth  Society,  whose  aims  and 
achievements  have  already  been  so  well  presented  here.  But  that  was  a  consequence 
of  the  second  term  of  the  answer,  and  aimed  directly  at  missionary  work  among  non- 
Catholics. 

This  paper  is  concerned  rather  with  those  other  associations  whose  origin  was  in 
their  members'  conviction  of  the  primal  need  of  missionary  work  among  Catholics 
themselves,  but  through  agencies  heretofore  untried  among  us. 

Our  opponents  are  often  our  best  teachers;  yet,  not  every  plan  resorted  to  by  non- 
Catholics  or  distinctly  anti-Catholic  bodies  in  missionary  and  reformatory  work,  not  to 
speak  of  less  well-intentioned  effort,  is  adaptable  to  the  Catholic  purpose.  Would  that 
this  were  never  forgotten!  We  don't  want,  for  example,  a  Catholic  political  party, 
because  some  fanatics  have  organized  a  Protestant  party  in  the  shape  of  the  mis-called 
American  Protective  Association.  We  don't  want  a  "Secular  Solidarity" — whatever 
that  may  be— of  Catholic  women  for  public-reform  work,  because  such  an  association 
prospers  among  Protestant  women.  We  don't  want  Catholic  camp-meetings,  nor  Cath- 
olic women-suffrage  leagues,  nor  Catholic  dress-reform  circles.  We  don't  want  to  be  so 
ignorant  of  the  history  and  spirit  of  our  own  religion  as  not  to  know  what  true  Ameri- 
canism has  drawn  from  it;  much  less  to  humor  by  our  servile  attitude  the  erroneous 
notion  popular  in  certain  circles  that  Catholicity  can  not  make  its  way  except  in  bor- 
rowed attire. 

The  noblest  and  loveliest  can  be  made  to  look  grotesque  by  misfit  garments. 

But  there  are  examples  set  by  the  various  Protestant  bodies  of  so  splendid  utility 
and  suggestiveness  that  we  shall  not  be  blameless  if  they  are  lost  upon  us.  What 
thoughtful  Catholic  has  not  blushed  to  see  how  far  ahead  of  us  they  are  in  practical 
and  attractive  methods  for  holding  their  young  people — and  alas  !  sometimes  drawing 
our  own  away — by  societies  combining  business  and  social  advantages  with  religious 
affiliation?  See  the  network  of  Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tions which  overspread  the  land;  the  Christian  Endeavor  Societies,  the  Chautauquan 
reading  circles,  and  the  Chautauquan  summer  school,  and  radiating  from  it  to  every 
section  of  the  country  its  local  assemblies. 

What  is  the  secret  of  the  growth  and  permanence  of  all  these  things?  One  double 
word  in  its  most  comprehensive  sense — lay  co-operation.  Protestant  men  and  women 
of  every  class,  being  actively  benefited  by  these  societies,  are  actively  interested  in 
them.  Protestant  men  of  means  have  put  them  on  a  sound  business  basis. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


107 


Oh,  it  is  true  that  they  out  number  us  and  have  an  overwhelmingly  larger  share  of 
this  world's  goods.  But  this  does  not  explain  everything.  Is  there  even  a  slight  founda- 
tion for  the  reproach  sometimes  made  us,  that  we  are  lacking  in  capacity  for  organi- 
zation, that  we  have  enthusiasm  in  excess  and  perseverance  in  defect? 

Let  us  honor  the  men — young  men  they  were,  too — who,  long  before  the  days  of 
Catholic  congresses,  anticipated  these  questions.  Indifferent  or  short-sighted  Catholics 
who  ask  scornfully  to-day,  "What's  the  use  of  your  Catholic  Congress?"  asked  twenty 
years  ago,  "  What's  the  use  of  your  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union?"  The  union 
might  have  answered  then,  "We  mean  to  train  leaders  for  you."  It  might  say  to-day, 
"  We  have  kept  our  promise;"  for  few  among  the  priests  and  laymen  whom  we  instinct- 
ively write  on  the  roll-call  of  our  national  men  but  have  developed  themselves  in  the 
Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union.  And  what  good  work  of  national  magnitude 
but  has  had,  if  not  its  inception,  at  least  a  generous  fostering  in  the  same  association? 

At  least,  the  reading-circle  movement  and  the  Catholic  summer  school  have  their 
roots  in  it.  A  layman,  Warren  E.  Mosher,  a  zealous  member  of  the  union,  deeply 
impressed  by  the  adaptability  of  the  Chautauquan  methods  to  Catholic  needs  and 
uses,  familiarized  himself  with  them,  started  a  reading  circle  in  his  native  city,  Youngs- 
town,  Ohio,  and  seized  all  Catholic  occasions,  local  and  national,  for  the  advocacy  of  a 
reading  union  and  a  Catholic  summer  school. 

Lay  co-operation  in  church  worl:  among  Catholics — a  word  not  of  new  coinage,  but 
merely  of  new  emphasis — is  sometimes  spoken  of  by  people  who  forget,  for  the  moment. 
the  direct  and  special  service  to  religion  of  Orestes  A.  Brownson  and  John  Gilmary 
Shea,  and  in  another  line,  of  Ellen -E wing  Sherman  and  Sarah  Peters,  as  if  it  were  a 
novel  idea — an  experiment  which  may  possibly  result  in  disaster  to  church  and  people. 
And  yet  inter-relation  and  inter-dependence  among  all  degrees  and  orders  seem  inevita- 
ble, so  long  as  we  can't  even  get  our  bishops  and  priests  from  another  race  of  beings 
grown  in  another  planet. 

The  need  is  of  more  lay  co-operation.  George  Parsons  Lathrop  has  well  described 
the  power  of  the  Catholic  laity  as  a  moral  Niagara  allowed  to  run  to  waste.  Arch- 
bishop Ireland  has  spoken  not  simply  for  lay  co-operation,  but  for  lay  initiative  in 
certain  good  works.  Mr.  Mosher  took  the  initiative  in  his  summer-school  project,  and 
found  priests  ready  to  co-operate  with  him.  We  may  name  among  them  those  who 
later  have  successively  held  the  presidency  of  the  school — the  Rev.  Morgan  M.  Sheedy,. 
of  Pittsburg;  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  F.  Loughlin,  of  Philadelphia;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas 
J.  Conaty,  of  Worcester,  the  present  executive,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas  McMillan,  of  the 
Paulists,  the  present  chairman  of  the  board  of  studies.  All  these  priests  are  identified 
also  with  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union. 

To  mention  the  Paulist  fathers  is  to  recall  an  American  Catholic  literary  movement 
of  missionary  intent,  long  preceding  and  preparing  the  way  for  our  reading-circle 
movement  and  Catholic  summer  school — that  begun  by  father  Isaac  T.  Hecker  when 
he  founded  the  American  Catholic  Publication  Society,  the  Catholic  World,  and  he 
Young  Catholic,  and  carried  on  so  faithfully  and  fruitfully  ever  since  by  his  disciples, 
the  Paulists.  To  them  he  said,  as  Archbishop  Ireland  later  said,  to  all  American  Cath- 
olics, "Your  mission  is  to  make  America  Catholic." 

And  whether  \yorking  directly  on  the  non-Catholic  body,  like  Father  Walter  Elliott, 
in  his  missions,  or  indirectly,  like  the  home  missionaries,  by  unifying  the  Catholic  peo- 
ple and  raising  their  spiritual  and  intellectual  standard,  this  end  is  ever  before  the 
Paulists. 

If  the  first  local  reading  circles  were  Mr.  Mosher's,  the  first  National  Reading  Union 
was  that  of  the  Paulist  fathers,  starting  in  1889,  with  headquarters  in  New  York,  and 
Rev.  Thomas  McMillan,  director.  Under  its  protection  reading  circles  were  founded 
East  and  West,  till  in  1890,  Mr.  Mosher  established  his  Catholic  Educational  Union,  cen- 
tralized at  Youngstown,  Ohio,  to  share,  not  to  divide,  afield  too  large  for  any  one  organ- 
ization to  work  effectively  alone. 

The  reading  circles  of  the  Columbian  Reading  Union  had  for  chronicle  and  medium 
of  inter-communication  a  department  of  the  Catholic  World ;  the  circles  of  the  Cath- 
olic Educational  Union  and  the  Catholic  Reading  Circle  Review,  founded  and  edited 
by  Mr.  Mosher.  But  the  printed  word  is,  after  all,  a  cold  and  tedious  process  for  the 
fostering  of  that  community  spirit  needed  in  the  establishment  of  a  work  of  general 
advantage. 

When  the  Paulist  fathers,  in  January,  1892,  effected  a  national  gathering  of  Catho- 
lics, mostly  literary  workers,  journalists,  and  philanthropists,  for  the  promotion  of  the 
apostolate  of  the  press  they  founded  no  new  organization.  The  convention  did  not  aim 
even  at  repeating  itself.  It  met  on  the  Epiphany  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  feast,  the 


loS  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

dominant  thought  being  how  to  manifest,  through  the  press,  the  church  of  Christ  to  the 
non-Catholic  American  people. 

Again  and  yet  again  the  answer,  "  Unite  and  raise  the  Catholic  spiritual  and  intel- 
lectual average  first  of  all." 

The  reading  unions  as  embodying  this  idea  were  both  represented  by  their  heads. 
So  were  a  number  of  Catholic  literary  societies  and  alumnas  associations  of  like  aim. 
The  most  successful  man  in  the  Catholic  popular  library  work,  Rev.  Joseph  H.  McMahon, 
of  New  York,  set  forth  the  intellectual  needs  and  risks  of  the  young  American  Catholic. 
New  England's  great  contingent  of  Catholic  men  and  women  of  letters — she  sent  the 
most  because  she  has  the  most  to  send — spoke  less,  on  the  whole,  for  direct  missionary 
work  among  non-Catholics  than  for  strengthening  and  unifying  our  own  forces  and 
reclaiming  our  own  estrays. 

The  apostolate  of  the  press  has  done"  infinite  good  in  many  directions.  For  one 
thing  it  was  the  hot-house  in  which  the  sapling  of  the  Catholic  summer-school  idea  was 
hastened  to  flower  and  fruit.  Almost  immediately  thereafter  Mr.  Mosher  appealed  for 
an  expression  of  opinion  to  the  membership  of  this  educational  union  and  Catholics 
generally,  through  the  Catholic  Reading  Circle  Review.  It  was  heartily  favored  and 
received,  moreover,  the  cordial  approval  of  many  bishops  and  priests. 

In  the  May  following  a  permanent  organization  was  effected;  Rev.  Morgan  M. 
Sheedy,  of  Pittsburg,  presided,  a  programme  of  lecture  courses  and  single  lectures 
arranged  by  Rev.  Joseph  H.  McMahon,  first  chairman  of  the  board  of  studies,  and  the 
first  session  successfully  held  in  New  London,  Conn.,  from  July  31st  till  August  20th  fol- 
lowing. The  secular  press  and  the  non-Catholic  public  generally  followed  the  experi- 
ment with  interest. 

The  summer  school  let  loose  a  good  deal  of  money  in  New  London  and  on  the 
various  railroads  leading  thither.  When  it  became  known  that  the  school  was  seeking 
A  permanent  site,  public-spirited  people  in  various  sections  began  to  offer  inducements 
to  its  trustees.  The  best  offer  came  from  the  town  of  Plattsburgh,  N.  Y.,  on  the  Dela- 
ware and  Hudson  River  Railroad — a  site  of  450  acres  at  Bluff  Point,  overlooking  Lake 
Champlain,  with  the  opportunity  of  incorporation  under  the  board  of  regents  of  the 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

This  was  accepted,  a  reorganization  was  effected  and  the  enterprise  was  incorpo- 
rated under  the  title  of  "The  Catholic  Summer  School  of  America." 

Smith  Weed,  of  Plattsburg,  donated  the  use  of  the  opera-house  for  the  lectures,  the 
town  the  use  of  the  Plattsburg  high  school  for  a  house  of  studies,  and  the 
Grey  Nuns  their  academy  hall  for  social  purposes,  pending  the  erec- 
tion of  the  summer-school's  own  buildings,  and  the  second  session  was  held  from  July 
15th  till  August  7th,  inclusive,  with  larger  attendance  of  students,  a  better  programme 
of  lectures,  and  a  great  increase  of  general  interest  over  the  first  year.  And  this  despite 
the  tremendous  counter-attraction  of  your  great  World's  Pair  at  Chicago. 

The  attendance  represented  sixteen  States,  though  New  York  and  New  England 
still  furnished  the  bulk  of  students.  As  at  New  London,  a  few  non-Catholics  attended 
the  lectures,  and  a  Jewish  Rabbi,  Dr.  Veld,  from  Montreal, followed  the  whole  course. 

The  ubiquitous  and  irrepressible  Fadladeen  criticised  the  trial  session  of  the  sum- 
mer school  on  the  ground  that  the  great  majority  of  the  students  were  young  women. 
But  even  Fadladeen  could  not  be  blind  to  a  change  (may  we  say  an  improvement?)  in 
this  respect  at  the  second  session.  It  should  be  said,  parenthetically,  in  extenuation  of 
our  too  numerous  presence,  that  wre  women  are  naturally  drawn  to  any  enterprise  started 
under  religious  patronage,  though  we  are  perhaps  over-demonstrative  in  recording  our 
adhesion. 

A  young  preacher,  in  one  of  our  surburban  churches  a  few  years  ago,  was  remon- 
strating with  the  men  of  his  congregation  for  their  delay  in  attending  to  some  spiritual 
duty.  "The  means  of  salvation,"  he  said,  "are  not  exclusively  for  women.  You,  also, 
want  to  go  to  heaven.  Indeed,''  he  went  on,  warming  to  his  theme,  "  heaven  would  not 
be  heaven  if  it  were  peopled  exclusively  by — 

He  stopped  abruptly,  and  passed  to  another  aspect  of  his  subject,  but  every 
woman  in  the  church  completed  the  sentence  according  to  the  preacher's  mind,  and 
heartily  agreed  with  him. 

Similarly,  the  women  would  not,  if  they  could,  monopolize  the  advantages  of  the 
summer  school.  This  year  there  was  a  perceptible  increase  in  the  attendance  of  young 
men;  and,  even  a  better  sign,  there  were  a  number  of  family  parties — father  or  mother, 
in  a  few  cases  both,  remaining  for  a  week  with  their  young  sons  and  daughters. 

When,  in  the  last  season,  that  part  of  the  summer-school  property  not  needed  for 
the  summer-school  buildings  was  put  up  for  sale  in  lots,  twenty  were  disposed  of  within 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


109 


a  few  days.  This  means  the  speedy  erection  of  cottages,  and  a  Catholic  family  summer 
settlement  behind  the  Catholic  summer  school — one  of  the  best  possible  guarantees  of 
its  permanent  success. 

But  only  one  of  them.  If  the  summer  school  were  to  depend  for  students  on 
the  family  settlement  at  Plattsburgh,  the  scope  of  its  influence  would  be  restricted 
to  a  comparatively  small  number  of  rich  or  well-to-do  people;  and  we  should  have  as  a 
result,  not  an  increase  of  the  Catholic  community  spirit,  but  of  the  un-Christian  spirit  of 
caste.  The  Catholic  summer  school  of  America  is  for  all  the  people,  to  bring  all 
together  on  a  plane  of  high,  but  equal,  intellectual  advantage.  It  is  democratic  in  the 
best  sense.  Christian  democracy  means  leveling  up.  The  Catholic  summer  school  is 
an  outgrowth  of  the  reading  circles  which  have  been  organized  and  which  work  in  this 
Christian  democratic  spirit. 

The  family  summer  settlement  will  do  much  for  the  social  and  recreative  side; 
but,  for  students,  the  reading  circles  and  other  societies  of  like  airn,  of  which  a  word 
later — must  be  the  feeders  of  the  summer  school.  They  must  be  also  the  channels 
through  which  its  achievement  and  influence  shall  be  redistributed,  extended,  and  con- 
tinued throughout  the  year. 

As  a  long-time  reading-circle  worker  it  is  my  conviction  that  extensions  of  the 
summer-school  work  in  the  shape  of  winter  courses  mapped  out  and  disseminated 
through  the  printed  page  will  hardly  succeed  among  us.  This  method  of  instruction 
is  too  indirect  and  impersonal  to  suit  the  character  of  our  people.  We  are  more  easily 
drawn  by  the  spoken  word. 

There  is,  besides,  too  great  diversity  of  condition,  education,  and  environment 
among  our  Catholic  young  people  to  make  it  possible,  or  desirable,  that  the  circles 
organized  under  the  Columbian  Reading  Union  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Union 
should  all  follow  even  the  reading  lists  given- in  the  organs  of  each.  These  lists  must 
be  suggestive,  rather  than  prescriptive. 

National  reading  unions  can  not  be  more  than  the  loosest  of  confederations,  within 
which  every  circle  shall  enjoy,  as  Father  McMillan  puts  it,  the  largest  possible  degree 
of  home  rule.  Some  circles  devote  themselves  to  distinctly  Catholic  literature,  feeling 
that,  however  otherwise  advanced,  in  this  especial  point  the  literary  education  of  their 
members  has  been  defective.  Others  study  English  literature  in  general,  with  a 
Catholic  light  upon  it.  Still  others  have  adventured  into  French  and  Italian  literature. 
Some  are  pursuing  a  course  of  church  history  and  some  are  re-reading  the  history  of 
America  in  the  light  of  that  star  which  led  Columbus  thither.  Many  give  much  time 
to  the  biographies  of  eminent  modern  Catholics  of  Europe  and  America.  Not  a 
.few  concentrate  their  study  on  points  of  controversy. 

What  shall  the  delegations  from  the  strangely  varied  circles  find,  each  for  its  special 
need,  at  the  summer  school,  and  what  shall  they  bring  back  to  the  circle  and  to  the 
community  from  which  the  circle  is  recruited?  Why  not  a  winter  lecture  course?  In 
this  way  summer-school  extension  has  been  opened.  Thus  far  we  see  no  better  way. 

The  total  of  lectures  on  the  regular  programme  of  the  summer  school  was  forty- 
two,  besides  addresses  before  the  teachers'  conferences.  These  cover  so  great  a  variety 
of  topics  that  every  reading-circle's  representatives  must  find  one  or  several  lectures  in 
line  with'its  own  special  work,  and  which  they  would  like  to  have  repeated  in  their  own 
town  or  city. 

An  immediate  reaction  of  the  summer  school  on  the  reading-circle  work  was  the 
organizing  of  courses  of  lectures  under  reading-circle  management  in  several  parts  of 
the  country.  The  lecturers  in  all  these  courses  were  chosen  wholly  or  in  part  from 
those  appearing  at  the  New  London  session  of  the  school.  In  one  city,  four  circles 
combined  for  a  course  of  four  lectures.  The  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  circle,  of  Boston,  has 
instituted  an  annual  course  of  three  lectures.  These  courses  are  on  a  business  basis. 
They  serve  a  double  purpose.  Through  them  the  circle  acts  directly  on  the  community, 
raising  the  intellectual  standard  and  fostering  the  Catholic  community  spirit.  Through 
them,  again,  the  circle  does  its  part  toward  creating  a  public  demand  for  the  lecturers 
and  literary  workers  of  our  own  faith. 

Before  the  days  of  Catholic  national  associations  and  Catholic  congresses  and 
Catholic  summer  schools,  how  little  we  10,000,000  Catholics  knew  of  our  own  eminent 
men.  The  Catholic  summer-school  movement,  especially,  has  helped  to  show  the 
world  how  rich  we  are  in  such  men.  The  secular  priesthood,  the  religious  orders, 
whether  the  Jesuits,  pioneers  in  American  religious  and  civil  life,  or  the  Paulists.  the 
latest  of  our  native  born,  have  but  begun  to  reveal  their  resources.  What  splendidly 
gifted  men  are  building  their  very  lives  into  the  manhood  and  priesthood  of  the 
American  Catholic  body  in  our  classical  colleges  and  ecclesiastical  training  schools! 


no  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES 

How  the  cause  has  moved  on,  as  the  lamented  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  used  to  phrase  it, 
on  the  citizen  lines;  and  what  a  host  of  men  whose  names  have  stood  in  the  popular 
mind  for  eminence  in  statesmanship,  or  law,  or  medicine,  or  literature,  or  oratory,  or 
journalism,  have  been  shown  forth,  through  the  stress  of  this  Catholic  intellectual 
movement,  as  earnest  Catholics  also.  Truly,  it  is  not  the  least  of  the  glories  of  the 
Catholic  summer  school  to  have  shown  to  our  timid  and  self -distrustful,  by  shining 
examples,  that  the  Catholic  faith  has  not  been  an  obstacle  even  to  the  worldly  success 
of  its  professors. 

The  man  who  said,  after  the  first  Catholic  Congress,  "  For  the  first  time  in  my 
life  I  was  proud  of  being  a  Catholic,"  did  not  express  precisely  the  heroic  spirit  of 
Catholicity;  but  he  voiced,  I  fear,  a  sad  experience,  by  no  means  individual. 

Let  us  not  forget,  in  our  citadels,  the  young  and  the  weak  on  the  undefended 
marches.  It  is  easy  for  a  Catholic  to  be  brave  and  proud  in  New  York,  or  Chicago,  or 
Philadelphia,  or  Boston,  to  name  but  a  few  of  our  strongholds,  but  it  takes  something 
close  akin  to  the  spirit  of  a  martyr  to  wear  our  profession  cross  unflinchingly  under 
the  supercilious  eyes  of  the  social  despots  of  the  provincial  town  where  we  are  the 
unpopular  majority. 

It  should  be  the  aim  of  every  reading  circle  to  send  to  the  summer  school  as  large 
a  delegation  as  possible,  and  to  choose  from  among  the  lectures  at  least  one  to  be 
repeated  under  its  patronage  the  following  winter.  Remember,  there  are  now  150 
reading  circles  organized  under  the  Catholic  Educational  Union  with  an  aggregate 
membership  of  nearly  5,000,  and  100  circles  under  the  Columbian  Reading  Union  with 
5,000  aggregate  membership.  Remember  also  that  an  immediate  consequence  of  every 
summer-school  session  is  more  reading  circles.  Moreover,  a  fixed  feature  of  the  sum- 
mer school  is  the  reading-circle  convention.  The  interchange  of  experiences  as  to  local 
work  and  local  needs  may  be  not  only  mutually  suggestive  among  reading-circle 
workers,  but  suggestive  also  to  the  board  of  studies  in  the  choosing  of  topics  and  lect- 
urers for  the  summer  school  itself. 

Already  our  leaders  have  learned  that  there  is  nothing  too  good  in  the  intellectual 
order  for  the  keen,  earnest,  and  persevering  young  men  and  women  who  have  been 
moved  to  seek  the  higher  education  on  Catholic  lines.  It  would  be  a  grave  mistake  to 
talk  down  to  these.  They  can  appreciate  and  assimilate  the  best.  They  want  instruc- 
tion, not  diversion,  and  are  quick  to  resent  the  ill-considered,  superficial,  or  spectacular. 
There  is  only  one  basis  of  selection  for  the  instruction  of  such  students  as  are  drawn  to 
the  summer  school— well  attested  personal  fitness;  and  without  this,  sectional,  partisan, 
and  institutional  claims  should  count  for  nothing. 

It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  the  reading-circle  membership  includes  a  very  large 
proportion  of  public-school  teachers.  The  religious  orders  of  teachers  are  beginning  to 
send  representatives  to  the  summer  school.  The  friendly  meeting,  with  interchange  of 
experience  and  opinion  between  these  two  bodies  of  teachers,  can  not  fail  to  be  of  advan- 
tage to  the  cause  of  education  in  general. 

But  who  shall  speak  again  for  the  teachers  and  the  schools  as  did  that  gentlest  of 
scholars  and  most  earnest  of  teachers,  Brother  Azarias,  whose  untimely  death,  the 
result  of  his  work  in  the  summer-school's  interest,  we,  in  common  with  all  Catholics, 
deplore.  He  has  left  to  the  reading  circles  the  foundation  of  a  library  of  Catholic  liter- 
ary criticism  with  especial  advertence  to  the  young  American  Catholic's  needs;  and  he 
has  not  wholly  passed  from  the  councils  of  the  summer  school,  for  the  light  of  his 
example  shines  unquenchably. 

The  reading  circles  can  further  help  the  summer  school  by  holding,  at  the  close  of 
every  season's  work,  public  meetings  in  its  interest.  This  was  done  last  June  in  New 
York  and  Boston,  and  in  result  and  students  these  two  cities,  like  a  pair  of  Abou  ben 
Adhems,  led  all  the  rest.  One  Boston  circle  proudly,  and,  we  think,  justly,  claims  thus 
to  have  sent  fifty-seven  visitors  and  students  to  Plattsburgh.  The  same  circle  sets 
another  example  in  the  summer-school  interest  which  will  doubtless  be  widely  followed 
— it  proposes  to  buy  a  lot  and  build  a  reading-circle  cottage  for  the  use  of  its  own 
members  attending  the  school. 

Mixed  membership  in  the  reading  circles  is  an  open  question.  The  Catholic  Edu- 
cational Union  seems  to  favor  it.  In  the  East  and  South,  however,  most  of  the  reading 
circles  are  composed  exclusively  of  young  women.  Our  Boston  circles  so  composed, 
however,  are  fortunate  enough  to  revolve  around  the  Catholic  Union  of  Boston,  and 
have  the  Union's  membership  to  draw  upon  for  presiding  officers  for  our  lecture  courses 
and  other  indispensable  aid.  As  between  the  attracting  and  distracting  consequences 
of  the  admission  of  young  men  to  the  study  meetings,  distraction  wTould  tip  the  scale. 
Moreover,  the  reading-circle  methods  are  not,  to  our  thinking,  quite  adapted  for  young 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  1 1 1 

men.  A  corresponding  plan  for  their  intellectual  advantage,  however,  is  evolving  itself 
in  the  East,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  as  the  same  condition  must  exist  at  least  in  the 
older  sections. 

The  reading  circles  aim  not  to  raise  a  crop  of  women  publicists,  disputants,  and 
debaters,  but  simply  to  increase  the  good  influence  which  we  can  exercise  on  the  normal 
womanly  lines  by  making  us  more  numerously  able  to  write,  at  need,  a  plain  statement 
of  fact  or  opinion  ;  increasing  our  resources  for  dull  and  lonely  days,  making  us  more 
tolerant  and  reasonable  and  therefore  more  companionable  in  our  home  and  social  life. 

The  reading  circle  will  act  on  the  general  community  through  its  public  lecture 
courses  and  occasional  social  gatherings ;  but  its  plan  of  study  must  be  for  the  direct 
benefit  of  its  immediate  membership.  May  I  venture  to  suggest  that  the  relation  be- 
tween pur  summer  school  and  the  reading  circles,  and  their  reciprocal  action,  sets  forth 
a  relation  and  a  reciprocity  of  service  possible  and  most  desirable  between  the  summer 
school  and  the  college  and  convent  alumni  associations  and  Catholic  literary  societies 
generally.  And  this  will  be  equally  true,  in  the  day,  doubtless  near  at  hand,  when  the 
Catholic  summer  school,  at  Plattsburgh,  will  cease  to  have  the  right  to  add  "of  Amer- 
ica "  to  its  name. 

It  is  much  for  the  Catholic  summer  school  to  enter  into  the  work  of  the  Catholic 
Columbian  Congress.  It  will  be  more  for  the  school  and  for  every  Catholic  interest 
when  the  Catholic  Congress  three  years  hence  comes  in  its  increased  strength  and 
splendor  to  the  first  permanent  home  of  the  Catholic  summer  school,  at  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  to  be  its  desired  and  honored  guest. 

Meantime,  see  the  fields  and  the  harvests  for  Catholic  Endeavor.  Let  us  unite  for 
the  reaping  on  a  plane  high  above  partisanship  or  sectionalism.  Our  mission  is  to 
make  America  Catholic.  Yes;  and  we  shall  do  it  mainly  by  making  ourselves  better 
Catholics — more  intellectual,  more  refined,  more  prosperous,  united,  and  public- 
spirited  Catholics.  Thus  shall  we  become  a  leaven,  interpenetrating  and  uplifting  the 
whole  body  of  our  citizenship.  The  desire  to  advance  God's  cause  gives  a  pure  motive 
to  every  man  and  woman  for  self-advancement.  It  gives  the  greatest  impetus  to  dis- 
covery, exploration,  the  pursuit  of  science,  and  the  development  of  art  and  literature. 

We  need  faith  in  ourselves,  faith  in  our  cause.  The  word  of  faith  creates.  The 
magnet  of  faith  moves  the  mountains.  Had  Christians  kept  intact  the  faith,  the  com- 
munity spirit,  and  the  disinterestedness  of  the  apostolic  age,  the  new  world  had  been 
discovered  a  thousand  years  sooner;  the  crusades,  with  other  purpose  than  the  rescue 
of  Christ's  tomb  from  misbelievers,  had  had  the  aid  of  the  printing  press  and  the  tele- 
graph and  the  cable,  the  railroad,  the  steamboat,  and  the  electric  light;  and  the  crosses 
raised  in  pure  hands,  nerved  from  martyr  hearts,  had  drawn  the  whole  world  in  the 
unity  of  the  truth  to  God. 

Rev.  John  T.  Muirphy,  president  of  Holy  Ghost  College,  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
made  a  strong  and  eloquent  plea  for  the  establishment  of  free  Catholic  high 
schools.  He  said : 

Anyone  who  considers  carefully  our  present  educational  system  in  the  light  of  our 
educational  needs  must  readily  be  convinced  that  there  is  a  great  lacuna  yet  to  be  filled 
up.  A  complete  educational  system  embraces  primary,  secondary,  and  university  edu- 
cation. It  is  not  necessary,  or  even  advisable,  that  all  should  be  initiated  into  each  part 
of  this  complete  system,  but  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  such  Catholic  children  as 
have  the  proper  aptitude  should  have  in  the  system  we  offer  and  partly  impose  upon 
them  the  means  for  obtaining  the  very  highest  education. 

The  third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore  planned  and  enjoined  a  system  of  primary 
education  which,  if  fully  carried  out  under  favorable  circumstances,  seems  to  be  all- 
sufficient  for  the  educational  sphere  for  which  it  was  intended.  Since  the  close  of  the 
council,  and  in  accordance  with  its  strongly  expressed  wishes,  important  steps  have 
been  taken  to  put  university  education  within  the  reach  of  both  Catholic  clergy  and 
laity.  But  so  far  no  corporate,  organized  measures  have  been  taken  by  the  church  in 
the  United  States  to  coyer  the  very  important  ground  that  lies  between  the  primary 
school  and  the  university.  The  foundation  and  basement  of  our  educational  edifice 
have  been  built,  a  goodly  portion  of  the  roof  has  been  put  on,  but  nothing  has  been 
done  to  the  walls;  only  a  stray  pillar  here  and  there,  erected  for  the  most  part  by 
private  enterprise,  connects  the  basement  of  primary  with  the  roof  and  pinnacles  of  uni- 
versity education  and  saves  the  latter  from  being  a  palace  top  suspended  in  the  air. 
The  stray  pillars  I  refer  to  will  easily  be  recognized  as  those  private  Catholic  colleges 
and  academies  spread  throughout  the  land.  While  everyone  will  admit  the  good  which 


H2  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

these  institutions  accomplish,  serving  as  they  do  to  save  us  the  semblance  of  an  educa- 
tional system,  yet  it  must  be  avowed  that  they  do  not,  can  not  supply  the  missing  link 
of  the  chain,  the  continuous  walls  of  the  edifice. 

In  other  words,  our  present  educational  system  is  so  radically  defective  that  it  can 
not  well  claim  the  name  of  a  system.  It  takes  up  the  Catholic  child  from  its  mother's 
arms,  supplies  it  with  education,  mental  and  moral,  till  about  the  age  of  thirteen,  and 
then  ceases  as  a  system  to  take  further  cognizance  of  its  education.  It  points  out  to 
the  young  boy,  it  is  true,  the  towers  of  the  university  looming  in  the  distance,  but  it 
supplies  him  not  with  the  means  of  reaching  them.  If  the  boy  has  money  and  time 
at  his  disposal  he  can  go  for  his  secondary  education  to  one  of  the  private  Catholic  col- 
leges ;  and  the  girl  can,  under  similar  conditions,  go  to  one  of  the  convent  schools  or 
academies.  But  the  vast  body  of  Catholic  youth  are  debarred  from  entering  these 
private  unendowed  institutions,  and  are  simply  cast  adrift  when  their  primary  school- 
ing is  over.  Withal,  they  are  expected  to  meet  in  the  battle  of  life  their  neighbors' 
children  of  a  like  station  who  have  been  trained  at  the  public  expense  in  richly-endowed 
and  well-equipped  high  schools  and  State  universities.  Of  course,  such  a  contest  is 
utterly  unequal.  It  is  a  contest  of  raw  recruits  against  disciplined  troops.  Native  valor, 
natural  genius,  indomitable  endurance  may  secure  partial  victories  for  the  former,  but 
eventually  the  random  shot  from  the  rusty  gun  must  yield  to  the  unerring  aim  of  the 
repeating  rifle,  the  straggling  onslaught  to  the  serried  ranks  of  the  square,  the  club,  the 
claymore,  or  assegai  to  the  keen  edge  in  the  hands  of  the  well-trained  swordsman.  So, 
too,  the  contest  in  life's  struggle  between  the  comparatively  raw  parochial  school  boy 
or  girl  and  the  well-trained  high-school  graduates  can  have  only  one  issue,  the  suprem- 
acy in  secular  matters  of  the  latter.  Exceptional  talent  and  character  will  occasionally 
carry  some  of  the  former  to  the  front,  in  spite  of  the  disadvantage  under  which  they 
labor,  but  the  rank  and  file  will  have  to  bite  the  dust. 

Surely  the  church  in  the  United  States,  after  having  undertaken  an  educational 
system  of  her  own,  can  not  afford  to  allow  this  stigma  of  inferiority  to  remain  branded 
upon  it.  It  would  be  an  evil  day  for  the  church  in  this  country  were  her  children  to 
realize  that  on  account  of  their  religion  they  were  precluded  from  their  just  rights  to 
the  secular  advantages  of  life.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  mind  of  the  church, 
of  her  supreme  head,  and  of  the  fathers  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  than  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  necessity  of  any  such  inferiority.  Still,  it  exists,  as  I  have 
shown,  and  will  continue  to  exist  until  adequate,  systematic  provisions  are  made  for 
providing  secondary,  or  high-school  education  for  Catholics.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  consider  what  means  ought  and  can  be  taken  to  remedy 
this  glaring  and  grievous  defect  in  our  educational  system.  Before  proceeding  to  sug- 
gest what  I  consider  adequate  and  feasible  means,  I  may  be  permitted  to  refer  to  some 
remedies  that  are  already  being  employed. 

The  manifest  need  that  exists  for  giving  Catholic  children  something  more  than  a 
mere  parochial -school  education  has  given  rise  to  two  practices.  The  one  is  to  tack  on 
to  or  blend  with  the  parochial  school  a  portion  of  a  high-school  course.  Thus  we  find 
many  parochial  schools  embracing  studies  that  range  from  the  first  elements  to  quite  a 
number  of  the  "ologies."  This  practice  seems  to  me  objectionable  for  this  reason, 
that  this  blending  of  two  different  courses  of  study  is  injurious  to  both.  The  proper 
work  of  the  parochial  sch  ol  is  liable  to  be  neglected,  or  glossed  over,  on  the  part  of 
both  teachers  and  pupils  in  the  eagerness  to  reach  the  h'gher  and  more  brilliant 
studies.  Those  exhibits  of  fancy  or  advanced  work  of  parochial  schools,  of  which  we 
so  frequently  irar,  are  usually  n  ade  at  the  cost  of  solidity  and  thoroughness  in  the 
subjects  which  properly  belong  to  them.  Of  course  it  would  be  very  commendable  to 
have  a  real  high  school  attached  to  every  large  parochial  school,  but  it  is  scarcely 
conceivable  that  any  one  congregation  could  afford  co  carry  out  a  comp  ete  system 
of  both  primary  and  secondary  education.  And,  as  it  is  not  possible  to  have  both,  it  is 
better  to  have  the  one  thorough  than  to  have  the  two  spoiled. 

Another  practice  which  largely  prevails  is  to  have  in  the  parochial  schools  what 
is  known  as  a  high-school  class,  where  a  select  number  of  children  are  prepared  for 
the  pub  ic  high  schools.  I  think  that  this  practice  is  not  admis-ible  for  the  reason 
that  the  danger  to  faith  and  morals  which  are  inherent  to  the  public-school  system  are 
multiplied  for  those  children  whose  elementary  training  has  been  acquired  in  the 
parochial  schools.  The  change  of  discipline  and  method  and  the  sudden  elimination 
of  religious  teaching  can  not  but  exercise  on  children  of  that  age  a  reactionary 
influ  nee.  To  my  mind  it  were  better  to  frankly  accept  the  public-school  system  as  a 
whole,  and  counteract  it  -  ignoring  of  religion  by  extra  religious  training  at  ho  le  and 
in  church,  th  n  to  subject  children  to  contrary  systems  of  education  at  a  time  of  life 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


"3 


when  they  are  so  susceptible  of  impressions  and  so  incapable  of  independent  reasoning. 
It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  far  less  danger  in  sending  Catholic  y  ung  men  to  non- 
C'atholic  institutions  i  nd  profe  sional  schools  than  in  transplanting  parochial-school 
children  to  the  public  high  schools. 

Since,  then,  neither  of  these  remedies  is  calculated  to  cure  the  great  defect  which 
exists  in  our  educational  system,  it  behooves  us  to  consider  what  right  and  feasible  rem- 
euy  should  be  employed.  To  every  one  will  occur  at  once  the  rational  remedy  of  sup- 
plementing our  parochial  or  primary  school  systems  by  an  organized  system  of 
secondary  or  high  schools.  This  is  what  the  State  has  done  all  around  us ;  and,  as  long 
as  we  find  ourselves  obliged  to  recommend  Catholic  children  not  to  frequent  the  State 
schools,  we  are  bound  to  supply  them  with  schools  equally  good. 

But  how  establish  and  conduct  these  Catholic  high  schools?  The  first  question 
admits,  I  think,  of  three  solutions.  One  would  be  the  establishment  and  endowment  of 
high  schools  in  different  localities  by  private  munificence.  This  is  the  solution  arrived 
at  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  late  Mr.  Cahill  founded  and  endowed  forever  the  high 
school  which  bears  his  name.  It  is  possible  that  his  noble  example  may  be  followed 
elsewhere.  It  is  certain  that  the  greatest  benefactors  of  their  day  and  of  their  kind 
would  be  those  who  would  erect  and  endow  such  institutions  for  the  higher  education 
of  Catholic  youth.  For  knowledge  is  power.  The  earth  belongs  to  man,  that  is  to  the 
disciplined  intellect  of  man,  and  the  future  position  of  our  Catholic  people  in  this  coun- 
try will  depend  chiefly  on  the  extent  and  quality  of  their  education.  Add  to  the  moral- 
ity and  fruitfulness  of  our  people  the  cultured  intellect  and  the  disciplined  character, 
and  you  have  a  power  that  is  irresistible  and  securely  triumphant  in  spreading  the 
kingdom  of  God.  What  nobler  use  could  a  man  make  of  the  superabundance  of  his 
means  than  to  devote  it  to  achieving  such  far-reaching  results? 

As  this  solution,  depending  on  private  munificence,  can  reach  only  a  very  limited 
number  of  cent  rs,  some  other  must  be  found  capable  of  general  application.  Such  a 
solution  would  be  to  have  all  the  Catholic  elements  tf  a  given  center  unite  in  founding 
and  supporting  a  Catholic  high  school.  Building  and  equipments  might  be  m  ra  or 
less  imposing,  according  to  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  tha  body  corporate,  but  the 
teaching  should  equal,  at  least,  that  given  in  the  public  high  school  of  the  place. 

It  appears  to  me  quite  feasible  to  establish  nnd  support  a  free  Catholic  high  school 
in  every  important  center.  It  is  true  that  our  people  are  already  heavily  taxed,  first  to 
educate  everybody  else's  children,  and  then  taxed  again  to  educate  their  own.  But  the 
gen?rosity  which  hai  done  such  wonders  in  the  way  of  build  ng  up  churches  and 
schools  will  be  found  equal  to  the  task  of  completing  the  good  work  begun  in  the 
parojhi  1  schools,  once  i ,;  becomes  convinced  of  the  ;  ecessity  of  such  sacrifices.  It  is 
difficult  to  calculate  exactly  the  expense  which  the  establishment  of  a  high  school 
would  entail  on  the  several  parishes  of  a  district.  It  would  largely  depend  on  the 
number  and  sizes  of  the  parishes.  It  may,  however,  be  safely  said  th  t  $50  a  year  for 
e  ch  p  pil  sent  to  ttn  high  school  would  cover  all  expenses.  Some  understanding 
could  be  e  'lered  into  between  the  several  parishes  whereby  would  be  regulated  the 
maximum  and  the  minimum  number  of  pupils  which  each  would  be  expected  to  main- 
tain in  th?  high  chool. 

We,  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States,  are  committed,  for  the  present  at  least,  not 
of  choice  but  of  necessity,  to  an  educational  system  of  our  own.  Duty,  honor,  and  self- 
interest  imperatively  call  on  us  to  make  our  system  as  perfect  as  possible.  Every 
instruction  on  this  subject  sent  by  the  Holy  See — from  the  celebrated  one  given  by  the 
propaganda  to  the  American  bishops  before  the  council  of  Baltimore  down  to  the  latest 
utterance  of  Leo  XIII.,  who  quotes  approvingly  the  idea  of  his  delegate,  "omni  tamea 
ratione  et  ope  counitendum  esse  ut  scholae  Catholicae  quam  plures  suit  numero  omnique 
re  ornatae  et  perfectae"-every  instruction  from  the  Holy  See  insists  as  a  condition  of  the 
existence  of  our  schools  that  they  be  made  at  least  as  efficient  as  those  of  the  State. 
Justice  to  the  secular  interests  of  our  people  demands  this.  The  honor  of  our  olden 
church  demands  it.  And  there  is  no  reason  why  our  united  efforts  and  sacrifices  should 
not  be  equal  to  the  demand.  Our  primary  and  parochial  schools  are  already  on  a  good 
footing,  and  once  all  the  dioceses  will  have  exerted  themselves  to  carry  out  the  letter 
and  spirit  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  regarding  them  we  shall  have  our  primary 
schools  efficient  and  well  equipped — "omni  re  perfectaeet  ornatae." 

But  we  must  not  rest  satisfied  with  this.  We  must  not  constrain  our  people  to 
delve  all  their  lives  in  the  lowlands  whilst  their  neighbors  are  carried  up  by  higher  edu- 
cation to  the  rich  and  beautiful  plateaus.  Not  only  the  material  interests  of  our 
people,  but  the  interests  of  education  itself  require  that  we  supplement  our  primary 
schools  by  well-equipped  high  schools.  The  entrance  examinations  to  high  school,  the 


1 14  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

value  of  free  scholarships  therein,  the  competition  to  obtain  them,  would  be  a  most 
po-verful  stimulus  to  the  lower  schools.  Again  the  high  school  would  serve  as  a  feeder 
for  seminary  and  university. 

And  what  more  suitable  occasion  could  there  be  for  considering  and  promoting 
such  a  project?  Here  in  this  Catholic  Congress  we  have  gathered  together  bishops, 
priests,  and  laity.  It  were  well  if  the  laity  took  a  more  active  part  in  the  carrying  out 
of  our  educational  system.  It  seems  to  me  that  too  much  burden  has  been  thrown  in 
the  past  on  the  shoulders  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  religious  communities.  There  is  no 
portion  of  the  church  that  can  do  so  much  for  secular  education  as  a  loyal  and  progress- 
ive laity.  The  composition  of  this  Congress  is  a  proof  that  the  church  in  America  pos- 
sesses such  a  laity,  loyal  to  the  unchangeable  teachings  of  divine  faith,  progressive 
with  the  best  progress  of  modern  times  and  civilization.  It  is  with  them  will  lie  the 
carrying  into  practical  effect  what  I  have  been  pleading  for.  And  I  trust,  in  conclusion, 
that  the  importance  of  the  subject,  the  pressing  needs  of  our  people,  the  opportuneness 
of  the  time  and  the  suitableness  of  the  occasion  will  add  in  the  minds  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  this  Congress — bishops,  priests,  and  laymen — a  thousandfold  force  to  this,  my 
poor  plea  for  free  Catholic  high  schools. 

"  Young  Men's  Societies  "  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  presented  by  War- 
ren E.  Mosher,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio.  The  reading  of  this  paper  was 
listened  to  with  marked  attention,  and  it  is  given  here  in  full  for  the  benefit 
and  enlightenment  of  the  rising  generation  of  the  Catholics  of  the  United 
States: 

In  its  battle  against  evil  the  church  to-day  is  working  without  what  should  be  its 
most  powerful  force — a  vigorous,  enthusiastic,  zealous,  and  united  young  manhood. 
How  to  win  this  support  is  one  of  the  most  important  problems  now  confronting  the 
Catholics  of  America. 

The  improvement  of  the  young  men  has  ever  been  a  vital  question  in  all  ages  and 
among  all  classes.  The  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  moral  advancement  of  young  men 
means  the  advancement  of  social  conditions  generally.  It  means  a  decrease  in  the  stat- 
istics of  crime  and  in  the  occupants  of  prisons,  and  an  increase  of  those  institutions 
beneficial  to  the  arts  and  manufactures — it  means  the  advancement  of  higher  civiliza- 
tion. It  means  happy  homes,  with  mothers  peacefully  secure  in  the  possession  of  sons 
guarded  by  the  armor  of  strong,  manly  character  and  Christian  virtues,  and  with  wives 
blessed  in  the  possession  of  husbands  conscious  of  the  sanctity  of  marriage  and  with 
the  nobility  to  faithfully  discharge  the  duties  of  their  state. 

There  are  three  great  and  powerful  agencies  at  work  in  molding  the  character  and 
shaping  the  destiny  of  young  men — the  church,  the  home,  and  society.  The  former  is 
constantly  striving  to  rescue  them  from  the  vices  acquired  in  most  cases,  and  fostered 
by  the  licenses  granted  by  society. 

Society  indulges  the  human  passions  of  young  men,  and  gives  them  the  license  and 
opportunity  to  gratify  them.  And  finally,  when,  from  the  excess  of  indulgence,  society 
suffers  from  outrages  committed  against  her  by  the  victims  she  has  created  and  the 
vices  she  has  encouraged ,  she  pays  back  the  revenue  she  has  derived  from  the  licensing 
of  necessary  evils  in  the  maintenance  of  institutions  of  correction  and  reform.  The 
home,  according  to  its  teachings,  increases  the  evils  of  society  or  the  blessings  of  the 
church.  That  these  three  great  agencies  do  not  always  work  in  harmony  and  union  is 
a  deplorable  fact. 

Among  the  many  institutions  established  and  encouraged  by  the  church  as  a  safe- 
guard for  young  men  are  young  men's  societies  having  for  their  object  their  religious, 
intellectual,  social,  physical,  and  material  improvement. 

The  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  has  ruled  on  this  question  in  a  manner  that 
leaves  it  unnecessary  to  discuss  the  advisability  of  organizing  young  men's  societies,  as 
follows:  "Since  the  young  men  are  exposed  to  greater  danger,  we  wish  that  special 
care  be  taken  of  them.  Hence  we  decree  that  in  every  parish  or  mission  where  a 
sufficient  number  of  them  can  be  found,  special  societies  be  established  for  them  by  the 
rector,  and  that  they  be  cherished  with  all  possible  care.  For  without  associations  of 
this  nature  the  work  begun  in  the  parochial  schools  of  saving  the  Catholic  youth  will, 
for  the  most  part,  have  been  in  vain,  and  our  young  men,  who  have  been  so  carefully 
guarded  from  their  infancy,  will  be  seduced  by  the  allurements  of  the  world,  and  will 
be  swallowed  up  in  the  vortex  of  the  forbidden  societies.  But  when  banded  together 
in  respectable  societies,  they  will,  while  pursuing  some  temporal  object,  be  readily  in- 
duced by  a  prudent  pastor  to  join  thereto  the  cultivation  of  piety." — Title  viii.,  par.  257. 


KEY.  PATRICK  CROXIN, 

BUFFALO. 

REV.  J.  M.  CLEARY, 

MINNEAPOLIS. 

REV.  F.  G.  LENTZ, 

BEMENT,   ILL. 


BROTHER  AMBROSE, 

CHICAGO. 

CHANCELLOR  MULDOON, 

CHICAGO. 

BROTHER  MAURELIAN. 

CHICAGO. 


REV.  WALTER  ELLIOTT,  C.  S.  P. 

NEW    YORK. 

REV.  F.  J.  MAGUIRE. 

ALBANY. 

REV.^JOS.   L.  ANDREIS, 

BALTIMORE. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  115 

That  the  parish  society,  under  the  direction  of  a  zealous  priest  and  with  the 
co-operation  of  earnest,  self-sacrificing  young  men,  has  a  great  influence  for  good  is 
unquestioned.  The  methods  of  conducting  parish  societies  may  vary  with  the  various 
conditions  of  young  men  in  the  different  parts  of  the  country,  but  the  object  is  one  and 
specific. 

That  the  parish  society  is  not  accomplishing  all  that  could  be  desired  or  all  that  it 
might  is  also  unquestioned.  The  cry  for  improvement  is  to-day  ringing  out  from  pulpit, 
press,  and  convention  hall.  It  is  engaging  the  attention  of  every  thoughtful  man  anx- 
ious for  the  preservation  of  youth;  and  noble  men  have  spent  the  best  part  of  their  life 
and  brain  in  devising  means  for  saving  our  young  men.  It  is  only  necessary  to  read  the 
reports  of  our  annual  conventions  to  learn  how  much  attention  is  given  to  this  subject, 
and  how  clearly  and  eloquently  innumerable  methods  have  been  set  forth  by  all  cham- 
pions of  young  men.  There  is  no  lack  of  good  features,  no  lack  of  excellent  suggestions 
for  improvement,  but  a  great  lack  of  young  men  who  will  act  upon  the  suggestions 
proposed,  even  while  admitting  they  are  good. 

As  the  work  for  the  improvement  of  young  men  by  means  of  societies  goes  on,  it  is 
assailed  by  the  snarling  and  carping  criticism  of  some,  and  neglected  by  the  almost 
criminal  indifference  of  others,  while  comparatively  a  handful  of  young  men,  in  the  face 
of  the  most  discouraging  difficulties,  without  system  and  without  means,  are  struggling 
valiantly  in  the  cause;  and  these  young  men  are  not  the  ones  most  in  need  of  society 
influences. 

I  believe  the  existing  condition  of  affairs  can  be  improved,  and  in  submitting  the 
following  suggestions  to  the  Columbian  Catholic  Congress  I  also  offer  my  humble  serv- 
ices to  practically  execute  them  in  order  to  demonstrate  their  success  or  failure. 

In  order  to  create  among  existing  societies  an  intelligent  system  of  co-operation,  to 
quicken  the  feelings  of  sympathy  and  fellowship,  and  to  promote  a  friendly  and  prac- 
tical union,  I  would  suggest  that  State  organizations  be  formed,  subdivided  by  dioceses, 
and  that  in  each  State  paid  secretaries  be  appointed  by  the  bishops  of  the  State,  or 
elected  by  the  several  societies,  who  would  give  their  whole  time  to  the  work  of  young 
men's  societies.  These  men  should  be  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  wants  of  our  young 
men's  institutes.  They  should  be  from  among  the  very  ablest  of  our  ranks.  They 
should  visit  cities  and  towns  where  societies  are  already  established  and  infuse  new  life 
into  them,  and  awaken  the  ambition  to  achieve  their  highest  aims.  Where  no  societies 
exist,  they  should  organize  them,  always,  of  course,  with  the  approval  and,  if  possible, 
the  co-operation  of  the  clergy.  They  should  assist  in  establishing  lecture  courses,  and 
take  an  active  part  in  every  plan  for  improvement.  Ex-officio,  they  could  be  members 
of  all  societies.  These  men  would  exert  a  vivifying  influence,  they  would  be  the  link 
connecting  all  the  societies  of  the  State  into  one  strong  cohesive  chain ;  their  visits 
would  always  stimulate  activity,  bringing,  as  they  would,  fresh  ideas,  or  shedding 
brighter  luster  over  already  successful  methods. 

There  should  also  be  paid  national  secretaries  and  a  national  bureau. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  young  men  to  do  this  work,  even  though  the  means 
were  at  hand;  for  a  young  man  with  the  qualifications  necessary  for  such  work  can 
command  better  compensation  in  many  pursuits  offering  distinction  and  honor,  not- 
withstanding that  there  could  be  no  nobler  occupation. 

The  men  eminently  fitted  for  this  work  are  active  young  priests.  Their  edu- 
cation and  training,  and  above  all,  their  profession,  qualify  them  above  other  men. 
They  would  command  respect  and  attention  where  a  layman  would  be  ignored  or 
snubbed.  Can  our  bishops  spare  them  for  this  work?  Will  they  spare  them?  It  is 
one  of  the  most  fruitful  fields  for  missionary  labor  within  the  domain  of  the  church, 
and  I  believe  the  results  would  amply  repay  the  efforts  expended. 

1.     The  expenses  of  these  secretaries  could  be  borne  by  the  societies  of  the  State. 

One  of  the  greatest  necessities  of  the  present  day  is  the  establishment  of  a  sys- 
tem of  young  men's  institutions,  combining,  to  some  extent,  the  polytechnic,  the  lyceum, 
and  the  social  association.  Every  city  that  can  afford  such  an  institution  should  have 
one,  the  metropolitan  cities  many. 

In  a  few  places  Catholic  young  men  have  erected  their  own  homes;  there  are  many 
cities  amply  able  to  do  likewise.  To  succeed,  parish  barriers  must  be  thrown  down. 
Few  parishes  can  afford  to  maintain  alone  such  an  institution,  but  by  a  concentration 
of  forces  an  association  building  might  be  erected  for  the  Catholics  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

The  Catholic  young  men  of  to-day  must  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  the  coun- 
try. The  days  of  the  back  room  and  top  story  are  past,  and  the  commodious,  centrally 


n6  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

located  building,  equipped  and  adjusted  to  the  special  needs  of  young  men,  will  sup- 
plant them,  as  they  should. 

2.  The  only  saving  power  of  our  young  men  is  the  faithful  practice  of  their  religion. 
With  all  the  societies  for  the  cultivation  of  piety  among  the  laity  now  existing  within 
the  church  it  is  a  noted  fact  that  their  membership  is  composed  almost  entirely  of 
women.  There  is  not  to-day  an  auxiliary  league  of  the  church  that  appeals 
as  successfully  to  the  religious  sentiment  in  young  men  as  it  does  to 
this  sentiment  in  young  women.  It  may  not  be  possible  to  accomplish 
this  equality,  but  I  believe  the  inequality  can  be  lessened.  I  do  not  believe  the 
days  of  chivalry  died  with  the  ages  of  the  Crusades.  An  appeal  to  the  manhood  of 
young  men  would  arouse  them  in  this  age  as  it  did  in  previous  times,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose I  suggest  the  institution  of  a  league  of  young  men  to  be  known  as  the  Loyal  Cath- 
olic Legion,  or  by  some  such  significant  title,  the  members  of  which  shall  subscribe  to 
the  faithful  observance  of  the  principles  of  honor,  purity,  knightly  conduct,  and  prac- 
tical Catholicity.  There  might  be  degrees  in  this  league  and  special  indulgences,  as  in 
the  League  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and  other  orders,  and  leaders  and  promoters  appointed. 

This  order  would  not  conflict  with  existing  orders.  It  would  be  open  to  all  young 
men,  whether  members  of  societies  or  of  no  society.  There  need  be  no  fees,  or  simply  a 
nominal  fee  for  offerings.  Several  young  men  in  a  society  might  institute  a  branch  of 
the  league  voluntarily  for  the  observance  of  these  principles ;  and  young  men  not  of  the 
society  could  be  members  of  the  same  local  branch.  An  independent  headquarters 
with  general  directors  might  be  established,  or  the  league  might  be  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  directors  of  the  League  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  or  some  other  established 
order. 

This  idea  of  putting  young  men  on  their  honor  by  the  institution  of  such  a  league 
occurred  to  me  several  months  ago  with  a  suddenness  that  thrilled  me.  It  has  im- 
pressed me  with  a  most  singular  power,  and  my  confidence  in  its  efficacy  is  very  great. 
I  have  consulted  my  pastor  and  several  distinguished  priests  and  laymen,  who  expressed 
their  earnest  approval  of  the  idea.  There  is  a  charm,  a  fascination  in  it  that  engenders 
an  intense,  fervent  feeling  for  manly  perfection  and  religious  piety.  It  appeals  to  the 
manhood  of  young  men. 

Let  us  resurrect  this  spirit  of  chivalry  among  young  men.  The  spirit  of  manliness 
is  not  dead  but  sleeping,  and  the  spark  of  chivalry  in  the  breasts  of  young  American 
Catholics  might  be  fanned  into  a  flame  that  would  develop  knights  as  true  as  ever 
gave  up  their  lives  in  the  cause  of  righteousness  or  for  the  possession  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre. 

For  the  improvement  of  young  men  and  young  men's  societies,  I  therefore  urge  the 
adoption  of  these  three  movements:  (1)  Traveling  leaders  or  organizers,  who  shall,  if 
possible,  be  young,  active  priests.  (2)  The  establishment  of  special  buildings  adapted 
for  the  requirements  of  young  men,  with  salaried  secretaries.  (3)  A  league  of  Catholic 
young  men  on  the  lines  suggested  above.  The  adoption  of  the  first  suggestion  would 
ultimately  bring  the  other  two  into  practical  operation,  for  men  traveling  in  this  cause 
could  establish  such  a  society  as  the  needs  of  a  place  demanded  and  as  it  could  support, 
whether  it  be  the  parish  society  or  the  general  institute. 

Let  us  throw  open  our  young  men's  institutions  to  every  Catholic  young  man, 
whether  he  be  an  active  paying  member  or  not.  At  least  give  them  all  some  privileges, 
such  as  free  reading-rooms  and  comfortable  sitting-rooms.  Under  our  present  system 
there  is  an  exclusiveness  that  repels  rather  than  attracts  our  young  men.  We  must 
come  in  contact  with  them  and  endeavor  to  bring  them  within  a  pure  atmosphere  and 
among  pure  associations.  The  less  restraint  we  put  in  their  way  the  better.  The 
church  closes  its  doors  to  none,  whether  they  give  much  or  nothing  to  its  support. 
Then  why  not  have  a  home  for  young  men  supported  by  all  the  Catholics  of  our  com- 
munities, as  free  as  our  churches,  and  whose  doors  shall  be  open  to  a  limited  share  of 
our  privileges  without  all  the  qualifications  of  perfect  young  manhood?  This  is  a  kind 
of  institution  needed  in  our  day. 

There  is  a  barrier  growing  up  between  Catholic  young  men  and  women,  which  is 
getting  stronger  year  by  year — the  barrier  of  education  and  refinement.  The  only 
remedy  that  I  can  suggest  for  this  impediment  between  our  young  people  is  to  cultivate 
with  equal  zeal  and  in  equal  numbers  the  advantages  offered  for  the  acquirement  of 
these  accomplishments. 

There  is  an  object  lesson  for  the  young  men  here  to-day  in  the  City  of  Chicago 
that  should  appeal  to  their  better  parts  more  strongly  than  all  the  sermons  and  essays 
they  ever  heard.  Here  is  the  greatest  exhibition  of  human  skill  and  material  wealth 
the  world  has  ever  seen,  and  its  accomplishment  was  made  possible  by  Catholic  genius. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


117 


In  conclusion,  let  me  appeal  to  this  distinguished  body  to  give  generously 
of  their  time  and  means  for  the  preservation  of  our  Catholic  youth.  Think  of  the 
energy  that  is  lost  in  the  cause  of  religion  by  the  apathy  and  indifference 
of  young  men!  Watch  a  political  campaign  and  notice  the  enthusiasm  displayed.  If 
half  the  amount  were  expended  in  the  following  of  Christ  that  is  wasted  on  political 
demagogues  frequently,  what  a  reform  there  would  be  in  civil  government.  Watch  a 
baseball  game  and  reflect  on  the  result  that  would  follow  such  energy  exercised  for 
religion.  Listen  to  the  mighty  shouts  that  ascend  to  heaven  over  the  victory  of  some 
brutal  champion  of  the  prize  ring  and  see  the  indifference  shown  to  the  hero  of 
Molokai.  We  want  this  force,  this  unbounded  energy  of  young  manhood  harnessed  to 
the  chariot  of  practical  Christianity,  and  until  we  secure  it  the  race  for  the  salvation 
of  souls  will  be  run  against  tremendous  odds. 

Let  us  love  the  young  men,  encourage  them,  aid  them,  not  for  what  they  are  but 
for  the  temptations  which  are  theirs  and  for  the  glorious  manhood  that  might  be 
theirs. 

"  Working  Men's  Organizations  and  Societies  for  Young  Men,"  was  the 
subject  of  a  paper  read  by  Rev.  F.  J.  McGuire,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  President 
of  the  Catholic  Young  Men's  National  Union  of  the  United  States.  This  is 
what  he  said : 

The  genius  of  our  national  being  is  peculiarly  suggestive  of  union  and  combination. 
Composed  of  many  states  and  communities,  these  made  up  of  various  people  to  whom 
is  given  a  common  adhesive  principle,  and  on  all  of  whom  it  is  impressed  that  unity  of 
purpose  and  of  government  is  the  chief  security  of  their  national  existence,  the  rational 
aim  of  all  who  have  part  in  the  framing  of  our  laws,  or  of  those  who  are  clothed  with 
the  dignity  of  administering  them,  should  be  to  foster  and  strengthen  a  spirit  of  union 
among  the  people. 

The  public  "  society  "  of  St.  Thomas,  wherein  "  Men  may  communicate  with  one 
another  in  the  setting  up  of  a  commonwealth,"  exists  here  in  its  fullness,  but  it  is 
enriched  and  made  doubly  lasting,  in  that  it  possesses  all  the  features  and  benefits  of 
the  more  "private  society,  wherein  a  few  may  be  conjoined  for  the  following  and  attain- 
ing of  a  common  purpose."  For,  the  first  and  ordinary  object  of  our  common  citizen- 
ship is  to  perpetuate  union  of  the  many  for  the  good  of  all;  for  we  are  all  equal  on  the 
plane  of  our  national  constitution,  and  equal  in  the  rights  of  liberty  which  it  secures  to 
us.  Hence  there  is  a  congenial  abode  in  our  country  for  that  "  propensity "  called 
natural  "of  man  to  live  in  society,"  which  has  its  foundation  in  the  natural  law  which 
is  sanctioned  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  and  in  whose  favor  our  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Pope 
Leo  XIII.,  has  addressed  the  universal  church  so  earnestly. 

From  the  first  years  of  her  existence  the  United  States  has  been  a  prolific  mother 
of  societies  of  men.  Her  great  political  parties,  which  have  aimed  at  a  balancing  of 
power,  whose  struggles,  successes,  or  failures  have  been  marked  by  the  ruling  for  a  time 
of  one,  to  be  in  turn  succeeded  by  the  other,  has  been  simply  the  organizing  of  many 
societies  into  one,  the  welding  together  of  many  for  a  common  purpose.  In  earlier 
years  she  fashioned  associations  for  military  exercise  ostensibly,  which,  being  without 
governmental  control,  for  a  long  time  were  so  many  private  or  even  social  societies  of 
free  men.  Yet,  in  her  day  of  need,  these  evolved  into  the  grandest  armies  the  world 
had  seen,  and  achieved  victories  among  the  most  valued  of  all  history. 

In  equally  gigantic  form  have  we  witnessed  the  growth  in  our  land  of  the  extensive 
railroad  and  telegraphic  combinations,  which  were  originally  fondled  by  our  govern- 
ment, as  promising  many  facilities  and  advantages  to  the  commonwealth,  but  which 
latterly  penetrating  every  corner  of  the  public  domain,  and,  absorbing  less  powerful 
enterprise,  have  again  and  again  excited  the  anxiety  or  provoked  the  condemnation  of 
many  of  the  most  sincere  friends  of  our  national  interest. 

Here,  too,  individuals  have  united  for  the  promotion  or  accomplishment  of  almost 
every  lesser  object.  The  practice  of  religious  tenets,  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  the  pro- 
tection of  art  and  science,  the  perfection  of  varied  skill  of  the  mechanic  or  laborer,  the 
alleviation  of  the  miseries  to  which  man  is  heir,  and  security  from  the  results  which 
come  with  accident  and  death,  have  in  turn  formed  pretext  for  association  ;  and  in  this 
feature  our  country  is  said  to  be  a  leading  representative  among  the  nations. 

Such  is  the  prospect  which  greets  the  view  of  the  observer  of  to-day.  The  Catholic 
American,  enriched  with  the  birthright  of  true  citizenship,  is  especially  interested  in 
this  prospect;  and  so,  as  well  because  of  facilities  which  it  presents  to  him,  as  because 
of  his  peculiar  fitness  to  reap  rich  advantage  and  the  magnificent  consequences  to  his 


/i8  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

church  and  to  mankind  which  may  result.  Our  holy  religion  teaches  us  that  the  per- 
fection of  Christian  effort  does  not  dwell  alone  in  aiming  at  the  loving  and  serving  of 
God,  but  must  reach  out  into  a  love  for  the  welfare  of  neighbor,  and  the  Catholic 
watchword  must  be  the  twofold  sentiment,  "  God  and  our  neighbor."  His  duty  is  not 
alone  to  build  up  churches  which  are  to  be  the  outward  sign  of  an  inward  sacred  and 
spiritual  trust,  but  he  is  to  build  up  by  his  word,  his  example,  and  his  fidelity  to  pro- 
fession, that  holier  edifice,  the  Catholic  Faith,  which,  not  built  by  hands,  is  as  imperish- 
able as  her  Divine  Founder. 

What  are  his  facilities  ?  Our  brethren,  guided  by  pious  promptings,  were  the  first 
of  the  civilized  world  to  tread  this  continent  and  they  offered  it  to  God  to  be  His  in  per- 
petuum.  As  the  years  revolved  others  came  upon  the  scene,  and  for  along  time  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  holy  faith  held  but  a  tolerated  existence  here.  It  required  the  blood  of 
some  martyrs,  the  painful  labors  of  some  of  the  most  illustrious  saints  and  scholars  of 
the  last  century  to  retrieve  the  liberty  which  Catholics  first  secured  by  the  right  of 
discovery  here. 

Meantime,  in  this  fair  field  an  enemy  hath  sown  cockle.  Here  we  find  every  species 
of  belief  or  practice  which  has  been  known  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  The 
consequence  is  a  state  of  society  not  only  detrimental  to  the  immediate  interests  of 
Christ,  but  even  menacing  to  that  destiny  of  perpetuated  greatness  to  which  the  Ameri- 
can nation  seems  to  have  been  called  by  the  Creator. 

As  friends  of  humanity  we  can  not  afford  to  belittle  the  goodness  of  life  of  many 
outside  the  Catholic  Church,  of  which  goodness  we  have  been  frequent  witnesses ;  but 
still  we  must  not  refrain  from  proclaiming  that  the  Catholic  Church,  which  gave  to  the 
nations  of  the  earth  all  that  has  sustained  and  made  them  worthy  of  the  respect  of 
succeeding  ages,  is  still,  as  representing  her  Divine  Founder,  "  The  only  name  under 
heaven  given  to  men  whereby  they  can  be  saved."  It  is  for  us  duty  and  obligation  to 
declare  this  by  work  as  well  as  by  word.  In  conjunction  with  the  pulpit,  then,  may  we 
not  find  in  Catholic  societies  a  most  perfectly  adapted  channel  for  the  conducting  of 
this  spirit  to  the  people?  Nay,  do  we  not  perceive  with  our  Sovereign  Pontiff,  that  in 
such  associating  together  of  our  people  "there  is  cheering  hope  for  the  future  of  the 
church  "  in  America?  Associating  them  not  simply  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  a 
united  front  against  those  who  may  oppose  us,  but  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  such 
a  spirit  of  Christianity  as  will  make  each  individual  Catholic  a  power  for  good  "  terrible 
as  an  army  set  in  array." 

I  have  referred  to  the  peculiar  fitness  of  our  Catholics  for  society  rule  and  life.  The 
Catholic  who  knows  his  church  or  is  accustomed  to  scrutinize  her  sacred  character  has 
learned  to  love  her  for  her  unity  and  the  unity  which  she  inculcates.  Likened  to  the  myste- 
rious unity  existing  between  her  Divine  Founder  and  herself — one  in  doctrine,  in  doctors, 
and  in  pupils;  one  on  earth  and  in  heaven — in  the  midst  of  this  world's  kingdom,  which  is 
ever  and  in  all  things  divided,and  hence  ever  f  alling.this  solitary  claimant  of  perpetual  one- 
ness must  gladden  and  delight  the  heart  that  loves  unchanging  truth.  He  knows,  too,  that 
so  close  is  the  unity  which  must  exist,  that  in  this  family  of  God  there  can  be  no  distinc- 
tion of  any  kind.  The  poor  are  enriched  with  blessedness;  the  wayward  or  hurtful  are 
to  be  forgiven;  the  richest  possessions  of  one  are  most  precious  inasmuch  as  they  can 
alleviate  the  needs  of  another,  and  the  only  badge  of  discipleship  in  Christ  that  is  pre- 
scribed is  the  love  which  one  bears  toward  another. 

Graced  with  such  a  spirit  of  unity  and  manifesting  it  in  each  society  duty,  what  a 
lUagnificent  form  of  organization  is  within  the  capabilities  of  the  good  Catholic  man  ! 
How  far  superior  in  its  aims  and  in  the  actual  results  of  its  existence  as  compared  to 
societies  which  have  for  their  object  a  pretense  of  righteousness,  or  which  often  have  ex- 
pended their  best  ambition  when  they  have  destroyed  by  proselytism  the  only  dignity  or 
worth  which  their  victims  possessed.  A  truly  Catholic  society  can  be  a  bulwark  of  all 
that  is  calculated  to  subserve  the  public  good.  Morality  will  be  a  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic of  its  members ;  temperance  and  all  the  virtues  will  flourish  under  its  sway, 
and  the  community  in  which  it  exists  must  acknowledge  the  charity  from  which  it 
came  forth  and  the  Faith  which  sustains  it. 

But  our  Holy  Father  voices  the  actual  state  of  our  country  when  he  says  in  his 
encyclical,  "  There  is  a  good  deal  of  evidence  which  goes  to  prove  that  many  existing 
societies  are  in  the  hands  of  invisible  leaders,  and  are  managed  on  principles  far  from 
compatible  with  Christianity  and  the  public  well-being."  In  the  presence  of  this  well- 
known  fact,  what  is  the  plain  duty  of  Christians  if  it  be  not  to  seek  desired  good 
through  societies  of  their  own  founding  and  management?  Or,  as  our  Holy  Father 
again  expresses  it,  "  Unite  their  forces  and  courageously  shake  off  the  yoke  of  unjust 
and  intolerable  oppression." 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


119 


Aside  from  the  essential  features  of  "unity  of  purpose  and  harmony  of  action,"  it 
would  be  difficult  to  prescribe  detailed  formulas  or  to  set  precise  rules  for  the  regulat- 
ing of  Catholic  societies,  since  the  vastness  of  our  country  in  region,  in  disposition,  and 
needs  of  our  brethren  is  so  varied.  The  experience  and  practice  of  those  who  have  been 
prominent  in  euch  works  (and  they  are  not  a  few  in  our  midst)  should  be  consulted. 
Let  us  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  Christian  family  should  be  the  foundation  of  the 
life  of  the  Catholic  society.  Here,  as  !all  agree,  there  should  be  capable  supervision, 
reasonable  discipline  in  its  fullness,  unquestioning  respect,  and  obedience  and  interest 
for  the  common  good.  I  believe  to  the  absence  of  this  family  training  chiefly  may  we 
trace  all  the  obstacles  which  lie  in  the  way  of  Catholic  society  work,  whether  in  the 
founding  or  conducting  of  such.  It  will  seldom  be  difficult  to  continue  and  develop  in 
the  society  the  work  which  has  been  nurtured  in  the  bosom  of  the  Christian  home. 
The  boy  who  enters  his  sodality  with  the  graces  of  the  first  sacraments  on  him  will 
quickly  learn  to  love  the  petty  strifes  and  contentions  by  which  he  may  pardonably 
hope  to  evince  his  superior  gifts  or  command  the  respect  of  his  associates.  Early  will 
he  develop  the  characteristics  and  powers  which  will  make  him  useful  in  the  parish 
association,  or  in  turn  command  respect  for  the  organization  which  affords  scope  and 
opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  the  gifts  of  his  maturer  years. 

After  due  consideration  of  the  matter  of  grading,  especially  as  to  age,  which 
should  be  observed  in  the  membership  of  an  association,  it  remains  to  be  said  that 
societies  whose  every  prompting  tends  to  the  seeking  of  God  and  His  justice,  to  the  end 
that  the  members  may  be  increased  in  all  lesser  things,  are  the  best.  In  other  words, 
societies  under  the  supervision  of  the  pastors.  In  these,  mental  and  physical  attain- 
ments might  be  ambitioned,  and  the  members,  while  protected  from  the  dangers  of  evil 
associations,  might  find  reasonable  recreation^  but  in  these  must  be  exercised  such 
influences  only  as  can  tend  toward  the  development  of  true  Catholic  manhood.  It  is 
an  obvious  fact  that  many  of  our  American  Catholic  men,  and,  indeed,  in  some  sections 
of  the  country,  our  women  as  well,  are  entering  societies  that  are  ruinous  to  their  best 
spiritual  interests.  Especially  is  this  true  of  our  young  men.  It  has  been  computed 
that  not  three-tenths  of  the  Catholic  young  men  of  the  United  States  are  connected 
with  any  Catholic  society.  For  the  sake  of  their  qualities  of  body  and  mind  they  are 
being  sought  after  by  those  who  have  no  desire  for  their  souls'  welfare;  or  they  are 
allured  by  tempting  immunity  given  in  return  for  their  sacrifice  of  faith.  In  these 
ways  the  interest  and  active  co-operation  of  thousands  of  her  young  men  are  being  lost 
to  the  church  annually. 

What  means  have  we  to  reach  and  use  and  save  this  portion  of  the  flock  of  Christ 
— this  multitude  so  full  of  the  vanity  and  the  pride  peculiar  to  their  years,  yet  ever  so 
dear  to  the  heart  of  Jesus — other  than  by  gathering  them  into  societies  especially 
established  for  them  ?  It  costs  effort,  but  is  there  any  work  more  worthy  the  zeal  of 
an  apostolic  man  than  is  this  ?  In  some  European  countries  it  is  said  the  children  are 
kept  in  religious  training  until  their  first  communion,  or  twelfth  year,  and  after  that 
time  they  are  committed  to  the  keeping  of  the  secular  studies.  Some  have  traced  to 
this  very  cause  the  Catholic  indifference  or  defection  so  painfully  remarkable  in  Europe 
during  the  past  quarter  of  a  century.  We  know  from  our  sad  experience  that  in  our 
own  country  it  frequently  happens  that  the  study  of  religion  ceases  on  the  day  of  first 
communion,  to  be  resumed  no  more — not,  indeed,  because  sufficient  has  been  learned,  but 
because  of  fatigue  from  restraint,  or  because  of  joy  at  having  been  admitted  to  the  sacred 
privileges  of  their  elders,  young  people  are  loath  to  continue  a  formal  study  of  religion. 
Well  regulated  societies  in  which  the  priest  and  young  man  may  continue  to  meet,  and 
in  which  the  sacred  relation  of  pastor  and  child  may  be  perpetuated,  is  a  tried  and 
effectual  means  of  avoiding  evil  of  so  great  magnitude. 

An  oft-proposed  query  is,  what  is  the  best  form  or  rule  for  a  Catholic  society?  Some 
advocates  of  men's  societies  find  scope  for  their  zeal  in  the  admirable  institute  known 
as  the  Young  Men's  Sodality,  and  certainly  a  more  perfect  rule,  or  one  that  is  permissive 
of  more  that  can  benefit  or  enrich  manly  character,  is  not  known.  The  purely  literary 
association  with  the  athletic  feature  annexed  has  proved  its  value  by  extraordinary 
examples  of  success  in  many  portions  of  the  United  States.  The  strictly  beneficiary 
society,  with  what  is  called  social  accompaniments,  as  under  the  management  of  the 
Catholic  Benevolent  Legion  or  Catholic  Mutual  Benevolent  Association,  is  a  scheme 
that  has  been  warmly  received  by  our  people,  and  the  admirable  supervision  during  the 
past  decade  of  these  associations  has  elicited  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  public 
generally.  There  is  no  doubt  that  these  societies  are  gradually  destroying  the  hurtful 
influence  which  Masonry,  Oddfellowism,  and  other  objectionable  organizations  have 
heretofore  wielded  over  careless  Catholics.  The  financial  benefits  which  they  confer 


120  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

have  done  much  to  lessen  poverty  and  to  establish  families  in  thrifty  ways,  and  their 
continued  success  is  worthy  the  deepest  attention  of  all  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the 
Catholic  community. 

Surely  there  is  no  dearth  of  admirable  forms  for  association.  Yet  it  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  account  for  the  fact  that  there  are  so  many  well-established  congregations  in 
the  United  States  in  which  there  are  no  societies  for  men.  It  would  be  equally  difficult 
to  account  for  the  indifference  to  Catholic  associations,  especially  on  the  part  of 
our  young  men,  in  places  where  good  societies  are  established  and  where 
need  and  facilities  for  work  such  as  theirs  are  so  pronounced.  Certainly 
this  class  of  our  people,  the  future  hope  of  the  church,  ought  to  be  a  source 
of  concern  and  object  of  our  care.  Theirs  is  a  time  of  life  which  craves  for  association 
or  such  companionship  as  will  increase  the  pleasurable  occupations  of  life.  Does  it 
not  seem  that  we  should,  if  necessary,  make  sacrifices  for  them  as  we  do  for  other 
church  works  ?  Should  not  the  church  afford  them  meeting  places,  or  any  facility 
which  might  induce  them  to  come  and  attract  them  to  remain  in  Catholic  societies  ? 
This  would  imply  expenditure.  We  rightly  contribute  to  convert  and  civilize  the  pagan. 
Is  there  anything  less  laudable  in  similar  effort  to  save  our  youth  from  degradation  ? 
Give  them  a  positive  rule  for  their  association  and  exact  their  observance,  but  allow 
them  such  liberty  as  is  consistent  with  propriety.  Especially  do  not  treat  them  as  in- 
fants whose  every  fault  demands  humiliating  punishment,  but  labor  to  develop  (again 
I  repeat  it)  a  character  of  dignified  manhood.  The  natural  spirit  of  young  American 
manhood  is  pride  and  independence.  Legions  of  satans,  like  roaring  lions,  are  daily 
devouring  the  youth  of  our  church  for  this  very  fact ;  but,  friends  of  Catholic  young 
men,  if  we  can  sanctify  this  spirit  by  religionizing  it,  we  will  thereby  secure  to  our 
church  generations  of  devoted  men,  and  to  our  country  a  spirit  of  intelligence  and 
patriotism  that  can  ennoble  her  institutions  or  save  her  in  her  day  of  trial. 

It  has  occurred  more  than  once  within  our  knowledge  that  men  who  have  assumed 
and  graced  most  exalted  positions  in  public  life  have  had  little  other  advantages  than 
these  which  they  had  secured  in  the  Catholic  society  room,  where,  under  the  inspiration 
of  devoted  priests,  they  have  imbibed  rich  principles  of  manhood,  and  attained  a  per- 
fection in  gracious  talent  which  have  made  them  objects  of  pride  to  their  friends  and 
of  pleasurable  envy  to  their  less-gifted  fellows. 

Brother  Azarias,  of  Manhattan  College,  died  since  preparing  his  most  elo- 
quent address  upon  "  Our  Catholic  School  System."  His  name  upon  the 
programme  was  appropriately  bordered  with  black.  The  paper  was  read  by 
his  learned  brother,  Rev.  John  F.  Mullaney,  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  As  an 
enthusiast  on  the  subject  of  Catholic  education,  Brother  Azarias  had  no  equal, 
and  when  the  paper  was  read,  touching  reference  was  made  to  the  brother's 
interest  in  the  subject  upon  which  he  wrote  substantially  as  follows: 

Our  Catholic  school  system  embraces  all  grades  of  institutions  from  the  kinder- 
garten to  the.  university.  Each  religious  teaching  order  has  its  own  methods.  But  in 
the  midst  of  variety  a  unity  of  purpose  runs  through  all  our  educational  institutions. 
This  purpose  is  to  impart  a  thorough  Catholic  training  to  our  Catholic  children. 

That  portion  of  our  system  most  cherished  is  the  parochial  school.  It  has  been 
erected  and  it  is  maintained  at  many  sacrifices.  It  is  indispensable  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Catholic  faith  in  the  hearts  of  Catholic  children.  There  may  be  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  the  ways  and  means  by  which  Catholic  education  is  to  be  imparted  and 
Catholic  schools  are  to  be  supported,  but  there  can  be  none  regarding  the  self-evident 
truth  that  the  church  in  America  is  to  be  perpetuated  in  a  robust,  God-fearing  and 
God-serving  Catholicity,  it  is  only  by  the  establishment  of  a  Catholic  school  in  every 
Catholic  parish.  The  Catholic  school  is  the  nursery  of  the  Catholic  congregation,  the 
inclosed  garden  in  which  are  fostered  vocations  to  the  priesthood  and  to  religious  life; 
in  a  word,  the  hope  and  the  mainstay  of  the  church  in  the  future. 

When  we  consider  the  history  of  Catholic  education  during  the  fifty  years  that 
have  just  elapsed,  and  note  the  many  serious  obstacles  our  Catholic  schools  have  had 
to  contend  with,  and  at  the  same  time  go  over  the  roll-call  of  prominent  Catholics  who 
have  had  their  early  training  in  these  schools— archbishops  and  bishops  and  priests,  and 
religious  men  and  women  whose  vocations  have  been  fostered  in  them;  eminent  laymen 
now  filling  positions  of  trust  and  honor,  whose  consciences  were  there  formed,  and  who 
had  there  learned  to  be  proud  of  their  faith  and  to  praise  its  teachings  to  the  best  of 
their  ability— we  are  compelled  to  regard  these  schools,  even  in  their  least  efficient 
forms,  with  great  respect.  In  no  sense  are  they  failures;  in  no  sense  are  they  to  be 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  121 

abandoned  or  neglected;  rather,  in  the  very  words  of  Leo  XIII.  concerning  these  schools, 
"  every  effort  should  be  made  to  multiply  Catholic  schools,  and  to  bring  them  to  per- 
fect equipment." 

Next  in  importance  to  the  parish  school  is  the  convent  school.  It  is  a  choice  gar- 
den attached  to  the  Lord's  household,  in  which  the  sweetest  flowers  of  virtue  are  ten- 
dered and  fostered  by  women  of  piety,  zeal,  and  culture.  Its  influence  extends  far  and 
wide  throughout  the  land.  Among  the  leading  social  forces  in  America  to-day,  the 
women  whose  power  for  good  is  most  far-reaching  are  pupils  of  the  convent  school.  The 
tendency  in  these  latter  days  is  to  make  woman  as  independent  as  she  possibly 
can  become. 

There  are  still  untried  possibilities  in  our  Catholic  school  system.  Why,  for 
instance,  may  we  not  have  large  commercial  schools  in  our  principal  cities?  Not  mere 
business  academies,  in  which  a  knowledge  of  penmanship  and  accounts  is  imparted, 
but  schools  established  on  a  broad  basis,  in  which  chemistry  and  the  sciences  as 
applied  to  the  industries  and  manufactures  would  be  taught,  in  which  political  econ- 
omy, and  common  law,  and  history,  and  literature  would  be  studied  from  the  Catholic 
point  of  view.  Such  schools  would  benefit  a  large  class  of  our  Catholic  young  men. 

Again,  there  are  Catholic  boys  who  have  been  obliged  to  quit  school  at  an  early  age 
for  the  workshop  or  the  factory,  and  who  with  riper  years  and  larger  experience  feel  the 
necessity  of  making  up  for  early  deficiencies.  What  accommodation  have  we  for  this 
class  ?  Practically  none.  Could  not  Catholic  night  schools  flourish  in  our  larger  cities  ? 
They  would  be  a  great  boon  to  our  working  boys  and  working  girls.  It  is  painful  to 
witness  in  large  cities  the  active  aggressiveness  of  those  who  misunderstand  and  mis- 
represent our  faith.  They  attract  to  their  soup-houses  and  night  schools  hordes  of  our 
Catholic  Italian  and  Bohemian  children  and  inoculate  them  with  un-Catholic  and  anti- 
Catholic  ideas,  while  little  or  nothing  is  done  to  counteract  their  machinations.  This 
is  work  for  our  Catholic  laity. 

The  more  cultured  class  of  Catholic  young  men  and  women  are  now  supplementing 
their  school  studies  by  reading  circles  and  literary  clubs.  These  are  so  many  annexes 
to  our  educational  system,  and  as  such  are  not  to  be  overlooked. 

Another  institution  that  has  grown  out  of  our  reading  circles,  and  that  bids  fair  to 
become  an  intimate  portion  of  our  Catholic  system  of  education,  is  the  Cathoii?  sum- 
mer school.  In  this  manner  is  an  antidote  administered  against  the  intellectuc  ana 
moral  poison  that  is  imbibed  from  the  secular  journals,  magazines,  and  reviews 

For  the  completion  of  our  Catholic  school  system  we  look  forward  to  the  time  wher 
pur  Catholic  university  shall  be  able  to  supply  our  colleges  and  academies  with  special 
ists  in  the  various  branches  taught,  and  when  we  will  have  Catholic  normal  schools  to 
supply  Catholic  teachers  to  our  parochial  schools.  The  State  normal  schools  do  not 
suffice.  They  prepare  teachers,  but  not  Catholic  teachers.  In  their  books  on  educa- 
tional methods  they  ignore  or  condemn  our  great  Catholic  educators.  Moreover,  the 
Catholic  teacher  whose  faith  during  the  whole  course  of  his  training  has  been  ignored 
in  its  historical,  literary,  and  religious  aspects,  whose  mind  has  becooie  imbued  directly 
or  indirectly  with  Protestant  estimates  of  men  and  events,  whose  training  has  been 
purely  negative  so  far  as  his  religion  with  all  its  glories  in  art,  in  history,  and  literature 
is  concerned — such  a  teacher  is  no  longer  fitted  to  take  charge  of  a  Catholic  school. 
He  is  lacking  in  religious  knowledge,  in  devotion,  and  in  a  robust  Catholic  spirit.  He  is 
timid  where  his  faith  is  concerned.  He  is  afraid  to  assert  his  Catholicity  lest  he  give 
offense.  He  lacks  that  delicate  sense  of  appreciation  of  the  spiritual  and  supernatural 
—that  ideal  standard  of  worth  which  prizes  the  salvation  of  a  soul  above  all  other 
things. 

There  are  exceptions  to  this  estimate.  But  those  exceptions  will  be  the  first  to  con- 
firm it,  and  to  prove  that  if  we  are  to  have  Catholic  teachers  worthy  of  the  name  to  aid 
and  strengthen  the  work  of  our  religious  teaching  orders,  they  should  be  trained  in 
Catholic  normal  schools. 

The  committee  appointed  by  the  Fourth  Congress  of  Colored  Catholics  to 
prepare  an  address  to  the  clergy  and  laity  issued  the  document  contemplated 
by  its  appointment.  The  address  covers  the  points  discussed  in  the  sessions 
of  the  Congress,  and  represents  its  work  and  conclusions.  It  is  as  follows: 

COLORED     CATHOLICS      ADDRESS. 

At  this  point  a  motion  was  made  by  a  Texas  delegate  to  i  ivite  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Colored  Catholic  Congress  and  the  other  associations  meeting  in 
the  building  to  the  floor  of  the  Congress. 


122  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Archbishop  Areland  came  forward  again.  "  I  beg  leave  to  express  the 
utmost  delight  of  my  heart,"  he  said,  "  that  a  proposition  was  made  to  invite 
here  the  members  of  the  Catholic  Colored  Congress.  Let  us,  the  members  of 
the  Catholic  Columbian  Congress,  show  our  thorough  Catholicity,  and  in 
God's  name  invite  them  all.  I  have  but  one  regret — th.  t  they  are  not  one 
hundred  fold  more  numerous." 

Colored  Catholics  opened  their  Congress  in  hall  6.  Delegates  were  in  at- 
tendance from  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  South  Carolina,  Ohio, 
Louisiana,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  addition 
to  these  there  was  a  large  general  attendance  of  colored  communicants  of  the 
church. 

James  A.  Spencer,  of  South  Carolina,  was  the  presiding  officer,  and  Dr. 
W.  S.  Lofton,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  D.  A.  Rudd,  of  Ohio,  were  the 
secretaries.  The  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev.  Father  Tolton. 
Then  followed  an  address  of  welcome  by  L.  C.  Valle,  to  which  an  appro- 
priate response  was  made  by  W.  Edgar  Easton,  of  Texas.  Brief  addresses 
were  also  made  by  F.  L.  McGhee,  of  St.  Paul,  and  Mr.  Reed,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Committees  were  then  appointed  as  follows: 

Credentials — C.  H.  Butler,  Washington,  D.  C.;  S.  P.  Havis,  Arkansas  ;  L.  C.  Valle, 
Illinois ;  R  N.  Wood,  New  York. 

Permanent  organization— R.  N.  Wood,  New  York ;  W.  J.  Smith,  Washington,  D.  C.; 
S.  K.  Govern,  Pennsylvania  ;  W.  E.  Easton,  Texas  ;  D.  A.  Rudd,  Ohio. 

Rules  and  order  of  business — S.  K.  Govern,  Pennsylvania  ;  F.  L.  McGhee,  Minnesota  ; 
D.  A.  Rudd,  Ohio. 

The  Congress  adjourned  to  this  morning  at  9  o'clock. 

J.  J.  Smith,  of  Davenport,  Iowa ;  J.  F.  Brown,  of  Galveston,  Texas ;  T.  C. 
Driscoll,  of  Hartford,  Conn.;  David  Garrity,  of  Milwaukee,  and  Felix  McGill, 
of  Mobile,  Ala.,  were  appointed  a  committee  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  the 
Congress  in  this  respect.  Then  the  meeting  settled  down  to  listen  to  pre- 
pared papers  on  the  social  problems  of  the  day. 

The  Congress  of  Colored  Catholics  sat  with  closed  doors  most  of  the  day, 
considering  questions  relating  exclusively  to  the  interests  of  the  colored  man. 
The  invitation  to  join  the 'great  Columbian  Catholic  Congress  was  accepted, 
and  the  colored  men  immediately  took  a  recess  and  visited  that  body.  In  the 
afternoon  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  an  address.  It  consists  of 
W.  Edgar  Easton,  Texas;  F.  L.  McGhee,  Minnesota;  C.  H.  Butler,  District 
of  Columbia;  L.  C.  Valle,  Illinois;  Daniel  A.  Rudd,  Ohio;  W.  J.  Smith, 
District  of  Columbia ;  S.  K.  Govern,  Pennsylvania;  W.  S.Lofton,  District  of 
Columbia;  S.  P.  Havis,  Arkansas.  Miss  Jessie  Schley  proposed  as  a  question 
of  discussion,  "Why  Should  Not  the  Negro  Go  Back  to  Africa?"  The 
remainder  of  the  afternoon  was  occupied  in  discussing  the  subject. 

Charles  H.  Butler,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  read  the  following  paper  on 
"The  Condition  and  Future  of  the  Negro  Race  in  the  United  States." 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  NEGRO  RACE. 

The  subject  of  the  paper  that  I  have  been  invited  to  prepare  for  your  consideration, 
"  The  Condition  and  Future  of  the  Negro  Race  in  the  United  States,"  can  in  no  sense 
be  considered  a  new  one.  It  has  been  constantly  before  the  people  of  this  country  since 
the  establishment  of  the  government  itself  Jt  has  been  discussed  in  the  church,  on 
the  rostrum  and  in  politics.  The  negro  has  been  a  conspicuous  figure  in  our  body  pol- 
itic, and  like  the  ghost  in  Macbeth,  "  It  will  not  down."  I  come  from  the  common 
people,  with  no  special  ability  to  produce  a  paper  with  well-set  phrases,  or  to  say  any- 
thing new  upon  an  old  and  well-worn  subject.  But  I  shall  a  plain  unvarnished  tale  de- 
liver and  leave  the  rest  to  you  and  God. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


123 


Passing  over  the  terrible  story  of  the  negro's  sufferings  in  slavery  days,  I  would 
date  his  existence  from  the  time  of  his  emancipation.  From  that  day,  by  reason  of  a 
great  war  necessity,  the  President  of  the  United  States  signed  with  his  hand,  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  placed  upon  it,  that  immortal  instrument 
which  struck  the  shackles  from  millions  of  human  beings.  I  would  mark  his  existence 
as  a  man  from  that  January  morning,  when  he  whom  God  had  created  in  His  own  image 
and  likeness  was  declared  free.  Free  without  a  dollar,  without  education.  His  best 
and  most  sincere  friends  believed  that  he  could  not  exist,  but  that  he  would  be  swept 
from  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  Philadelphia,  in  his 
address  of  welcome  to  the  Third  Colored  Catholic  Congress  held  in  Philadelphia,  January 
1892,  said:  "  Many  trembled  at  the  proclamation  of  emancipation.  Even  the  friends 
of  the  colored  race  believed  that  the  time  had  not  come."  I  frankly  admit  that  at  that 
time  there  was  much  to  justify  the  belief.  The  greater  part  of  the  emancipated  slaves 
remained  in  the  midst  of  their  former  oppressions,  and  sought  to  work  out  their  own 
salvation  through  fear  and  trembling. 

The  history  of  their  sufferings  has  been  recorded  by  Him  who  knows  the  secrets  of 
all  hearts.  Their  sufferings  were  not  unlike  the  sufferings  of  the  Israelites  of  old,  who 
were  held  in  bondage  for  400  years.  History  oft  repeats  itself.  A  chain  of  unfortunate 
circumstances  followed  the  emancipation  in  rapid  succession  and  placed  the  negro  at  a 
disadvantage.  The  period  of  reconstruction  followed.  The  interests  of  the  negro  fell 
into  the  hands  of  men,  many  of  whom  were  selfish  and  unscrupulous,  who  cared  very 
little  for  his  welfare  and  valued  nothing  but  his  vote. 

It  can  not  be  said  that  during  this  period  he  made  much  progress,  mentally  or 
morally.  True,  now  and  then  a  single  man  under  favorable  circumstances  rose  up  by 
force  of  intellect  and  did  attain  a  respectable  and  commanding  position.  But  hie 
eminence  served  only  to  mark  with  greater  emphasis  the  inferior  condition  of  the  race 
to  which  he  belonged. 

There  is  one  thing  that  can  be  said  to  the  credit  of  the  reconstructed  party.  They 
established  schools  for  the  poor  and  illiterate,  both  white  and  black,  and  when  they  fell 
the  school  system  remained.  But  the  exit  of  this  party  left  no  kindly  feeling  toward 
the  negro.  He  was  the  visible  representative  of  antagonism.  The  white  man  held  the 
negro  responsible  for  the  unhappy  conflict  that  brought  ruin  financially  to  his  nation's 
soil.  He  was  held  responsible  for  the  acts  of  men  who  did  not  represent  him,  although 
they  used  him,  and  for  those  acts  the  negro  paid  dearly,  being  made  the  victim  of  polit- 
ical murders  and  outrages,  the  subject  of  a  bitter  ostracism  that  denied  him  any  chance 
to  improve  his  condition,  and  finally  forced  him  to  become  an  outcast  from  his  nativ^ 
soil. 

I  have  not  the  time  to  touch  upon  the  exodus  of  the  negro  race  from  the  Southern 
States,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  thrilling  incidents  in  his  struggle  for  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  I  do  not  think  I  would  be  doing  justice  to  my  subject  if  I 
did  not  here  make  mention  of  it.  That  movement  has  often  been  referred  to  as  a  polit- 
ical movement  and  passed  upon  lightly  by  our  white  fellow-citizens;  but  it  was  a  nat- 
ural operation  of  divine  law  that  moved  those  communities  of  negroes  to  turn  their 
faces  towards  the  setting  sun.  They  were  willing  to  endure  any  hardship  short  of 
death  to  reach  a  land  where,  under  their  own  vine  and  fig  trees,  they  could  enjoy  the 
life  our  Creator  intended  for  them, 

The  failure  of  that  institution  organized  and  chartered  by  the  government,  known 
as  the  Freedman's  Savings  Bank,  did  much  to  sow  the  seeds  of  distrust  among  the 
f  reedmen  of  the  South.  Sixty-two  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  depositors  had 
faithfully  carried  their  wages  to  the  government  bank.  The  books  of  that  institution 
showed  that  $3,000,000  had  been  placed  to  their  credit,  for  freedom  had  inspired  them, 
and  they  were  using  its  opportunity  to  secure  a  competency  in  the  hope  of  becoming, 
some  day,  property  owners,  and  of  holding  up  their  heads  as  men  in  the  land  where 
they  had  once  been  slaves.  Because  of  the  failure  of  that  bank  they  did  not  lose  heart. 
They  tried  again,  and  to-day  own  8263,000,000  worth  of  property.  In  the  Southern 
States  it  is  said  the  negroes'  wealth  is  as  follows : 

Alabama. ...  $  4,200,125 

Florida 7,900,400 

Arkansas 8,010,315 

Georgia 10,415,330 

Kentucky 5,900,400 

Mississippi 13,490,213 

North  Carolina 11,010,652 

Texas..  18,010,545 


I24 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


Virginia 4,900,000 

Louisiana 18,100,528 

Missouri 6,600,343 

South  Carolina 12,500,000 

Tennessee 10,400,211 

Since  history  tells  us  that  it  took  the  proud  and  mighty  Saxons  a  thousand  years  to 
emerge  from  the  thralldom  of  the  Roman  conquest  and  to  reach  a  condition  akin  to 
modern  civilization,  I  ask  all  fair-minded  persons  if  this  is  not  a  remarkable  showing? 
Let  those  who  oppose  the  negro  and  who  claim  that  he  has  made  no  progress  point  to  any 
period  of  the  world's  history  where  any  race,  even  the  most  favored  and  under  the  most 
favorable  conditions,  has  made  as  much  genuine  progress  in  thirty  years  as  has  the 
despised  one. 

In  the  struggle  of  the  negro  in  the  United  States  I  am  reminded  of  the  struggle  of 
the  Holy  Church  in  America,  when  prejudice  ran  riot  and  it  was  considered  no  crime 
to  place  the  torch  to  the  church  or  the  orphan  asylum.  But,  thank  God,  those  days 
have  passed,  and  we  live  in  an  age  when  every  man's  religious  convictions  are  respected 
and  no  one  is  persecuted  for  opinion's  sake.  The  negro  has  made  mistakes,  but  they 
should  not  be  held  against  him  with  more  force  than  against  any  other  race.  And 
what  race  has  not  made  mistakes?  Those  made  by  the  early  leaders  of  the  negro  are 
now  being  remedied  and  corrected  by  the  young,  more  advanced  generation  of  to-day, 
who  are  educating  the  race  that  they  may  develop  true  manhood  and  character. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Catholic  Church  did  not  take  earlier  steps  in  the 
missionary  work  among  the  emancipated  slaves  of  the  South.  Then  their  calling  and 
election  would  be  sure.  The  reputation  of  the  church  for  civilizing  and  educating 
nations  is  established  in  history.  It  seems,  however,  to  have  been  left  for  the  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimore  to  issue  the  mandate  which  called  the  attention  of  the  Catholics  of 
this  country  to  a  sense  of  duty  in  this  matter.  That  little  mustard  seed,  planted  by 
Rev.  Father  Slattery  and  his  co-laborers  in  Baltimore,  is  bearing  fruit  that  will  have  its 
ultimate  result  in  Catholic  schools,  with  industrial  facilities,  that  will  be  a  most  power- 
ful factor  in  solving  the  negro  problem  in  the  United  States.  The  Protestant  Church 
is  greaily  in  advance  of  us,  for  their  colleges  and  industrial  schools,  supported  by  white 
philanthropists  of  the  North,  are  dotted  all  over  the  Southland. 

What  shall  I  say  of  the  future  of  the  negro  race  in  the  United  States?  His  future 
depends  upon  his  treatment  in  a  great  measure  by  the  white  man;  whether  the  proud 
Anglo-Saxon  intends  to  dispossess  himself  of  mere  race  prejudice  and  accord  his  black 
brother  simple  justice.  If  continual  warfare  is  to  be  carried  on  against  him  because  of 
the  accident  of  color,  then  all  his  efforts  are  in  vain.  But  I  am  strong  to  believe  that 
the  dust  of  American  prejudice  will  be  cleared  from  the  eyes  of  our  white  fellow-citizens, 
they  will  learn  to  discriminate,  not  by  the  color  of  a  man's  skin,  but  by  the  test  that  all 
men  should  adhere  to — character  and  ability. 

There  is  one  subject  upon  which  the  negro  has  been  greatly  misunderstood  by  his 
friends,  and  purposely  so  by  his  enemies — they  have  made  the  clear  and  definite  term 
"  civil  equality  "  synonymous  with  that  other  definite  term  of  entirely  different  signifi- 
cance, "  social  equality."  If  civil  equality  and  social  equality  had  the  same  application 
there  would  be  room  for  complaint,  and  justly  so,  but  upon  a  calm  and  dispassionate 
thought  it  must  be  apparent  to  all  intelligent  men  that  such  a  thing  would  be  as  dis- 
tasteful to  the  negro  as  to  the  white  man.  Civil  equality  makes  no  such  proposal,  bears 
no  such  result.  Public  society  and  civil  society  comprise  one  distinct  group  of  mutual 
relations  and  private  society  entirely  another,  and  it  is  evil  to  confuse  the  two.  Pro- 
fessor A.  F.  Hilyer,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  in  treating  this  subject,  said: 

"  We  can  take  care  of  ourselves  in  a  social  way,  but  when  prejudice  sets  up  an 
invidious  distinction  and  discrimination  in  public  licensed  dining-halls,  hotels,  and  places 
of  amusement,  and  make  them  want  to  exclude  us  from  the  avenues  of  remunerative 
employments  of  the  commercial  world,  and  make  them  deny  to  the  most  cultured 
and  aspiring  among  us  admission  to  their  best  professional,  scientific,  and  literary 
associations,  we  think  it  is  a  hardship  which  we,  as  loyal  American  citizens,  ought  not 
to  be  compelled  to  endure." 

My  voice  has  been  lifted  upon  many  occasions  upon  this  subject  of  caste  prejudice. 
I  have  pleaded  with  all  the  earnestness  of  my  soul  that  all  the  avenues  of  human 
activity  be  opened  to  the  negro  race,  and  that  they  be  given  a  fair  and  impartial 
trial.  Will  this  be  done?  For  upon  this  rests  their  case.  I  can  not  dismiss  this  considera- 
tion without  saying  a  word  to  those  who  would  carry  their  prejudices  into  the  sacred 
confines  of  God's  holy  church,  and  relegate  the  negro  to  an  obscure  corner  of  the  church, 
and  endeavor  to  make  him  feel  that  he  is  not  as  good  as  the  rest  of  God's  creatures  for 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  125 

the  reason  of  the  accident  of  his  color.     How  long,  oh  Lord,  are  we  to  endure  this 
hardship  in  the  house  of  our  friends? 

We  celebrate  the  400th  year  of  the  discovery  of  America.  Lo,  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  are  here  to  do  us  homage  with  their  presence.  I  here  appeal  to 
you,  tirst  as  American  citizens,  second  as  loyal  sons  of  our  Holy  Mother,  the  Church, 
to  assist  us  to  strike  down  that  hybrid  monster,  color  prejudice,  which  is  unworthy  of 
this  glorious  Republic.  We  ask  it  not  alone  for  charity's  sake,  but  as  a  right  that  has 
been  dearly  paid  for.  Our  labor  in  concert  with  the  other  laborers  of  the  land,  has 
made  this  World's  Columbian  Exposition  possible.  Our  valor  has  been  tested  in  all  the 
three  great  wars  of  the  Republic.  The  first  man  that  lost  his  life  in  defense  of  this 
•country  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  was  Crispus  Attucks,  a  negro.  Let  us  quote  the  lan- 
guage of  that  immortal  bard,  the  lover  of  all  humanity,  John  Boyle  O'Reilly  : 

And  honor  to  Crispus  Attucks,  who  was  leader  and  voice  that  day, 
The  first  to  defy,  and  the  first  to  die  with  Maverick,  Carr,  and  Gray, 
Call  it  a  riot  or  revolution,  his  hand  first  clinched  at  the  crown  : 
His  feet  were  the  first  in  perilous  place  to  pull  the  King's  flag  down  ; 
His  breast  was  the  first  one  rent  apart  that  liberty's  stream  might  flow  ; 
For  our  freedom  now  and  forever,  his  head  was  the  first  laid  low. 

William  F.  Markoe,  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Catholic  Truth 
Society  of  America,  read  the  following  paper  on  the  possibilities  of  the 
society  in  the  United  States: 

The  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America,  as  declared  in  its  prospectus,  is  one  of  the 
results  of  the  first  American  Catholic  Congress  of  Baltimore.  It  is  highly  proper, 
therefore,  that  it  should  give  an  account  of  its  origin  and  progress  to  the  second  great 
American  Catholic  Congress  of  Chicago.  As  many  of  my  hearers  may  remember,  the 
dolegates  to  that  first  remarkable  gathering  had  listened  to  the  burning  eloquence  of 
come  of  the  most  gifted  Catholic  minds  of  the  country.  They  are  reminded  in  the 
most  forcible  manner  that  the  mission  of  the  church  in  this  country  was  "  To  make 
America  Catholic;"  that  the  second  century  of  American  Catholic  history  would  be 
w hat  they  made  it,  and  that  this  was  a  missionary  land  in  which  every  Catholic  man, 
•woman,  and  child  owed  a  duty  to  his  neighbor  for  the  performance  of  which  posterity 
would  demand  a  strict  account.  Like  the  apostles  issuing  from  the  upper  chamber  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  those  delegates  returned  to  their  homes  filled  with  religious  zeal 
and  patriotic  enthusiasm.  "  Lay  action  "  became  the  motto  of  the  hour.  The  question 
was  how  could  the  laity  co-operate  with  the  church  in  her  glorious  work. 

As  a  result  of  the  interest  thus  awakened  in  the  matter  by  the  Congress  of  Balti- 
more, the  Catholic  Truth  Society  was  organized  on  the  evening  of  March  1,  1890,  in  the 
archepiscopal  residence  of  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  with  nine  original  members,  and  its  avowed 
object  was  to  "enable  Catholic  laymen  to  perform  their  share  of  the  work  in  the  dis- 
semination of  Catholic  truth,  and  the  encouragement  of  wholesome  Catholic  reading." 
Though  the  original  founders  of  the  American  society  possessed  at  that  time  little,  if 
any,  knowledge  of  the  work  of  a  similar  society  in  England,  it  was  discovered  later  that 
their  objects  were  identical,  and  their  methods  differed  only  in  the  greater  prominence 
given  to  newspaper  work  in  the  new  organization.  The  principal  means  adopted  by  the 
American  society  for  attaining  its  object  were  as  follows: 

1.  The  publication  of  short  timely  articles  in  the  secular  press  (to  be  paid  for  if 
necessary)  on  Catholic  doctrines. 

2.  The  prompt  and  systematic  correction  of  misrepresentations,  slanders,  and  libels 
against  Catholicity. 

3.  The  promulgation  of  reliable  and  edifying  Catholic  news  of  the  day,  as  church 
dedications,  opening  of  asylums  and  hospitals,  the  workings  of  Catholic  charitable  insti- 
tutions, abstracts  of  sermons,  and  anything  calculated  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the 
vast  amount  of  good  being  accomplished  by  the  Catholic  church. 

4.  The  publication  of  pamphlets,  tracts,  and  leaflets;  the  circulation  of  pamphlets, 
tracts,  leaflets,  and  Catholic  newspapers. 

5.  Occasional  public  lectures  on  subjects  of  Catholic  interest. 

6.  Supplying  jails  and  reformatories  with  good  and  wholesome  reading  matter. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  our  society  offers  a  variety  of  methods  sufficient  to  suit  the  tal- 
ents and  tastes  of  all,  yet  its  very  life  and  essence  consist  in  disseminating  Catholic 
truth  through  the  medium  of  the  press.  It  does  this  in  two  ways:  First,  it  endeavors 
to  reach  the  vast  American  reading  public  through  those  great  channels  of  popular 
information,  the  secular  dailies.  It  would  seem  as  though  Providence  had  permitted 
these  great  journals  to  attain  their  enormous  circulation  in  order  to  afford  Catholics 
an  easy  and  efficient  means  of  conveying  the  priceless  treasure  of  Christian  faith  which 


126  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

they  possess  to  the  countless  millions  in  search  of  Divine  truth.  On  the  day  of  Pente 
cost  he  worked  a  miracle  to  enable  the  apostles  to  speak  in  all  languages  at  once  and 
thus  reach  thousands  of  hearers  in  a  moment.  In  our  days  he  puts  at  our  disposal  the 
modern  newspaper,  by  which  a  sermon  can  be  conveyed  in  an  hour  to  millions  of  read- 
ers. 

Have  you  ever  thought  of  that,  my  friends?  Can  we  shut  our  eyes  to  this  modern 
miracle  of  Pentecost?  This  use  of  the  secular  press,  which  we  are  willing  to  pay  for,  if 
necessary,  is  a  method  of  "carrying  the  war  into  Africa?"  Of  course.no  intelligent 
Catholic  will  dispute  for  a  moment  the  power  of  the  Catholic  press,  the  importance  of 
the  field  it  occupies,  or  the  value  of  the  results  it  has  obtained.  But  what  do  non- 
Catholics  know  about  the  Catholic  press?  How  many  of  them  ever  read  a  Catholic 
journal?  With  many,  alas!  the  very  word  "  Catholic  "  is  sufficient  to  excite  suspicion 
and  thwart  the  good  that  is  intended;  hence,  we  are  forced  to  admit  that  "  when  the 
mountain  will  not  come  to  the  prophet,  the  prophet  must  go  to  the  mountain." 

Another  reason  makes  it  necessary  for  us  to  have  recourse  to  the  secular  rather 
than  the  Catholic  press  in  this  work.  "  Mis-statements,  slanders,  and  libels  against 
Catholic  truth  "  do  not  usually  appear  in  Catholic  papers ;  hence,  that  is  hardly  the 
place  to  correct  them.  Moreover,  the  value  of  a  correction  depends  largely  upon  the 
promptness  with  which  the  truth  is  sent  traveling  on  the  heels  of  error.  This  prompt- 
ness can  never  be  secured  in  the  columns  of  the  Catholic  weeklies.  The  damage  is  done 
in  the  secular  dailies,  and  they  are  the  ones  that  must  repair  it.  Nor  is  this  an  unreason- 
able demand  to  make  on  the  secular  press.  Newspapers  do  not,  as  a  rule,  willfully  or 
knowingly,  slander  their  readers.  They  aim  to  give  the  news  impartially  and  correctly, 
and  are  always  glad  to  receive  it  from  reliable  sources. 

To  guard,  however,  against  the  danger  of  incompetent  persons  attempting  too 
much,  ample  provision  is  made  in  the  constitution  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society 
directing  how  such  newspaper  work  shall  be  done  ;  yet,  as  all  can  not  write,  we  follow 
in  this  the  motto  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  England  :  "For  ten  who  can  write 
10,000  can  subscribe  and  100,000  can  scatter  the  seed." 

Hence,  the  second  way  in  which  we  work  through  the  press  is  by  furnishing  all 
our  members  with  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  new,  cheap,  and  original  literature, 
especially  designed  for  our  work,  and  presumably  the  most  useful,  suitable,  and  appro- 
priate for  the  purpose  that  can  possibly  be  produced.  Our  plan  of  publication,  briefly 
stated,  is  as  follows : 

Pamphlets,  tracts,  and  leaflets  are  solicited  without  remuneration  from  the  ablest 
ecclesiastics  and  laymen  whom  the  society  can  interest  in  its  work,  and  furnished  to  all 
its  members  and  affiliated  branches  at  a  nominal  price,  based  on  the  cost  of  an  electro- 
type edition  of  not  less  than  10,000  copies.  We  trust  to  the  annual  initiation  fee  of  our 
members  and  the  energy  of  our  local  branches  throughout  the  country  to  meet  tho 
necessary  pecuniary  outlay  and  to  dispose  of  our  publications.  The  slight  profit  thai 
may  then  remain  is  used  in  distributing  our  literature  gratis  among  non-Catholics, 
where  it  will  do  the  most  good.  Thus  it  is  evident  that  with  100,000  members  we  could 
flood  the  land  with  Catholic  literature  almost  gratis. 

The  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America  has  not  failed  to  win  during  its  short  career 
the  hearty  approval  of  the  American  hierarchy  and  of  our  Holy  Father,  the  Pope  him- 
self. We  have  received  earnest  letters  of  approval  from  his  eminence,  Cardinal  Gibbons, 
from  four  archbishops,  and  thirteen  bishops.  On  March  10th  we  received  the  special 
blessing  of  our  Holy  Father  by  cable,  and  on  March  10, 1893,  we  received  a  papal  indult, 
dated  February  19th,  granting  special  plenary  and  partial  indulgences  for  five  years  to 
the  members,  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America,  and  all  who  write,  publish,  or 
promote  the  spread  of  the  society's  literature.  What  more  can  we  ask? 

As  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  and  its  work  becomes  better  known,  it  would  seem  a 
difficult  matter  for  any  earnest  Catholic,  who  loves  his  church  and  his  country,  to  find 
an  excuse  for  not  joining  it.  As  its  affairs  are  conducted  by  a  board  of  directors,  who 
hold  monthly  meetings  for  the  transaction  of  all  its  business  without  pecuniary  com- 
pensation, membership  involves  no  irksome  duties;  there  are  no  compulsory  meetings; 
no  fines  or  penalties,  and  the  annual  subscription  is  only  nominal;  it  interferes  with  no 
other  society  in  existence,  for  its  ultimate  object  being  to  "  Bring  other  sheep  into  the 
fold,"  its  ultimate  effect  must  naturally  be  to  strengthen  and  increase  the  membership 
of  all  other  Catholic  societies. 

The  individual  member  has  full  liberty  to  work  according  to  his  ability  and  oppor- 
tunities in  the  manner  his  judgment  and  inclination  may  suggest.  He  may  write  for 
the  press,  disseminating  Catholic  truth,  correcting  misstatements  and  furnishing  edify- 
ing Catholic  news,  always,  however,  taking  care  not  to  compromise  the  society;  or  if 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


127 


he  can  not  write,  at  least  he  can  distribute  an  occasional  tract,  attend  the  lectures,  and 
bring  a  non-Catholic  friend,  carry  the  literature  furnished  by  the  secretary  to  the  im- 
prisoned, secure  new  members,  and  aid  the  good  cause  in  countless  other  ways  as 
occasion  offers. 

So  much  for  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America.  Of  its  possi- 
bilities in  the  United  States,  time  will  permit  of  a  few  words  only.  Never,  perhaps,  in 
the  history  of  the  church  was  field  of  labor  more  glorious,  open  to  the  efforts  of  her  chil- 
dre  n  than  in  our  own  age  and  land.  This  country  owes  its  very  discovery  to  the  heroic 
f  ai  th  of  a  devout  son  of  the  church  who  undertook  the  search  for  a  new  world  that  he 
might  sow  therein  the  seeds  of  divine  faith — the  immortal  Christopher  Columbus.  Nor 
is  this  soil  unfriendly  to  the  Christian  religion.  The  United  States  government  has 
never,  like  so  many  European  governments,  made  war  on  the  Pope,  or  cast  off  the 
authority  of  the  church.  This  nation  since  its  birth  has  never  performed  one  act  of 
hostility  to  the  Catholic  religion,  martyred  or  persecuted  a  single  Catholic,  and  its  first 
act  on  winning  independence  was  to  repair  the  injustice  of  the  mother  country  and  to 
place  Catholicity  on  an  equal  footing  with  Protestantism. 

Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  a  natural  affinity  between  the  Catholic  Church  and  the 
American  Republic.  In  the  language  of  Chief  Justice  Shea,  of  the  Marine  Court  of  New 
Fork,  "Our  own  government  and  the  laws  which  administer  it,  like  those  of  Alfred  the 
Great,  are  in  every  part — legislative,  judicial,  and  executive — Christian  in  nature,  form, 
and  purpose." 

In  the  still  plainer  words  of  the  illustrious  Dr.  Brownson,  than  whom  America  has 
produced  no  deeper  thinker,  "  the  American  State  recognizes  only  the  Catholic  religion. 
It  eschews  all  sectarianism,  and  none  of  the  sects  have  been  able  to  get  their  peculiar- 
ities incorporated  into  its  constitution  or  its  laws.  The  State  conforms  to  what  each 
holds  that  is  Catholic — that  is  always  and  everywhere  religion;  and  whatever  is  not 
Catholic  it  leaves  as  outside  of  its  province,  to  live  or  die  according  to  its  own  inherent 
vitality  or  want  of  vitality." 

Thus,  where  Columbus  and  our  Catholic  ancestors  have  sown  the  seed  it  is  ours  to 
reap  the  harvest.  Amid  the  universal  crumbling  of  creeds  and  wreck  of  religions,  the 
ship  of  Peter  alone  sails  majestically  onward  and  upward,  and  it  is  for  us  who  are  on 
board  of  her  to  cast  the  nets  in  which  the  souls  of  men  must  be  saved  from  religious 
shipwreck. 

The  opportunity  is  before  us.  The  Catholic  Truth  Society  supplies  the  means.  Let 
us  not  be  recreant  to  a  duty  so  noble.  A  nation  whose  mottoes  are  "  In  God  we  trust," 
and  "  E  pluribus  unum,"  must  soon  recognize  the  necessity  of  unity  in  religion,  and 
that  religion  alone  can  safeguard  it.  When  that  day  comes,  Catholicity  will  dawn  likt 
a  new  revelation  on  the  American  mind,  Then  may  be  realized  these  prophetic  wordt 
of  John  Bright:  "I  see  another  and  a  brighter  vision  before  my  gaze.  It  may  be  only  a 
vision,  but  I  cherish  it.  I  see  one  vast  confederation  stretching  from  the  frozen  North 
to  the  glowing  South,  and  from  the  wild  billows  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  calmer  waters  of 
the  Pacific  main;  and  I  see  one  people,  one  language,  one  law,  and  one  faith;  and  all 
over  that  wide  continent,  the  home  of  freedom,  and  a  refuge  for  the  oppressed  of  every 
race  and  clime." 

Richard  R.  Elliott,  of  Detroit,  contributed  a  paper  on  "Public  and  Private 
Charities,"  in  which  he  considered  the  question  from  the  Catholic  as  well  as 
from  a  practical  standpoint.  The  substance  of  his  paper  follows: 

It  is  not  difficult  to  explain  the  evil  tendencies  and  results  of  public  outdoor  relief 
in  a  Catholic  parish  in  connection  with  the  work  of  a  pastor,  who  is  aided  in  caring  for 
the  poor  by  such  auxiliary  charitable  societies  as  may  be  established  in  his  parish.  The 
pastor  of  a  city  parish,  having  a  census  of  the  members  of  his  congregation,  will  most 
probably  know  the  status  of  the  religious  and  temporal  condition  of  each  family  or 
member.  He  knows  the  location  of  the  homes  of  the  wealthy,  of  the  well-to-do,  of  the 
self  supporting,  as  also  the  abodes  of  those  who  may  be  classed  as  poor  families.  He 
has  either  a  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  conference  or  a  parochial  relief  society  to  aid  him  in 
such  charitable  work  as  may  be  found  necessary.  His  attention  is  called  to  a  family  in 
distress,  whose  condition  is  investigated  and  found  to  be  worthy,  and  its  care  is  relegated 
to  the  Vincentian  conference  or  some  other  organization.  If  there  be  children  old 
enough  to  go  to  school  and  they  are  not  attending  the  parish  school  this  will  be  changed, 
and  such  other  remedies  applied  as  may  be  necessary  to  ward  off  poverty  and  its  conse- 
quences if  possible. 

The  condition  of  such  families  when  first  discovered  differ  greatly.  Often,  indeed, 
is  the  widowed  or  deserted  mother  in  charge  found  to  be  a  heroine  deserving  the 


128  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

warmest  sympathy  for  her  efforts  to  keep  her  little  ones  together,  to  shelter  them  from 
the  cold,  to  feed  and  to  clothe  them,  and  to  shield  them  from  contaminating  influence 
by  companionship  or  from  vicious  surroundings.  She  has  to  do  this  by  her  individual 
efforts.  Whatever  may  have  brought  this  family  to  a  state  of  poverty  is  immaterial. 
There  it  is  found  existing  in  this  parish.  Assistance  by  Vincentian  methods  continue; 
as  the  children  grow  in  years  they  are  educated  and  instructed  in  their  religion,  in  time 
they  receive  the  sacraments,  and  one  or  more  may  then  be  found  employment,  by  which 
the  burden  of  the  heroic  mother  is  lightened  more  and  more  as  her  children  mature. 
Such  is  the  experience  of  many  devoted  pastors  who  have  worked  for  the  improvement 
of  the  condition  of  the  poor  within  their  parochial  limits.  It  is  not  an  uncommon 
result,  but  if  it  were  so  it  would  nevertheless  console  that  pastor  for  other  bitter  disap- 
pointments. 

Very  much  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  mother.  Her  neighbors  in  similar 
condition,  of  the  same  faith,  may  be  lazy,  indifferent,  and  intemperate.  They  will 
ridicule  the  heroic  efforts  of  this  honest  Christian  mother,  ridicule  the  practice  of  her 
religious  duties  and  her  obedience  to  pastoral  advice.  They  will  say  to  her,  •'  You  are 
so  foolish  to  work  so  hard  day  after  day;  do  as  we  do;  go  to  the  office  of  the  director  of 
the  poor  and  demand  assistance,  as  thousands  of  others  do;  he  can't  refuse  you,  for  you 
have  children,  and  he  will  supply  you  with  coal  and  give  you  an  order  for  provisions 
once  a  week." 

It  would  be  a  sore  temptation  to  this  inexperienced  soul.  Half  a  ton  of  coal  a 
month  and  $5  or  §6  worth  of  provisions  would  be  equal  to  the  proceeds  of  two  or  more 
days'  work  each  week,  which  she  was  not  always  certain  to  obtain.  This  would  add  so 
much  to  the  comfort  of  herself  and  her  children,  and  she  would  not  be  obliged  to  ask 
so  much  aid  from  the  priest. 

Should  she  yield  to  the  temptation,  what  would  be  the  result?  She  goes  to  the 
office  of  the  secretary  of  the  poor  and  enters  an  anteroom  whose  atmosphere  is  sickening, 
and  finds  herself  one  among  hundreds  of  filthy-looking  and  degraded-appearing  people, 
who  are  waiting  their  turn  to  approach  the  official  window  from  which  outdoor  munic- 
ipal relief  is  given.  She  becomes  disheartened,  sick;  but  her  courage  nerves  her,  and 
she  consoles  herself  with  the  reflection  that  she  is  there  for  her  children,  not  for  herself. 
Her  turn  comes;  she  goes  to  the  official  window  and  makes  her  demand;  her  appearance 
is  favorable,  she  receives  an  order  for  provisions  and  a  promise  for  coal  if,  upon  investi- 
gation, her  statements  are  found  to  be  correct.  These  prove  favorable,  she  receives  a 
load  of  coal,  and  once  each  week  she  goes  through  the  same  ordeal  during  the  winter 
season  and  receives  an  order  for  provisions  and,  when  necessary,  coal. 

This  is  the  practical  method  of  outdoor  municipal  relief.  What  are  its  conse- 
quences? The  recipient  of  this  charity  has,  in  fact,  become  what  is  legally  termed  a 
pauper.  She  has  fallen  an  immeasurable  distance  below  the  Christian  mother  she 
was  in  her  respectable  poverty,  because,  in  obtaining  this  relief  in  the  manner  she  did, 
she  lost  her  self-respect.  She  and  her  children  are  to  be  nourished  with  pauper  food, 
and  warmed  with  pauper  coal.  Can  she  conceal  this  fact  from  her  children;  can  she 
conceal  it  from  others?  Unfortunately,  she  can  not;  and  it  remains  for  the  future  a 
stigma  upon  herself  and  her  children. 

But  there  are  other  consequences.  The  fact  that  she  receives  public  outdoor  relief 
may  not  come  to  the  knowledge  of  her  pastor;  when,  therefore,  he  finds  the  object  of 
his  solicitude  less  docile,  he  is  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  cause.  But  it  will  soon  be- 
developed  that  this  deserving  mother  has  become  in  a  measure  independent  of  his  con- 
trol. She  may  still  be  saved  from  the  consequences,  but  it  is  doubtful;  her  self-respect 
gone,  she  can  only  weep  at  the  degradation  she  has  brought  upon  herself  and  her  chil- 
dren. Were  there  no  system  of  outdoor  aid,  had  a  mother  who  could  get  along  during 
the  summer  season  fairly  well  by  her  own  labor,  but  who  required  assistance  during  the 
winter  season,  no  recourse  to  outdoor  aid,  she  \\cr.ld  be  guided  by  the  advice  of  her 
pastor  or  of  other  private  charitable  agencies,  who  would  render  her  temporary  assist- 
ance from  time  to  time,  and  tide  her  over  an  inclement  season  or  a  period  of  stagnation 
when  work  would  be  scarce;  she  would  be  saved  from  the  disgrace  of  pauperism,  her 
children  would  be  properly  educated  and  instructed  in  their  religious  duties,  and  in 
time  this  family  would  become  self-supporting. 

There  is  a  brighter  side  to  the  administration  of  public  outdoor  aid.  It  may  be 
temporarily  given,  and  the  home  and  status  of  the  applicant  is  then  pretty  fairly  inves- 
tigated, for  an  excellent  system  of  investigation  has  been  the  rule  for  some  years.  If 
the  official  visitor'^  report  be  favorable  the  aid  may  be  continued  until  poverty  no 
longer  exists  in  the  family  aided,  or  the  director  may  contribute  indefinitely  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  supplement  the  means  of  support  the  family  may  have  been  deprived  of, 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


129 


and  in  most  cases  this  is  a  worthy  bestowal  of  public  aid;  but  even  in  such  cases  it 
operates  unfavorably  to  the  recipient,  for,  unfortunately,  the  records  of  the  relieving 
officer  disclose  the  fact  that  the  names  of  nearly  all  recipients  of  such  aid  recur  year 
after  year  until  death,  some  fortunate  event,  or  removal  from  the  city  brings  the  account 
to  a  close. 

But  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  in  all  American  cities  the  poor  or  dependent 
classes,  as  they  may  become  so,  can  and  should  be  properly  cared  for  by  charitable 
methods  independent  of  official  outdoor  relief.  As  this  system  interferes  with  the  efforts 
of  private  charities  to  restore  these  dependent  classes  to  self-support,  as  it  interferes  to 
thwart  organized  effort  for  their  religious  and  temporal  improvement,  as  it  encourages 
begging,  imposition,  and  laziness,  and  breeds  pauperism,  it  may  be  claimed  that  public 
and  private  charities  would  become  more  effective  by  the  general  abolition  of  the  sys- 
tem of  outdoor  relief  as  heretofore  administered  in  cities. 

"The  only  really  perfect  way  of  caring  for  the  poor,"  said  Bishop  Chatard,  "is 
where,  to  prudence  in  dispensing  through  organized  effort,  is  added  the  presiding 
influence  of  religion,  for  the  needs  of  the  soul  are  more  important  than  those  of  the 
body.  What  is  noble  of  man  is  his  soul;  the  body  is  to  perish.  As  the  man  who 
destroys  another's  faith  in  Christianity  is  the  most  of  all  wanting  in  charity,  so  he  who 
helps  a  man  to  be  a  Christian  shows  himself  to  be  truly  charitable." 

Among  the  lay  associations,  numerous  in  every  time,  in  this  day  stands  prominent 
the  Society  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul,  which  has  made  the  name  of  its  founder,  Oza- 
nam,  famous  throughout  the  world.  The  system  they  follow  is  one  in  which  out-door 
relief  is  especially  looked  to,  and  every  kind  of  distress  it  is  their  object  to  meet.  "And 
the  reason  why  their  work  is  so  thorough,  and  so  permanent,  and  so  persevering,"  Dr. 
Chatard  concludes,  "  is  because  it  is  material  aid  bestowed  by  charity  enlightened  by 
religion." 

But  the  social  problem,  how  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  poor  and  prevent 
pauperism,  which  for  so  many  years  has  been  fruitlessly  discussed  in  this  country,  has 
been  solved  in  Europe,  and  by  methods  based  on  the  principles  as  explained  by  Bishop 
Chatard.  Where?  Was  it  solved  in  London,  distinguished  of  all  other  cities  for  the 
extent  and  debased  condition  of  its  poorer  classes?  No.  It  was  solved  in  Vienna, 
whose  population  is  about  one-fourth  that  of  the  capital  of  the  British  Empire,  whose 
Empress,  figuratively  speaking,  rules  a  free  people;  while  the  Emperor  of  Austria-Hun- 
gary rules  as  a  paternal  autocrat. 

But  once  each  year  the  Austrian  monarch  teaches  the  sublime  lesson  of  charity  by 
publicly  washing  the  feet  of  twelve  of  the  poorest  subjects  of  his  great  empire.  Fancy 
Queen  Victoria  washing  the  feet  of  twelve  poor  wretches  from  a  London  workhouse,  or 
President  Cleveland  those  of  twelve  of  the  poorest  negroes  in  the  American  capital! 
But  when  a  Catholic  monarch,  before  the  highest  dignitaries  of  church  and  state,  and 
with  all  the  eclat  a  brilliant  court  can  add  to  the  surroundings,  offers  this  example  of 
Christian  charity  to  his  subjects,  the  time-honored  scene  is  not  without  its  effect.  And 
behind  this  ceremony  there  exists  probably  the  only  successful  practical  method  known 
in  Christendom,  of  improving  the  condition  of  the  poor  from  the  foundling  waif  to  the 
last  age  of  man  under  religious  direction. 

li;  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  chivalrous  impulse  which  adds  to  the  member- 
ship of  the  conferences  of  the  society  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  from  the  highest  classes 
in  Europe  does  not  exist  to  the  same  extent  in  this  country.  Time  may  develop  a 
change,  and  it  would  be  well  if  the  ordinaries  publicly  encouraged  the  formation  of 
conferences  in  city  parishes.  To  make  such  a  conference  effective  there  should  be  one 
master  spirit  to  lead,  either  the  president  or  secretary;  for  much  depends  upon  a 
prudent,  zealous,  and  active  leader.  Thorough  investigation  should  be  the  rule,  and 
information  sought  from  all  relieving  agencies;  for  without  diligent  scrutiny  it  is  im- 
possible to  avoid  imposition.  All  reports  should  be  in  writing,  to  enable  the  secretary 
to  comply  with  the  manual,  by  having  the  record  of  existing  cases  of  relief  written  up 
each  week.  It  is  all  important  that  conference  meetings  be  held  on  week  day  instead 
of  on  Sunday  mornings,  when  members  would  perhaps  prefer  to  be  eating  breakfast. 
At  an  evening  meeting  time  will  permit  a  free  discussion  of  the  merits  of  each 
beneficiary,  and  consultation  of  the  vital  subject  of  obtaining  employment  for  such  as 
are  in  need  of  work,  and  the  spiritual  exercises  and  reading.  It  is  impossible  to 
accomplish  the  requirements  of  the  manual  in  a  morning  session  of  an  hour.  It  is 
probable  that  no  conference  work  in  a  city  can  be  satisfactorily  done  at  Sunday  morn- 
ing meetings. 

Auxiliary  assistance  may  be  provided  by  a  pastor  of  a  city  parish  for  Vincentian 
work  by  a  ladies'  society,  to  visit  the  poor  in  their  homes;  for  such  visitors  are  more 


130 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


observing  than  men,  and  can  discover  defects  and  wants  which  a  man  can  not,  but  the 
most  important  auxiliary  aid  a  conference  can  have  is  a  temperance  society,  for  perhaps 
50  per  cent  of  the  cause  of  poverty  arises  from  intemperance,  and  such  a  great  factor  of 
misery  should  be  counteracted  in  every  parish.  A  very  simple  arrangement  may 
provide  a  labor  intelligence  office  in  each  parish  by  providing  a  register  in  some  office  or 
store,  nearest  the  church,  where  those  in  need  of  work  could  leave  their  names,  occu- 
pations, and  address,  and  those  needing  servants  or  others  for  work  could  avail  them- 
selves of  this  method. 

Knowing  what  I  do  of  the  imposition  practiced  by  applicants  for  aid,  and  the  neces- 
sity existing  for  educating  members  to  detect  such  fraud,  if  I  were  the  president  of  a  con- 
ference, I  would  have  read  once  a  month,  at  least,  a  chapter  from  Dr.  S.Humphrey 
Gurteen's  "Handbook  of  Charity,"  which  contains  much  valuable  information  and  many 
useful  suggestions  in  connection  with  the  treatment  of  the  poor  in  American  cities. 

"Pauperism.  The  Cause  and  the  Remedy,"  was  the  subject  of  a  paper 
read  by  Thomas  Dwight,  M.  D.,  of  Boston,  which  follows: 

Those  who  would  honor  God  by  serving  His  poor  must,  if  they  would  do  their  whole 
duty,  bring  all  that  they  have  to  that  service.  It  is  to  be  undertaken  deliberately, 
seriously.  Not  only  the  force  of  the  body,  but  the  powers  of  the  soul  must  be  brought  to 
bear.  As  rational  beings,  undertaking  a  serious  work,  it  is  for  us  first  deliberately  to 
apply  our  reason  to  the  matter,  to  study  it  as  we  should  study  any  commercial  enter- 
prise in  which  we  were  about  to  embark,  any  scientific  question  which  we  hoped  to 
solve.  Instinctive  charity  is  good.  We  have  a  kindly  feeling  for  Goldsmith's  village 
preacher  in  his  dealings  with  the  poor  : 

Careless  their  merits  or  their  faults  to  scan, 
His  pity  gave  ere  charity  began. 

But  charity  guided  by  reason  is  something  higher. 

Pauperism  and  poverty  are  not  the  same.  Every  poor  man  is  not  a  pauper.  The 
pauper  is  one  who  habitually  lives  in  a  state  of  destitution,  without  recognized  means 
of  support,  without  purpose  or  hope  of  bettering  his  condition.  Of  course  there  are 
paupers  of  all  grades.  Of  course  this  species  is  not  always  easily  recognized.  There 
are  transitional  forms.  The  poor  man,  falling  under  discouragement,  is  not  far  re- 
moved from  the  pauper  who,  as  yet,  is  not  quite  hopeless.  At  the  other  extreme  the 
pilfering  pauper  merges  by  degrees  into  the  habitual  criminal.  I  should  hesitate  to  class 
as  paupers  those  who,  near  the  close  of  an  industrious  life,  fall  into  destitution.  But  in 
spite  of  uncommon  instances,  the  pauper  is,  on  the  whole,  a  fairly  distinct  type. 

Let  us  try  to  see  him  as  he  is,  without  Pharisaical  condemnation  on  the  one  hand  or 
sentimental  gush  on  the  other.  Like  other  people,  he  may  be  married  or  single.  The  married 
pauper  is  the  one  we  are  most  concerned  with  in  large  cities,  for  the  unmarried  speedily 
become  something  else.  If  caught  and  saved  early  he  may  rise  to  something  better, 
otherwise  he  becomes  a  tramp  in  summer,  an  inmate  of  a  penal  or  charitable  institu- 
tion in  winter,  or  too  of  ten  an  habitual  criminal.  Though  the  more  picturesque  type 
of  the  two,  let  us  leave  him  to  attend  chiefly  to  the  one,  who,  if  not  more  to  be  pitied, 
seems  at  least  more  deserving  of  pity.  He  has  a  wife  and  many  children.  They  live 
crowded  together  in  a  dirty  tenement.  One  shudders  to  think  of  the  well-nigh  inevita- 
ble want  of  all  the  most  elementary  decencies  of  civilized  life.  The  room  is  foul,  the  air 
is  foul  from  want  of  ventilation  and  drainage,  the  bodies  are  foul  from  want  of  water, 
and  often  from  disease.  Think  not  that  I  lay  this  dirt  to  their  charge.  How  could  it 
be  otherwise?  If  the  family  have  fallen  to  this  from  something  higher,  we  may  be  sure 
that  it  was  by  degrees  that  one  sign  of  self-respect  fled  after  another.  The  man  is 
lazy.  Perhaps  he  was  not  so  always.  He  may  have  worked  well  and  willingly  once,  but 
hard  times,  improvidence,  sickness,  dissipation  (perhaps  even  a  casual,  almost  an  inno- 
cent, deviation  may  have  cost  him  a  place),  misfortune,  in  short,  of  many  kinds  may  have 
brought  him  low,  until,  by  degrees,  hope  has  changed  to  despair.  He  drinks,  of  course. 
There  is  at  least  a  temporary  comfort  in  it.  Many  in  other  stations  drink  more  with 
far  less  excess.  But  bad  liquor  in  vile  surroundings  does  not  make  glad  the  heart  of 
man.  The  lowest  passions,  the  violence,  the  brutality  in  the  depths  of  the  rough  nature 
are  brought  to  the  surface.  His  wife  drinks,  too.  Why  should  she  not?  she  says  to 
herself.  If  he  is  to  come  home  drunk  and  brutal,  why  should  he  find  her  sober?  It 
will  be  easier  to  bear  if  she  is  drunk,  too.  It  is  needless  to  complete  the  pictura, 
for  we  can  read  the  sequel  any  day  in  the  police  reports. 

And  the  children!  No  prophet  is  needed  to  foretell  their  future.  Happily  the 
mortality  below  five  years  is  very  large.  But  this  speedy  release  is  not  for  all.  Who 
teaches  their  prayers  to  the  little  ones?  What  do  they  know  of  God  but  as  a  name  to 


JAMES  F.  O'CONNOR,  Sec'y,      THOMAS  LAWLER,  Sec'y,  JOHN  M.  DUFFY,  Sec'y, 

CHICAGO.                  PRAIRIE  DU  CHIEN.  CHICAGO. 

THOMAS  DWIGHT,  M.  D.,     HON.  MORGAN  J.  O'BRIEN.  RICHARD  H.  CLARKE,  LL.  D. 

BOSTON.                                        Chairman,  XEW  YORK. 

NEW  YORK. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  131 

swear  with?  Even  if  of  a  Sunday  they  occasionally  pass  an  hour  in  the  crowded  base- 
ment of  a  church,  they  may  grow  up  without  understanding  how  to  make  even  an  act  of 
contrition.  How  will  they  resist  the  temptations  around  them  at  their  very  doors? 
The  father  may  have  been  originally  a  fairly  well-living  man,  but  as  he  went  deeper 
into  the  mire  of  pauperism  he  had  to  take  such  neighbors  as  he  found.  The  drunken, 
the  riotous,  the  lewd  swarm  on  the  same  staircase,  perhaps  on  the  same  floor.  What 
future  is  before  his  little  girls  there!  It  is  enough  to  make  him  drink  the  deeper  if,  in  a 
lucid  moment,  he  thinks  of  it. 

How  does  he  live?  Of  course  he  must  have  food,  and  he  must,  at  times,  at  least, 
have  money  to  pay  for  his  liquor.  How  he  does  it  is  a  mystery;  a  question  which  I 
incline  to  think  very  few  but  those  living  on  the  spot  can  answer  fully.  He  does  odd 
jobs  when  he  gets  them  and  feels  like  it.  He  is  helped  very  often  by  municipal  or  pri- 
vate charity,  but  to  eke  his  living  out  he  must  have  occult  ways  of  which  we  know  lit- 
tle. A  common  one  is  the  illegal  sale  of  liquor;  another  is  receiving  night  lodgers  in 
his  crowded  tenement.  When  charitable  visitors  come  he  sometimes  fawns  and  some- 
times snarls;  this  is  according  to  the  nature  of  the  man,  his  degree  of  degradation  and 
his  idea  of  his  own  interest;  but  he,  practically,  always  lies.  Let  us  not  blame  him  too 
much  for  this.  Why  should  he  feel  called  upon  to  tell  all  his  secrets?  They  can  not 
be  bought  by  an  order  for  groceries,  still  less  by  a  system  of  taking  notes  and  giving 
good  advice.  He  may  well  be  excused  for  declining  to  expose  to  public  scrutiny  a  life 
ill-ritted  for  close  inspection. 

Such  is  the  condition  of  the  typical  married  pauper  in  a  great  city.  I  believe  it  is 
a  fair  average  specimen.  There  are  both  better  and  worse.  It  is  certainly  a  ghastly 
picture.  Too  many  of  the  rich  turn  away  from  it  as  too  repulsive.  What  feelings  of 
brotherhood  have  they  with  this  dirty,  drunken,  shiftless,  lying  pauper?  Each  epithet 
is  but  too  well  deserved,  but  what  has  made  him  all  this?  Is  it  wholly  his  own  fault? 
Is  it  wholly  our  own  virtue  that  has  made  us  something  else?  Have  we  any 
reason  to  believe  that  in  his  place  we  should  have  been  less  dirty,  drunken, 
shiftless,  and  debauched  than  he?  It  is  humiliating  to  think  how  Pharisaical 
•one  is.  How  we  feel  that  the  poor  man  should  be  resigned,  cheerful,  industrious, 
temperate,  neat  in  dress,  polite  in  speech,  and,  above  all,  candid  to  our  questions. 
This  is  a  part  of  the  system  of  weighing  with  an  unjust  balance,  which  the  Lord 
hateth.  "Clear  your  mind  from  cant,"  was  the  advice  of  Dr.  Johnson.  It  is  an  excel- 
lent preliminary  to  the  study  of  these  questions. 

Many  paupers  have  been  such  from  their  childhood  up.  They  have  been  bred 
literally  in  the  slum  and  gutter.  Their  bodies  bear  in  their  most  intimate  tissues  the 
inheritance  of  vice.  Unnatural  and  debased  cravings  are  inherited  also.  Such  a  one 
•can  not  remember  the  time  when  his  body  was  sound  and  his  mind  pure.  He  is  a  pauper 
both  in  soul  and  body.  To  those  ignorant  of  these  matters  it  were  as  easy  to  conceive 
the  physical  conditions  of  life  on  a  planet  circling  round  a  red  sun  with  a  blue  com- 
panion, as  to  grasp  the  feelings  toward  society  of  such  a  young  pauper,  who  does  not 
know  God,  and  knows  man,  that  is,  the  man  of  his  world,  only  too  well.  Kindness  is 
unknown,  justice  incomprehensible.  Who  ever  made  a  bargain  with  him  who  did  not 
exact  the  most  work  for  the  least  pay  ?  If  ever  a  man  gave  him  alms,  it  was  as  to  a  dog 
or  with  a  sneer.  Gratitude  could  go  no  further  than  to  thank  fortune  for  putting  a 
fool  in  his  path. 

What  good  has  he  ever  received  from  his  fellows  ?  Wrongs  and  insults  he  can  re- 
call by  the  score  ;  but  what  good  ?  How  many  civil,  not  to  say  kindly,  words  have  ever 
been  spoken  to  him  ?  He  knows  that  there  is  no  love  given  with  the  food  which  society 
feels  forced  to  supply  to  him.  What  has  he  to  be  grateful  for  ? 

Grown  familiar  wjth  disfavor, 
Grown  familiar  with  the  savor 

Of  the  bread  by  which  men  die- 
Tie  has  an  instinctive  distrust  of  society  which  needs  but  little  to  become  hatred.    Or 
granting  that  occasionally  he  has  fallen  in  with  charitable  persons,  the  distorting 
medium  through  which  impressions  reach  him  makes  it  all  incomprehensible  to  him. 
We  can  guess  at  his  temptations,  but  not  at  his  idea  of  duty  or  at  his  accountability. 

There  is  a  very  suggestive  passage  i-n  Dickens'  novel  "  Great  Expectations,"  where 
the  convict  gives  some  account  of  his  early  years.  He  remembers  himself  first  in  the 
country  stealing  turnips  for  a  living. 

"  I  know'd  my  name  to  be  Magwitch,  chrisen'd  Abel.  How  did  I  know  it?  Much 
as  I  know'd  the  birds'  names  in  the  hedges  to  be  chaffinch,  sparrer,  thrush.  I  might 
have  thought  it  was  all  lies  together,  only  as  the  birds'  names  come  out  true,  I  supposed 
mine  did. 


I32 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


"  So  far  as  I  could  find,  there  warn't  a  soul  that  see  young  Abel  Magwitch,  with  as 
little  on  him  as  in  him,  but  wot  caught  fright  at  him  and  either  drove  him  off  or  took 
him  up.  I  was  took  up,  took  up,  took  up  to  that  extent  that  I  reg'larly  grow'd  up 
took  up. 

"  This  is  the  way  it  was  that  when  I  was  a  ragged  little  creetur,  as  much  to  be 
pitied  as  ever  I  see — not  that  I  looked  in  the  glass,  for  there  warn't  many  insides  of 
furnished  houses  known  to  me — I  got  the  name  of  being  hardened.  '  This  is  a  terrible 
hardened  one,'  they  says  to  prison  visitors,  picking  me  out.  'May  be  said  to  live  in 
jails,  this  boy.'  Then  they  looked  at  me,  and  I  looked  at  them,  and  they  measured  my 
head,  some  on  'em — they  had  better  measured  my  stomach — and  others  on  'em  give  me 
tracts  what  I  couldn't  read  and  made  me  speeches  what  I  couldn't  understand.  They 
always  went  on  agen  me  about  the  devil,  but  what  the  devil  was  I  to  do?  I  must  put 
something  into  my  stomach,  musn't  I? 

"  Tramping,  begging,  thieving,  working  sometimes,  when  I  could — though  that 
warn't  as  often  as  you  may  think,  till  you  put  the  question  whether  you  would  ha'  been 
over  ready  to  give  me  work  yourselves — a  bit  of  a  poacher,  a  bit  of  a  laborer,  a  bit  of  a 
waggoner,  a  bit  of  a  haymaker,  a  bit  of  a  hawker,  a  bit  of  most  things  that  don't  pay 
and  lead  to  trouble,  I  got  to  be  a  man.'' 

Thus  the  pauper,  as  a  rule,  is  one  morally  as  well  as  physically.  He  is  only  moder- 
ately dangerous  to  the  State  just  so  long  as  he  does  not  think.  But  thought  is  now  in 
the  air;  it  is  everywhere,  for  good  and  for  evil.  Wise  men  nowr  appreciate  that  the  old 
saying,  one  half  of  the  world  does  not  know  how  the  other  half  lives,  cannot  hold  true 
much  longer.  The  under  half  is  determined,  and  rightly,  that  the  other  half  shall 
know  it.  How  long  will  the  pauper  stand  his  misery  when  the  horrible  inequality  of 
this  world  is  brought  home  to  him,  without  the  explanation  which  religion  alone  offers? 
His  hand  is  ready  for  the  dynamite  which  the  infamous  anarchist  will  put  into  it. 
Against  such  society  protects  herself  with  the  Catling  gun  and  the  gallows.  All  honor 
to  the  commonwealth  that  does  not  shrink  from  their  use  when  the  crisis  comes!  But 
let  no  one  flatter  himself  that  such  measures  are  any  cure  for  the  evil.  They  are 
dread  necessities  for  the  putting  down  of  violence;  that  is  all.  They  do  not  remove  the 
deep  sense  of  wrong  which  is  at  the  root. 

What  reason  is  there  that  the  pauper  should  bear  his  sufferings  patiently?    The 
more  he  thinks  of  them  the  worse  they  seem.      This  is  not  due  only  to  the  effect  of  self- 
love  in  distorting  his  vision.     It  is  because  in  very  truth  these  evils  will  not  bear  think- . 
ing  of.    Thought  reveals  only  the  more  clearly  the  monstrous  injustice  of  his  position, 
seen  from  the  natural  standpoint  alone. 

Such  being  the  evil,  what  is  the  remedy? 

It  is  to  make  the  pauper  a  Christian.  With  a  Catholic  audience,  it  is  superfluous  to 
prove  this  point.  We  have  the  great  advantage  over  others  that  we  bring  to  the  study 
of  great  questions  certain  fundamental  truths  as  starting  points  which  to  them  are  still 
objects  of  speculation.  We  are  not  to  be  deceived  by  the  shallow  fallacies  that  crime 
is  a  form  of  physical  disease;  that  learning  without  religion  deters  from  vice;  that  to- 
accumulate  money  only  is  to  become  respectable. 

We  have  learned  also  to  look  at  questions  from  a  supernatural  standpoint.  Were  I 
an  atheist  I  should  emphatically  deny  that  there  is  any  reason  for  loving  one's  neighbor. 
As  Catholics,  we  know  that  there  are  great  ones.  There  is  first  our  Lord's  command;, 
then  we  know  that  every  one  of  the  human  race  was  created  for  an  eternity  of  glory 
which  it  has  not  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive,  and  finally  that  the  soul  of 
the  lowest  is  of  such  value  that  the  Son  of  God  died  to  save  it.  But  these  are  all 
supernatural  reasons  which  we  hold  as  Christians.  Mere  humanitarianism  without 
faith  has  no  logical  basis. 

Hence  we  reach  at  once  our  conclusion  that  the  pauper  is  to  be  made  a  Christian 
to  be  raised  from  his  degradation  of  soul  and  body.  Hence  comes  also  the  corollary, 
that  it  is  for  us  Catholics  to  do  it.  We  may  thankfully  accept  all  help  that  the  State 
and  our  friends  outside  the  church  will  give  us,  but  we  must  entrust  this  work  to 
none. 

It  is  easy  to  say  that  the  pauper  must  be  made  a  Christian.  So  easy  to  say  and  so 
hard  to  do  that  it  sounds  like  cant.  But  let  it  sound  as  it  may,  this  is  the  problem 
before  us.  Let  us  then  discuss  the  means. 

The  pauper  is  essentially  a  degraded  type.  If  the  degradation  could  be  stopped  the- 
type  would  die  out.  It  is  far  easier  to  save  a  man,  still  more  to  save  a  child  from  be- 
coming a  pauper  than  to  reform  the  deformed  individual.  We  must,  therefore,  consider 
both  prevention  and  cure.  Practically,  as  will  soon  appear,  the  two  processes  are 
hardly  distinct.  The  difference  is  only  in  the  greater  difficulty,  humanly  speaking,  in 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  133 

the  hopelessness  of  saving  the  confirmed  pauper.  The  latter  has  no  correct  notions 
about  anything.  Society  seems  in  league  against  him.  Law  is  but  an  engine  of 
oppression.  Nothing  but  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  can  give  him  light  on  the  in- 
equality of  things  here  below.  That  his  burdens  should  become  bearable  they  must  be 
seen  in  the  light  of  the  supernatural.  He  must  learn  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

But  how  is  he  to  learn  it  if  there  is  none  to  teach  ?  Moreover,  it  is  a  branch  of 
knowledge  that  must  be  taught  by  object  lessons.  What  he  needs  is  a  friend.  One 
who  will  do  more  than  say  a  kind  word  as  he  leaves  an  order  for  relief,  one  who  will  take 
a  true  interest  in  his  concerns,  who  will  spend  hours,  if  need  be,  in  his  company,  who 
by  weeks  and  months  of  patience  will  find  time  to  speak  to  him  of  his  soul,  and  above 
all  shall  show  him  that  he  does  it  for  the  love  of  God.  This  is  the  work  done  by  the 
Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  among  poor  and  paupers  alike.  If  in  practice  it  too 
often  falls  short  of  this  ideal,  instances  of  surpassing  it  are  not  wanting. 

The  sick  poor  should  be  cared  for  at  their  homes,  when  practicable,  as  is  done  by 
the  Little  Sisters  of  the  Assumption.  It  is  needless  to  enumerate,  in  great  detail,  the 
auxiliary  works  that  are  called  for.  They  suggest  themselves  readily  enough  to  all 
who  have  thought  on  the  subject.  There  must  be  night  asylums  for  the  homeless. 
Wayfarers'  lodges,  giving  a  bed  and  breakfast  in  exchange  for  moderate  work.  There 
should  be  institutions  for  savings,  there  should  be  plans  for  rational  amusement. 

All  these  should  be  distinctly  Catholic.  That  is  to  say,  under  Catholic  manage- 
ment, but  open  to  all.  While  religion  should  be  forced  upon  none,  its  consolations 
should  be  offered  to  all  who  will  have  them.  The  ground  principle  that  the  love  of 
man  comes  from  the  love  of  God  should  appear.  All  this  would  cut  off  one  source  of 
pauperism  by  preventing  those  on  its  verge  from  falling  in.  It  would  go  far  to  remove 
discontent  by  doing  away  with  the  rankling  feeling  of  wrong.  The  effect  will  go 
beyond  the  poor  thus  helped  to  confirmed  paupers  themselves.  Even  if  they  rejected 
these  advances,  they  will  know  that  they  have  been  made.  Their  wives  and  children 
may  have  profited  by  them. 

The  children,  indeed,  must  not  be  forgotten,  not  only  on  account  of  their  intrinsic 
value,  but  because  by  saving  them  \ye  choke  up  another,  probably  the  greatest,  source 
of  pauperism.  There  must  be  sewing  schools  for  the  girls,  and  clubs  for  the  boys,  all 
tending  to  the  same  end,  to  keep  them  out  of  mischief,  to  give  them  instruction,  and, 
above  all,  to  make  them  good  Catholics.  These  are  for  the  children  of  the  poor,  and  of 
paupers  also,  but  in  the  case  of  very  many  of  the  latter,  more  will  be  needed.  They 
can  not  be  left  in  their  tainted  homes.  They  must  be  placed  in  institutions  for  a  time 
at  least.  In  this  matter  above  all  we  must  see  to  it  that  the  institution,  be  it  refuge  or 
reform  school,  must  be  Catholic.  True,  as  American  citizens,  we  can  demand  that  in 
public  institutions  nothing  hostile  to  our  religion  shall  be  taught.  The  sense  of  justice 
of  our  fellow-countrymen  gives  more  and  more  freely  the  right  of  religious  instruction 
by  ministers  of  our  own  religion  in  such  institutions.  Still,  when  the  whole  bringing 
up  of  the  neglected  child  is  at  stake,  it  is  clear  that  nothing  should  be  left  undone  to 
have  it  carried  on  under  Catholic  influences. 

Such  is  the  outline  of  our  task.  Now  comes  the  most  practical  question  of  all— 
how  is  it  to  be  done?  Have  we  the  means  ready  at  our  hands  or  must  we  seek  new- 
ones?  The  answer  is  not  quite  clear,  but  this  much  is  certain,  that  our  present  means 
are  ample  for  great  good.  When  they  have  been  exhausted,  or  when  it  is  certain  that 
others  are  needed,  new  ones  will  doubtless  be  found. 

First,  then,  it  is  essential  that  Catholics  should  be  brought  thoroughly  to  under- 
stand the  vastness  of  the  issue,  and  that  the  cure  is  in  their  hands.  Let  this  great 
truth  be  brought  home  to  them  in  season  and  out  of  season,  till  it  is  accepted  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course.  This  being  once  accomplished  they  will  spare  nothing  to  strengthen  the 
societies  and  charitable  associations  by  which  the  actual  work  is  to  be  done.  We  shall 
then  no  longer  hear  presidents  of  conferences  of  the  Society  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul 
complain,  that,  as  the  members  grow  old  and  fall  off,  young  men,  and  especially  young 
men  of  education,  do  not  come  forward  to  take  their  places.  This  is  a  crying  need,  for 
this  society  is  the  one  that  alone  should  do  a  large  share  of  the  work.  Let  all  remem- 
ber that  no  man  can  bring  to  this  society  anything  to  equal  the  advantages  he  himself 
receives  from  it. 

Societies  of  women  are  needed,  also.  It  would  be  well  that  these  should  be  asso- 
ciated, as  much  as  possible,  with  religious  orders.  Under  the  guidance  of  the  Little 
Sisters  of  the  Assumption,  young  women  might  go  further  than  were  otherwise  pru- 
dent. The  work  will  not  stop  here.  Everything  will  be  done  to  support  asylums, 
training  schools,  and  all  necessary  institutions.  But,  above  all,  if  real  good  is  to  come 
out  of  this,  we  must  frankly  realize  that  works  of  bodily  mercy  alone  are  inadequate- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

The  evil  is  of  soul  as  well  as  of  body;  we  attack  it  from  supernatural  motives.  Out 
means,  in  part  at  least,  must  be  supernatural  also. 

As  has  been  said  before,  the  pauper  is  such  both  in  soul  and  body.  While  we  must 
not  mock  him  with  "  tracts  which  he  cannot  read  and  speeches  which  he  cannot  under- 
stand :1  when  what  he  wants  is  food  and  clothing,  neither  must  we  think  that  when  he 
is  tilled  and  warmed  the  evil  spirit  of  pauperism  has  been  exorcised.  Our  warfare  is 
not  with  want  and  dirt  and  ignorance  only,  but  "  with  principalities  and  powers." 
The  old  tendencies  to  evil,  to  say  nothing  of  shiftless  ways,  are  not  so  easily  overcome. 
Till  they  shall  be,  till  the  man  shall  begin  to  understand  Christian  charity,  to  see  things, 
though  confusedly,  in  the  light  of  God's  will,  all  improvement  will  be  skin-deep.  Phys- 
ical help  must  indeed  come  first,  but  our  supernatural  motives  for  giving  that  help 
should  be  made  apparent. 

At  first  the  pauper  will  care  little  wnether  our  motives  are  from  above  or  from  be- 
low, so  long  as  the  help  is  his,  l;ut  their  effect  may  come  in  time.  By  degrees 
his  Catholic  instincts  will  revive.  The  little  picture  of  "Our  Lady  of 
Good  Counsel,"  which  we  have  placed  on  his  wall,  may  say  more  to  him 
than  we  know  of.  Above  all  in  the  case  of  those  who  are  still  practical  Catholics 
some  fellowship  in  worship  between  the  helpers  and  helped  is  to  be  greatly 
wished  for.  The  wonderful  spectacle  which  we  have  lately  seen  of  an  Eucharistic  Con- 
gress at  Jerusalem  is  but  another  proof  that  the  great  devotion  of  the  coming  century 
is  to  be  the  adoration  of  the  most  Blessed  Sacrament.  Let  everything  be  done  to  encour- 
age its  practice  among  the  poor.  Nowhere  do  we  feel  the  love  of  our  neighbor  so 
strongly  as  at  the  foot  of  the  altar. 

These  are  the  lines  which  we  must  'ollow.  As  we  go  on,  the  needs  will  become 
clearer.  It  may  be  that  in  time  one  or  m  -re  semi-religious  associations  may  arise  for 
this  work;  but  that  time  is  not  yet.  The  first  and  most  important  step  is  to  rouse  Cath- 
olics to  the  conviction  that  the  need  is  pressing.  The  good  of  society,  as  well  as  Chris- 
tian charity,  demands  that  the  remedy  be  found  and  found  speedily.  Next,  we  must 
feel  that  the  work  is  ours,  and,  lastly,  that  it  is  a  supernatural  work  far  more  than  a 
physical  one.  We  need  to  have  preached  a  crusade  against  pauperism. 

It  is  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to  underrate  one's  task,  nor  that  of  honesty  to  raise 
enthusiasm  by  concealing  difficulties.  This  is  not  the  work  of  a  year  nor  of  a  genera- 
tion. There  are  those,  unfortunately,  who  refuse  to  be  saved.  While  they  live,  they 
will  be  what  they  are.  Neither  can  their  children  always  free  themselves  so  fully  from 
inherited  trammels  as  to  be  quite  like  others.  The  prospect  for  the  grandchildren  ia 
brighter.  But  the  struggle  is  to  end  only  wTith  the  world.  The  poor  will  always  be  with 
us,  and  while  human  nature  is  what  it  is,  there  will  be  paupers  among  them.  What  the 
proportion  of  them  is  to  be  depends  in  part  upon  us.  Each  generation  is  the  trustee  of 
the  succeeding  one.  The  child,  moreover,  is  the  father  of  the  man.  In  bringing  up  a 
generation  of  good  Catholics  and  good  citizens  out  of  what  else  would  have  been  paup- 
ers we  exercise  an  influence  which  may  be  felt  through  centuries. 

The  subject  of  the  address  delivered  by  H.  C.  Semple,  of  Montgomery, 
Ala.,  was  "  Pope  Leo  XIII.  on  The  Condition  of  Labor."  He  said: 

The  platform  of  Catholics  on  the  condition  of  labor  was  announced  by  Leo  XIII.  in 
the  encyclical  "Rerum  Novarum."  This  paper  seeks  to  gather  a  syllabus  of  leading 
social  principles  from  that  immortal  document  which  called  forth,  letters  of  thanks 
from  the  Emperor  of  Germany  and  the  President  of  the  French  Republic,  and  which 
shows  the  head  of  the  church  as  the  reverend  counsellor  of  states,  the  father  of  Chris- 
tians, and  the  friend  of  the  people. 

What  task  more  arduous  than  to  define  the  rights  and  the  duties  of  the  rich  and 
of  the  poor,  of  capital  and  of  labor?  What  more  perilous  than  to  discuss  the  founda- 
tions of  society  when  every  word  is  scanned  by  crafty  agitators,  enemies  of  peace  and 
order?  Yet  what  more  humane  than  to  extinguish  the  embers  of  the  mighty  conflict 
which  threatens  the  very  foundations  of  society,  than  to  alleviate  the  hardships  suf- 
fered by  the  defenseless  victims  of  un-Christian  laws,  greedy  competition,  rapacious 
usury  and  despotic  monopolies  and  trusts? 

All  agree,  and  no  one  can  deny,  that  some  remedy  must  be  found,  and  quickly 
found,  for  the  misery  and  wretchedness  which  press  so  heavily  at  this  moment  on  the 
large  majority  of  the  very  poor.  But  where  is  it  to  be  found? 

Socialism  steps  forward  and  answers:  I  have  found  it :  I  am  the  redeemer  of 
society.  I  will  invest  all  property  in  the  State,  I  will  give  it  the  sole  administration,  and 
it  shall  distribute  to  each  according  to  his  needs.  Thus  I  will  abolish  poverty  and  bring 
back  the  golden  age  of  universal  equality. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  135 

No,  replies  the  Holy  Father.  Your  project  is  at  once  futile,  unjust  and  pernicious. 
It  is  futile,  for  if  all  goods  must  forever  remain  common,  where  is  the  workingman's 
hope  of  bettering  his  condition  by  industry  and  economy?  Where  is  his  liberty,  his 
inalienable  right  to  invest  his  wages  permanently  and  profitably,  to  dispose  freely  of  the 
fruit  of  his  sweat  ? 

But,  above  all,  it  is  emphatically  unjust.  Centralization  of  property  in  the  State 
violates  natural  rights.  The  State  cannot  take  away  the  right  to  acquire  property,  for 
this  right  is  from  God,  who  made  man  in  His  own  image  and  likeness,  and  said,  "Let  him 
have  dominion  over  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  and  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  beasts,  and 
the  whole  earth,  and  every  creeping  thing."  We  see  this  natural  right  by  the  light  of 
pure  reason,  and  see  it  in  our  ever-recurring  necessities,  and  in  nature's  first  law  of 
self-preservation.  We  see  it  in  our  intelligence,  which  surveys  the  vast  outward  world 
of  countless  objects  necessary  and  useful  for  the  support  of  life,  and  which  joins  the 
future  to  the  present.  We  see  it  in  our  free  will,  which  directs  and  guides  us  under 
Providence,  and  which  enables  us  to  select  from  the  multitude  of  earthly  goods  those 
things  best  suited  to  each  of  us.  And  no  matter  how  primitive  a  condition  of  man 
be  conceived,  even  though  no  state  existed,  yet  if  a  man  occupy  for  his  exclusive  use 
any  of  the  goods  of  earth  or  any  spot  on  its  surface  which  no  other  has  occupied,  it 
becomes  his,  and  if  besides  occupying  it,  he  expends  on  it  the  labor  of  his  hand  or  his 
mind,  he  stamps  it  with  his  own  personality,  and  to  dispossess  him  would  be  to  rob  him 
of  his  labor. 

This  natural  right  to  acquire  and  hold  property  is  manifested  more  clearly  still  in 
the  rights  and  duties  of  the  father  of  the  family.  What  right  more  clear,  what  duty 
more  sacred  for  the  father  than  to  provide  for  his  offspring  against  the  wretchedness  of 
want  in  this  mortal  life?  Yet  by  what  other  means  can  this  sacred  duty  be  fulfilled 
than  by  the  acquisition  and  ownership  of  permanent  property,  to  be  transmitted  by 
inheritance? 

True,  the  State  may  regulate  the  exercise  of  these  natural  rights.  And  in  the  exer- 
cise of  this  power  to  regulate  the  transmission  of  property  by  inheritance,  or  testament- 
ary gift,  may  it  not  correct  to  some  extent  the  great  evil  of  our  times,  the  accumulation 
of  millions  on  millions  by  single  individuals  or  families,  by  the  imposition  of  such 
inheritance  taxes  as  will  not  only  provide  some  relief  to  the  suffering  poor  from  the 
heavy  burdens  of  taxation,  but  secure  a  fund  for  the  merely  frugal  support  of 
industrious  workingmen  in  times  of  hardship.  The  State  may  even  enter  the  domestic 
circle  to  protect  the  members  of  the  family,  but  the  State  cannot  usurp  or  absorb  the 
parental  authority,  or  destroy  its  very  life,  by  assuming  the  control  of  all  property. 

But  has  not  God  given  the  earth  to  all  men?  He  has  given  to  each  man  the  right 
to  live,  and  sustenance  necessarily  comes  from  the  land.  But  we  may  procure  its  fruits 
by  our  labor,  without  all  becoming  proprietors.  God  has  given  to  each  man  the  right 
to  acquire  property  in  land,  but  he  has  left  the  limits  of  property  to  be  determined  by 
the  industry  of  individuals  and  the  laws  of  states.  He  has  not  vested  the  property  of 
the  earth  in  the  human  race  promiscuously,  nor  in  the  organized  state. 

It  is  asked:  "Did  not  God  make  all  men  equal?  "  Yes;  and  no.  He  made  all  equal 
in  the  possession  of  human  bodies  and  immortal  souls,  equal  in  origin  from  God,  in  des- 
tiny for  heaven,  in  the  right  to  live  and  to  save  their  souls,  but  he  made  them  unequal 
in  strength  of  body,  in  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  in  energy  of  purpose.  And  these 
inequalities  of  nature  have  always  produced  inequalities  of  fortune,  absolutely  insepar- 
able from  our  very  nature. 

Socialism  would  introduce  discord  and  confusion,  dry  up  the  very  sources  of  pro- 
duction, and  destroy  the  chief  spur  of  genius,  and  its  boasted  equality  would  be  an 
equality  in  wretchedness  and  misery  and  of  universal  enslavement  to  the  State.  Nothing 
could  be  more  unjust  or  more  disastrous  than  thus  to  deny  man's  natural  rights,  so 
manifest  to  our  reason  and  so  strongly  confirmed  by  the  morally  universal  consent  of 
mankind,  by  the  practice  of  all  ages,  by  the  sanction  of  positive  human  laws,  by  the 
divine  law  itself,  which  forbids  us  even  to  cast  a  covetous  look  on  our  neighbour's 
house,  or  his  field,  or  anything  that  is  his.  Therefore  socialism  is  manifestly  futile, 
unjust,  and  pernicious,  and  cannot  be  the  remedy  which  we  seek. 

How,  then,  shall  we  soften  the  asperities  arising  from  the  friction  of  labor  and 
capital?  For  they  are  not  naturally  hostile,  but  friends. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  declares  that  this  blessed  result  demands  the 
harmonious  co-operation  of  all  the  agencies  involved,  of  the  laborer  and  the  capitalist, 
the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  State  and  private  societies.  But,  he  adds,  that  all  their 
efforts  will  be  vain  without  the  aid  of  religion,  with  the  principles  which  she  brings 
forth  from  the  gospel.  For,  in  the  first  place,  religion,  as  the  herald  of  God.  teaches 


136  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

men  their  duties  of  justice.  It  says  to  the  workingman:  "Perform  faithfully  and 
scrupulously  the  labor  which  you  have  freely  and  fairly  promised.  Respect  the  person 
and  property  of  your  employer.  Never  resort  to  violence,  even  in  representing  your 
just  rights.  Above  all,  shun  the  company  of  men  of  evil  principles,  of  men  who  delude 
you  with  vain  hopes  and  lead  you  to  disaster,  denying  the  necessity  of  that  painfui 
labor  which  was  imposed  by  our  Maker  and  not  done  away  with  by  our  blessed 
Redeemer,  but  only  sweetened  by  His  example,  and  grace,  and  promises." 

To  the  capitalist  religion  cries  out  in  warning,  "  Beware  of  regarding  and  treating 
the  laborer  as  a  slave,  or  mere  muscle,  as  a  tool  for  making  money.  He  is  of  the  same 
blood  ;  the  same  divine  origin — the  same  destiny  for  heaven.  Your  fellow-image  and 
likeness  of  God,  your  fellow-Christian  and  your  brother. 

It  is  your  duty  to  see  that  he  has  rest  and  leisure  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  his 
soul.  It  is  your  duty  to  ward  off  from  him  the  allurements  to  vice  and  temptations  to 
neglect  home  life.  Beware  of  overtaxing  age,  or  sex,  or  tender  youth,  and  above  all  re- 
member that  to  defraud  him  of  his  honest  hire  or  unfairly  to  cut  down  his  wages  is 
a  sin  which  cries  to  heaven  for  vengeance." 

Such  are  the  duties  of  justice,  but  where  justice  ends  charity  begins,  which 
though  not  enforced  by  the  State,  is  most  binding  in  the  eternal  law.  For  there  is  a 
future  life,  of  which  the  present  is  only  the  beginning,  where  wealth  and  luxury  here 
below  do  not  insure  beatitude,  but  rather  endanger  it. 

The  Son  of  God  was  Himself  a  poor  man  and  a  carpenter,  and  he  made  it  plain  to 
all  ages  by  His  example  that  dignity  is  in  worth  and  not  in  wealth,  and  He  taught  us 
that  the  only  path  to  heaven  is  that  stained  by  His  bloody  footprints. 

Religion  says  to  the  rich,  "  Your  wealth  is  yours  to  possess,  but  not  to  use  as  you 
please;  it  is  a  talent  of  which  you  are  only  the  steward,  and  a  rigid  account  awaits  you 
not  only  for  its  just  but  its  charitable  use."  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  religion  is  so 
engrossed  by  the  care  of  man's  spiritual  welfare  as  to  neglect  his  material  wants. 
While  consoling  us,  under  the  wretchedness  of  poverty,  and  pointing  to  the  compen- 
sation of  the  blessed  future,  she  earnestly  desires  and  actively  strives  to  help  all  to  rise 
above  the  pressure  of  want  and  acquire  property  as  an  instrument  of  virtue.  And  what 
can  be  more  conducive  to  this  than  the  practice  of  Christian  morality,  which  at  once 
merits  and  enjoys  the  blessings  of  Providence,  restrains  inordinate  lust  of  gain  and  lust 
•of  pleasure,  and  represses  those  vices  which  destroy  honest  industry  and  eat  up  so 
many  goodly  inheritances. .  She  not  only  does  this  by  her  teachings  but  by  active  inter- 
vention for  the  help  of  the  poor.  So  active  was  this  charity  among  the  early  Christians 
that  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  record  that  "  neither  was  there  any  poor  among  them." 

St.  Paul,  though  burdened  with  the  care  of  all  the  churches,  made  long  journeys 
to  distribute  alms  of  the  charitable  to  the  needy.  The  order  of  deacons  was  instituted 
to  administer  the  patrimony  of  the  church,  which  has  been  ever  guarded  by  her  as  the 
sacred  heritage  of  the  poor.  The  heroism  of  Christian  charity  has  founded  religious 
•orders  for  the  relief  of  nearly  every  description  of  poverty  and  human  misery,  and  some 
of  the  heathen,  and  even  some  in  our  time,  have  reproached  the  church  for  her  charity, 
but  there  can  be  found  no  adequate  substitute  in  any  State  organization  for  that  divine 
-charity  which  springs  from  the  heart  of  Jesus. 

Such  are  the  doctrines  and  practices  which  the  Holy  Church,  through  her  bishops 
and  priests,  has  diffused  far  and  wide  throughout  the  world.  Through  agencies  insti- 
tuted and  assisted  by  God,  she  applies  them  to  the  mind,  the  conscience,  and  the  heart 
of  the  individual,  and  makes  them  a  part  of  his  daily  life;  and  he  learns  to  act  from  a 
motive  of  duty  to  resist  his  evil  appetites  and  passions,  and  history  records  that  the 
teachings  of  the  church  and  the  example  of  the  life  of  Christ  subdued  in  a  great  meas- 
ure the  pride  of  wealth  and  impregnated  all  races  and  nations  which  came  under  their 
influences,  exalted  the  human  character,  and  elevated  a  debased  and  degenerated 
society. 

How,  then,  can  society  be  cured  in  our  day?  By  a  return  to  a  pure  Christianity  and 
submission  to  its  health-giving  precepts  and  practices.  What  are  the  counsels  of  the 
Holy  Father  to  the  State  for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  labor?  The  State  is 
reminded  that  while  it  exists  for  the  common  good,  it  has  a  special  duty  to  workingmen 
and  to  the  poor.  For  they  are  the  most  numerous  class,  and  are  so  engrossed  by  their 
daily  necessities  as  to  have  little  leisure  or  capacity  for  the  thoughtful  and  prudent  con- 
sideration of  their  own  special  interests;  while  the  capitalists  and  employers,  fewer  in 
number,  strong  in  wealth,  and  with  an  abundance  of  leisure,  may  spend  their  days  and 
nights  in  scheming  to  add  more  and  more  to  their  gain;  and  striving  to  diminish  yet 
more  the  share  of  the  workman  in  the  product  of  his  labor.  The  power  of  the  State 
»hould  be  exerted  in  behalf  of  the  weak  to  lighten  their  burdens  by  wise  and  whole- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  137 

some  administration  and  by  striving  to  secure  to  them  a  reasonable  subsistence  as  the 
price  of  their  toil  and  some  provision  for  their  necessities  in  times  of  hardship.  This  it 
may  well  do  without  suspicion  of  undue  partiality,  for  it  comes  to  the  help  of  the  weak. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  State  should  not  intervene  except  in  the  case  of 
the  tumultuous  refusal  of  the  workman  to  do  his  promised  work,  or  of  the  employer  tc 
pay  the  promised  wages ;  for  labor  is  not  only  personal,  as  belonging  to  him  who  exerts 
his  powers,  but  it  is  also  necessary  for  his  support.  It  is  true  that  wages  should  generally 
be  determined  by  contract,  but  it  is  a  dictate  of  nature  more  ancient  and  imperious  than 
any  bargain  of  men  that  the  remuneration  of  the  workman  must  be  sufficient  for  his 
reasonable  and  frugal  support,  for  he  has  the  right  to  live  and  all  property  is  held  sub- 
ject to  this  right.  True,  he  may  not  enforce  it  by  violence ;  he  must  exhaust  every 
other  means  of  redress  and  must  appeal  to  boards  and  societies  ;  he  must  cry  out  for 
the  intervention  of  some  great  and  good  man,  like  the  late  Cardinal  Manning,  for 
his  mighty  assistance,  and  finally  appeal  to  the  State  for  approval  and  protection.  And 
if  through  necessity,  and  because  the  employer  will  go  no  farther,  he  has  accepted  hard 
and  unreasonable  conditions,  he  is,  in  fact,  a  victim  of  injustice,  which  it  will  be  wise 
for  the  State  to  correct. 

The  State  may  regulate  the  natural  right  to  acquire  property,  but  it  has  no  author- 
ity to  abolish  it  by  the  drain  and  exhaustion  of  excessive  taxation.  At  present  one  of 
the  greatest  evils  we  endure  is  that  society  is  too  nearly  divided  into  classes  of  the  very 
rich  and  the  very  poor.  One  of  these  exercises  the  great  power  of  wealth.  It  grasps 
all  labor  and  all  trade,  it  manipulates  for  its  own  profit  all  the  sources  of  supply,  and 
is  always  powerfully  represented  in  the  councils  of  the  State.  On  the  other  side  stand 
the  sore  and  suffering  multitude,  always  ready  in  their  distress  to  listen  to  the  extrav- 
agant promises  of  irresponsible  advisers,  and  prone  to  violence. 

The  working  man  should  be  encotiraged  to  look  forward  to  obtaining,  and  the  law 
should  facilitate  the  ready  acquisition  of,  parcels  of  land.  Thus  a  class  will  be  estab- 
lished which  will  be  the  best  defenders  of  the  order  and  the  bulwark  of  the  State. 
The  providence  of  the  State  should  foresee  and  endeavor  to  remove  all  grievances 
which  paralyze  labor  by  strikes,  often  the  result  of  injustice  and  the  fruitful  cause  of 
strife  and  violence.  It  should  not  be  indifferent,  but  sternly  interfere  when  greedy 
contractors  impose  burdens  which  exceed  human  strength,  stupefy  the  mind,  and  are 
incompatible  with  human  dignity,  which  blight  the  buds  of  childish  promise,  expose 
the  modesty  of  woman,  and  detain  the  mother  from  her  sphere  of  domestic  duty  and 
the  care  and  training  of  her  children. 

It  is  also  incumbent  on  the  State  to  protect  the  workingman's  enjoyment  of  the 
Sunday  rest;  not  to  be  devoted  to  vicious  excess,  but  that  he  may  forget,  at  least  for 
one  day  in  the  week,  mere  worldly  cares,  and  turn  his  face  and  his  thoughts  upward  to 
his  Maker.  For  nothing  is  more  conducive  to  the  strength  of  the  State  than  the 
morality  of  her  citizens,  and  true  morality  is  always  founded  on  religion.  The  work- 
man himself  can  not  agree  to  the  servitude  of  his  soul,  and  no  one  has  a  right  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  his  enjoyment  of  that  higher  life  which  prepares  him  for  the  joys  of 
Heaven. 

The  various  religious  orders  founded  and  directed  by  the  heroic  spirit  of  super- 
natural charity,  have,  in  all  ages,  wrought  wonders  for  the  relief  of  suffering  humanity. 
Each  devoted  to  its  own  special  object,  moved  by  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  self- 
denial,  they  have  astounded  the  world  by  their  achievements,  and  brought  thousands 
to  the  faith  from  the  contemplation  of  the  fruits  of  their  labors.  Yet  the  veneration 
of  the  faithful  for  these  orders  has  too  often  aroused  the  jealousy  of  States  and  caused 
them  to  suppress  rather  than  encourage  them.  And  sometimes  they  have  ruthlessly 
grasped  the  property  which  the  piety  and  charity  of  good  men  had  bestowed  for  the 
furtherance  of  their  sacred  ends,  and  thus  robbed  at  once  the  founders  of  their  bene- 
factions and  the  poor  of  that  which  was  so  wisely  administered  for  their  relief. 

The  last  element  treated  by  the  Holy  Father  is  the  association  of  individuals  in 
private  societies  for  mutual  protection,  which  he  commends.  He  reminds  us  of  the 
benefits  of  association,  which  appeal  to  each  individual  from  his  consciousness  of  his 
weakness  in  standing  alone,  as  compared  with  the  strength  of  organization.  He  refers 
to  the  history  of  the  ancient  Catholic  guilds,  so  full  of  instruction  as  to  the  advantages 
of  association;  he  contrasts  their  benefits  with  the  dangers  of  those  fierce  and  turbu- 
lent societies,  often  bound  by  secret  oaths,  which  seek  to  persuade  the  workingmen 
that  there  is  no  hope  for  them,  but  in  the  terror  of  capitalists  at  revolution;  that  Chris- 
tian morality  is  a  mere  fable  of  their  enemies,  invented  to  delude,  ensnare,  and  enslave 
them,  and  which,  while  holding  out  to  them  the  horrors  of  this  slavery,  binds  them  in 
their  own  chains,  yet  more  galling.  And  now,  concluding: 


138  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

"  As  far  as  regards  the  church,  its  assistance  will  never  be  wanting,  be  the  time  or 
the  occasion  what  it  may,  and  it  will  intervene  with  the  greater  effect  in  proportion  as 
its  liberty  of  action  is  the  more  unfettered;  let  this  be  noted  by  those  whose  office  it  is 
to  provide  for  the  public  welfare." 

These  words  of  solemn  warning  are  addressed  to  those  countries  and  those  rulers 
who  presume  to  fetter  the  freedom  of  the  church,  but  in  our  own  country  she  is  abso- 
lutely free,  and,  therefore,  happily,  more  powerful  in  her  intervention  in  behalf  of  the 
weak  and  wretched  multitude,  and  more  efficient  as  a  shield  to  the  rich  against  the 
revolutionary  and  socialistic  violence  of  turbulent  secret  societies,  the  great  foes  of 
peace  and  order. 

One  of  the  strongest  papers  of  the  Congress  was  read  by  Dr.  August 
Kaiser,  of  Detroit,  on  "Immigration  and  Colonization,"  with  special  reference 
to  German  Catholic  immigration.  He  said: 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  a  large  family,  a  family  not  confined  to  one  spot 
on  the  earth,  nor  to  any  single  country,  but  embracing  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe. 
The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  not  composed  of  a  few  individuals,  is  not  made  up  of  a 
single  nation,  but  clasps  all  people  of  the  earth  with  equal  love  to  her  maternal  bosom. 
All  the  races  of  mankind,  Caucasians  and  Mongolians,  Ethiopians  and  Indians,  she 
treats  with  equal  and  discriminating  care.  With  the  same  hand  she  pours  forth  bless- 
ings upon  every  nation,  upon  every  land.  All  languages  of  the  earth  are  heard  from 
her  lips,  but,  above  all,  that  loving  language  of  the  heart  understood  by  all  men.  All 
her  efforts  tend  to  the  one  object,  to  make  men  Christians  and  to  secure  heirs  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

Now  there  is  no  land  on  earth  which  puts  so  manifestly  before  us  the  truly  Catholic 
character  of  the  church  as  this  land  of  the  United  States.  All  races  are  here  repre- 
sented, and  the  Church  counts  her  children  among  them  all.  In  all  the  principal 
Iroiguages  prayers  are  blessed  and  fostered  by  the  Catholic  Church.  Four  nations 
especially  have,  since  the  discovery  of  America,  gathered  before  the  cross  and  the 
altar — the  chivalrous  Spaniard,  the  vivacious  Frenchman,  the  Irishman,  with  his  pro- 
found faith,  and  the  cosmopolitan  German.  All,  all  have  found  in  the  land  an  asylum, 
and  each  one  in  his  own  way  has  contributed  to  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
to  the  development  and  strengthening  of  Catholic  life  and  labor. 

German  Catholics,  without  exaggeration  I  may  say  it,  have  not  been  behindhand 
in  this  work  of  emulation.  By  their  numbers  alone  they  have  always  been  a  moment- 
ous element  in  our  population,  and  already  number  the  fourth  part  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  the  Union.  Of  almost  9,000  priests  of  this  country,  2,700  are  of  German  birth 
or  descent.  The  influence  of  such  a  proportion  must  be  felt  throughout  the  land,  must 
be  felt  in  every  domain  of  the  life  of  the  church.  Already  in  family-life  the  German 
Catholic  is  characterized  by  his  zealous  and  persistent  endeavor  to  bring  the  principles 
and  doctrines  of  his  faith  into  his  daily  actions.  He  has  the  manly  courage  of  his  con- 
victions, and  endeavors  to  be  in  his  daily  life  that  which  his  principles  require;  and  if, 
unfortunately,  he  ever  comes  to  the  point  of  not  practicing  his  religion,  then  he  ceases 
to  profess  himself  a  Catholic.  The  German  Catholic  distinguishes  especially  by  his 
industry,  economy,  and  by  hastening  to  gain  as  soon  as  possible  a  home  for  himself.  In 
his  family  rule  Christian  discipline  and  Christian  spirit;  the  correlative  obligations  and 
duties  imposed  by  the  fourth  commandment  have  not  yet  grown  obsolete  for  him;  con- 
jugal fidelity  is  tenderly  guarded  and  heaven  is  thanked  for  the  blessings  which  it  gives 
to  the  conjugal  state.  His  olive  branches  grow  up  around  him  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
give  earnest  promise  of  becoming  good  Christians  and  upright,  law-abiding  citizens. 

The  German  Catholic  approaches  the  holy  table  at  stated  intervals;  he  is  faithful 
in  frequenting  Divine  worship,  contributes  joyfully  and  willingly  to  the  support  of  his 
clergy,  to  the  church,  to  the  parochial  school,  the  orphan  asylum,  and  other  institutions 
of  charity;  but,  above  all  things,  he  is  conscious  of  that  most  momentous  of  all  obliga- 
tions, to  educate  his  children  in  sound  Christian  principles,  and,  if  possible,  to  intrust 
them  to  none  other  than  to  the  parochial  school. 

With  a  special  zeal  the  German  Catholics  of  our  Union  cherish  the  principle  and 
practice  of  associations,  so  eminently  manifested  in  the  German  Roman  Catholic  Central 
Verein.  The  Central  Union  embraces  something  like  500  branches  of  benevolent  asso- 
ciations, with  a  membership  of  50,000  in  nearly  all  the  States  of  the  Union.  The  Central 
Union  has  paid  out  thousands  upon  thousands  of  dollars  for  charitable  purposes,  and 
thereby  brought  consolation  and  help  to  hundreds  of  afflicted  homes. 

The  German-American  secular  and  regular  clergy  are  distinguished  by  the  zeal 
which  they  display  in  their  calling,  by  their  exemplary  lives,  by  their  earnest  and 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


'39 


unceasing  care  for  the  young,  and  by  untiring  efforts  to  attain  to  a  greater  develop- 
ment of  culture  and  knowledge,  according  to  their  state.  Though  the  majority  of  these 
priests  have  crossed  the  Atlantic,  yet  every  fibre  of  their  nature  has  taken  root  in  the 
land  of  their  adoption,  and  by  none  are  they  surpassed  in  patriotic  enthusiasm.  For- 
eigners, it  is  true,  but  received  with  open  arms  by  bishop  and  people,  they  have  come 
hither  with  no  other  object  in  view  than  tojabor  as  missionaries  in  the  young  church 
of  this  land,  to  work  unceasingly  for  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls,  sacrificing  them 
selves  in  the  painful  service  of  young,  still  undeveloped  communities.  Their  teaching 
and  example  have  animated  hundreds  of  young  men  to  embrace  the  priestly  state  of  life, 
so  that  at  the  very  present  moment  more  than  700  native  clergymen  of  German  descent 
are  employed  on  our  American  missions.  Bishops  of  highest  merit  have  come  forth 
from  the  ranks  of  this  clergy,  renowned  for  their  zeal,  immortal  in  their  labors^  labors 
which  will  be  commemorated  forever  in  the  history  of  the  United  States. 

Those  sublime  figures,  to  name  but  a  few  of  our  deceased  prelates,  those  pillars  of 
light,  Archbishops  Henni  and  Heiss,  of  Milwaukee;  Bishops  Junker  and  Baltes,  of  Alton; 
Luers  and  Dwenger,  of  Fort  Wayne;  Borgess,  of  Detroit;  Melchers  and  Krautbauer, 
of  Green  Bay;  Flasch,  of  La  Crosse,  and  Neumann,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  beatifica- 
tion is  pending  in  Rome;  all  these  belong  to  us,  are  our  kinsmen  by  blood  and 
language. 

Not  inferior  in  merit  to  the  German  secular  clergy  of  this  country  are  their  brethren 
of  the  religious  orders.  The  first  to  enter  this  land  (1832)  were  the  Sons  of  St.  Alphon- 
sus  Liguori,  who  gathered  together  their  fellow-countrymen  in  the  growing  cities  of  the 
United  States  and  developed  their  many-sided  activity  among  them.  Twelve  years 
later  they  were  followed  by  the  Sons  of  St.  Francis,  from  Tyrol,  and  in  1858  from  West- 
phalia. In  1846  that  zealous  fisher  of  souls,  Rev.  Boniface  Wimmer,  of  Bavaria,  landed 
in  this  country  to  lead  into  our  missionary  territory  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict,  and  to 
extend  their  teaching  activity  in  every  direction  throughout  the  land.  The  Benedic- 
tines were  followed  by  the  Carmelites,  Priests  of  the  Precious  Blood,  Jesuits,  Capu- 
chins, Resurrectionists,  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Passionists,  all  of  whom  set  all  their 
forces  to  work  to  extend  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this  country  and  to  give  an  impulse  to 
true  civilization. 

The  female  orders  also,  which  have  been  transplanted  from  Germany  to  America, 
have  achieved  great  things,  especially  the  poor  Franciscan  Sisters  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
by  their  charitable  activity  in  the  hospitals;  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,  of  Mil- 
waukee, originally  from  Bavaria,  who,  under  the  direction  of  Mother  Caroline,  lately 
deceased,  that  true  Christian  heroine,  have  rendered  eminent  services  by  their  labors  in 
the  education  of  youth,  and  the  Sisters  of  Christian  Charity  of  Westphalia,  who  like- 
wise have  done  great  things  in  the  same  field  of  labor. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  the  home  of  all  true  education;  her  history  for  the  last  two 
thousand  years  proves  that,  no  sooner  has  she  firmly  planted  her  foot  in  any  land,  than 
she  immediately  displayed  her  activity  in  this  field  which  is  so  truly  her  own.  Her 
vanguard — the  religious  orders —  began  here  also  without  delay  this  work  of  hers.  St. 
Vincent's  in  Pennsylvania — the  name  sounds  bright  and  clear  from  ocean  to  ocean — 
was  the  most  important  nursery  of  higher  education  (for  the  Germans)  for  many  a 
year.  St.  Meinrad's,  Indiana;  St.  John's,  Minnesota,  with  a  number  of  local  institutions, 
have  added  new  lustre  in  the  New  World  to  the  ancient  and  venerable  name  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Benedict.  The  Franciscans  have  had  for  many  years  excellent  colleges  in 
Cincinnati,  Quincy,  and  Teutopolis,  111.;  the  Capuchins  at  Calvary,  Wis.,  and  Herman, 
Penn.;  the  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Pittsburg,  the  Jesuits  in  Buffalo  and  Cleve- 
land; the  Fathers  of  the  Resurrection  at  Berlin,  Ont.,  and  St.  Mary's,  Ky. 

The  secular  clergy  are  not  behind  their  brethren  of  the  religious  orders.  Their 
greatest,  noblest,  and  most  successful  creation  is  the  Salesianum,  Milwaukee,  which  has 
sent  forth  hundreds  of  the  ablest  priests,  and  can  boast  of  having  admitted  so  far  not  a 
single  Judas  into  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord. 

The  foregoing  statements  regarding  the  labors  of  German  Catholics  within  the 
domain  of  the  stars  and  stripes,  are  well  calculated  to  prove  that  the  German  Catholics 
of  America  rank  with  all  their  co-religionists.  I  go  a  step  further  acd  maintain  that 
they  have  acquired  particular  merit  and  deserve  a  special  praise.  The  Germans  are 
the  only  Catholics  in  this  land,  who,  for  years,  have  had  a  training  school  for  teachers,  a 
creation  of  that  most  deserving  clergyman,  Dr.  Joseph  Salzman,  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Salesianum,  near  Milwaukee. 

This  Catholic  Normal  School  at  St.  Francis  has  contributed  much  to  relieve  the 
pressing  need  of  competent  teachers,  and  it  is  at  the  same  time  the  principal  nursery 
of  true  ecclesiastical  chants  which  has  been  most  zealously  cultivated  by  that  distin- 


i_p  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

guished  musician  and  composer,  Professor  John  B.  Singenberger,  and  which  from  St. 
Francis  is  diffused  more  and  more  throughout  the  land.  German  Catholics  alone  in 
this  Union  can  show  a  Catholic  daily  press,  since  besides  some  thirty  excellent  weekly 
papers  they  possess  four  thorough  dailies  (St.  Louis,  Philadelphia,  Buffalo,  Pittsburg). 
which  energetically  enter  the  lists  for  the  interests  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  exercise 
great  influence. 

The  greatest  merit  of  German-American  Catholics  has  been  gained  undoubtedly  by 
their  zeal  for  parochial  schools,  which  they  have  erected  at  great  sacrifice  wherever  it 
was  possible,  and  for  whose  preservation  and  improvement  they  make  every  effort  in 
their  power.  Wherever  the  cross  was  planted  among  the  German  Catholic  immigrants, 
a  school  was  erected  near  the  church;  nay,  often,  a  school  existed  before  the  church. 
German  Catholics  were  well  acquainted  with  the  principle:  "  Who  possesses  the  youth 
is  master  of  the  future."  They  were  convinced  that  the  parochial  school  was  the  only 
sure  bulwark  against  the  fearful  loss  suffered  by  the  church  in  this  country.  Freedom 
and  independence  permeate  the  air  of  our  Republic  so  thoroughly  that  the  rising  genera- 
tion are  but  too  much  inclined  to  extend  these  privileges  to  the  domain  of  faith  and 
morals.  All  Sunday  schools  are  here  impotent;  that  school  alone,  which  is  grounded 
on  religious  principles,  in  which  all  subjects  of  instruction  are  saturated  with  religion, 
can  guard  the  tender  germ  of  faith  from  the  frost  and  wind  of  error,  that  it  may  be- 
come strong  and  capable  of  bidding  defiance  to  all  the  storms  of  life,  and  of  growing 
up  to  be  a  strong  and  vigorous  tree. 

German  Catholics  have  given  the  example  in  the  erection  of  parochial  schools,  and 
by  their  great  success  in  this  respect  have  led  our  co-religionists  of  other  nationalities 
to  follow  in  their  footsteps.  All  Christian  denominations  in  our  land  will  have  to  imi- 
tate us  if  they  wish  to  prevent  Christianity  from  disappearing  and  infidelity  from 
taking  its  place. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  such  is,  in  concise  terms,  a  faint  image  of  the  action  and  of 
the  fulfilment  of  that  mission  of  civilization  intrusted  by  a  wise  Providence  to  the 
German  Catholics  of  the  United  States.  What  I  have  said  will  surely  suffice  to  con- 
vince this  illustrious  assembly  that  the  German  Catholics  of  this  country  stand  on  an 
equal  footing  with  their  brethren  in  faith  of  other  nationalities,  and  have  a  right  to 
claim  their  place  as  true  children  in  the  house  of  our  mother  and  to  be  treated  as  such. 
Let  us  Catholics  of  this  great  and  mighty  Republic,  a  Republic  eo  favorable  to  the  free 
development  of  Catholicity,  hold  together  irrespective  of  language  and  nationality, 
and,  viribus  unitis.  struggle  manfully  for  the  preservation  of  our  highest  blessings,  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Catholic  Faith  which  we  have  inherited  from  our  forefathers,  as  well 
as  for  the  rights  which  are  solemnly  guaranteed  to  us  in  the  glorious  Constitution  of 
the  United  States!  Let  our  war-cry  be  now  and  forever:  "For  God, for  our  Church, 
for  liberty,  and  for  our  mighty  Union,  which  gives  happiness  within  the  shadow  of  its 
lofty  flag  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth." 

Following  is  an  abstract  of  Rev.  Michael  Callaghan's  contribution  to  the 
symposium  on  "  Immigration  and  Colonization." 

When  the  eyes  of  the  world  are  directed  to  the  fitting  celebration  of  the  discovery 
of  America  by  Columbus,  it  is  appropriate  that  the  Catholics  of  this  great  Republic  in 
congress  assembled,  should  discuss  questions  of  serious  importance,  and  it  seems 
eminently  in  place  to  consider  some  of  the  causes  that  have  led  to  this  nation's  growth 
and  prosperity. 

Apart  from  the  liberty  and  patriotic  spirit  of  our  institutions  there  are  no  more 
potent  factors  in  our  country's  greatness  than  immigration  and  colonization.  True,  the 
genius  of  Columbus  opened  a  pathway  across  the  Atlantic  to  this  great  continent,  but 
what  position  would  this  country  occupy  to-day  if  there  had  not  followed  in  his  foot- 
steps the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  immigrants  to  people  and  develop  its 
resources?  Immigration  and  colonization  are  subjects  capable  of  very  extensive  treat- 
ment. We  might  go  back  to  the  infant  years  of  America  and  speak  of  the  numerous 
adventurers  who  sought  these  shores,  but  these  people  left  no  impression  on  the 
country  and  need  not  be  considered  in  reference  to  the  building  up  of  the  Republic.  It 
is  better  to  begin  at  a  time  when  the  country  had  actually  settled  down  to  that 
internal  development  which  has  produced  the  America  of  to-day.  Indeed,  official 
statistics  of  immigration  are  not  to  be  found  further  back  than  1830,  but  from  various 
sources  we  can  arrive  at  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  volume  of  immigration  previous  to  that 
date,  and  also  of  the  nationalities  whence  they  came. 

During  the  first  century  of  the  settlement  of  the  country  some  few  immigrants 
from  Europe  found  their  way  into  the  New  World,  but  scarcely  as  many  in  five  years  as 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

now  arrive  in  one  day  at  the  port  of  New  York.  Ireland  and  Germany  were  the 
countries  which  furnished  immigration  in  the  early  days  of  the  colonies.  Under  Dutch 
rule,  from  about  1725,  some  Germans  were  induced  to  immigrate  to  America  by  promise 
of  land  grants  and  other  inducements.  These  people  settled  chiefly  in  the  Mohawk 
Valley;  others  were  induced  to  come  by  free  or  reduced  passages,  but  these  did  not 
exceed  over  a  few  thousand.  The  English  government  did  little  or  nothing  to  encourage 
European  immigration.  The  first  attempt  was  made  about  1710,  when  3,000  Swabians 
and  Palatines,  driven  from  their  country  by  famine  and  religious  persecution,  threw 
themselves  on  the  mercy  and  sympathy  of  the  English  government.  England  sent 
these  people  to  New  York,  then  a  colony,  presided  over  by  Governor  Hunter,  who  pro- 
posed to  settle  them  along  the  Hudson  River,  where  he  intended  to  employ  them  in 
making  naval  stores,  etc.  This  colonizing  experiment  failed,  because  the  English 
government  intended  its  proteges  to  become  subjects  and  servants,  while  the 
immigrants  wanted  to  be  free  and  independent;  hence  a  conflict,  with  victory  on  the 
side  of  the  immigrants.  After  this,  all  those  who  came  to  the  colonies  had  to  do  so  on 
their  own  responsibility  or  by  arrangements  made  by  themselves. 

An  Irish  colony  was  planted  in  the  Carolinas  in  1739  and  an  extensive  tract  of  land 
was  assigned  it.  In  fact,  it  might  be  said  that  the  Carolinas  were  settled  almost  exclu- 
sively by  immigrants  from  the  North  of  Ireland.  Among  those  people  were  the  fathers 
of  Jackson,  Calhoun,  and  Pickens.  Ramsey,  the  historian  of  South  Carolina,  says,  "Of 
all  other  countries  none  has  furnished  the  province  with  so  many  inhabitants  as  Ire- 
land. Scarcely  a  ship  sailed  from  any  of  its  ports  to  Charleston  that  was  not  crowded 
with  men,  women,  and  children  "  North  Carolina  received  an  Irish  governor  in  James 
Moore,  who  headed  the  Revolution  there  in  1775.  In  Georgia,  we  find  the  Irish  as  far 
back  as  1773,  and  at  the  first  public  meeting  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  held  in  Savannah, 
July  14,  1774,  John  Glenn  was  chairman,  and  among  those  present  were  S.  Farley,  J. 
Bryan,  W.  Gibbons,  J.  Winn,  E.  Butler,  and  a  number  of  others  bearing  equally  Irish 
names.  The  immigration  to  America  during  the  years  1771, 1772,  and  1773  from  the 
North  of  Ireland  exceeded  all  former  precedents.  Marmknrs  "  History  of  the  Maritime 
Ports  of  Ireland,"  page  333,  states:  "From  Belfast  there  sailed  during  the  three  years 
mentioned  thirty  ships  filled  with  immigrants;  from  Londonderry,  thirty-six,  and  from 
Newry,  twenty-two,"  and  estimates  the  number  of  their  passengers  at  over  25,000, 
•"  More  than  one  Irishman,"  remarks  the  historian,  "  was  naturalized  in  the  forest,  like 
Stark  and  Houston,  and  obeyed  as  chiefs.  Of  the  number  was  the  strange  character 
known  as  '  Tiger '  Roche,  at  one  time  the  friend  of  Chesterfield,  the  idol  of  Dublin  draw- 
ing-rooms, and  at  another  time  the  leader  of  an  Iroquois  war  party."  Dougherty,  from 
Donegal,  we  find  as  a  leader  with  the  Cherokee  Indians  in  1690.  From  Donegal  also 
came  Robert  and  Magdalen  Pollock,  with  their  six  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  settled 
in  Maryland.  The  name  was  afterward  abbreviated  to  Polk,  and  among  the  numerous 
descendants  of  this  immigrant  family  from  Donegal  was  President  Polk.  Major  Cald- 
well,  whose  daughter  was  the  mother  of  Vice-President  Calhoun,  also  came  from  Don- 
egal, while  President  Andrew  Jackson,  as  all  the  world  knows,  "  was  born  somewhere 
between  Carrickfergus  and  the  United  States."  Presidents  James  Monroe  and  James 
Buchanan  also  came  from  Irish  stock. 

Sir  William  Johnson  was  another  remarkable  Irishman  who  settled  Johnstown,  in 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  in  1738.  He  had  brought  with  him  from  Ireland,  Lafferty,  his 
lawyer;  Flood,  his  gardener,  and  Daily,  his  physician.  Twenty  years  later  the  Irish 
settled  Manchester,  N.  H.,  and  John  Stark,  who  led  300  New  Hampshire  men,  chiefly 
Irish,  at  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  was  born  in  Londonderry,  Ireland,  his  family  name 
being  originally  Starkey.  We  can,  therefore,  safely  accept  the  testimony  of  Galloway, 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  before  a  committee  of  the  English 
Commons,  June  16,  1779,  who  said  that "  the  names  and  places  of  nativity  having  been 
taken  down,  he  could  state  with  precision  that  scarcely  one-quarter  of  the  men  in  the 
Revolutionary  armies  were  natives  of  America,  about  one-half  were  Irish  and  the  other 
fourth  English  and  Scotch." 

Curtis,  the  adopted  son  of  Washington,  speaking  of  the  soldiers  in  the  War  of 
Independence,  declares  that,  "  Up  to  the  coming  of  the  French,  Ireland  had  furnished 
in  the  ratio  of  about  100  to  1  to  any  other  nation  whatever.  Then."  he  exclaims  with 
enthusiasm,  "honored  be  the  old  and  good  service  of  the  sons  of  Erin  in  the  War  of 
Independence;  let  the  shamrock  be  entwined  with  the  laurels  of  the  Revolution,  and 
truth,  and  justice,  guiding  the  pen  of  history,  inscribe  on  the  tablets  of  America's 
remembrance  eternal  gratitude  to  Irishmen!  "  We  may  also  believe  the  declaration  of 
Lord  Mountjoy,  in  the  English  House  of  Lords,  that  "  England  lost  America  through 
Ireland."  The  testimony  of  Rev.  Hugh  Henry  Breckenridge,  a  chaplain  in  Washing- 


142  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

ton's  army,  is  remarkable  but  no  less  valuable.  In  his  political  satire  on  '•  Modern 
Chivalry,"  published  in  Pittsburg  in  1794,  he  apologizes  for  making  the  clown  an  Irish- 
man, and  gives  his  reason  thus: 

"  The  character  of  the  English  clown  I  do  not  well  understand,  nor  could  I  imitate 
his  manner  of  speaking;  that  of  the  Scotch  I  have  tried  and  found  it  in  my  hands 
rather  insipid;  the  American,  as  yet,  has  no  character,  so  that  I  can  not  take  one  from 
my  own  country,  which  I  would  rather  have  done  as  the  scene  lies  here.  But  the  mid- 
land States  of  America  and  the  Western  parts  in  general,  being  half-Irish,  the  character 
of  the  Irish  clown  will  not  be  misunderstood.  This  was  much  known  among  the 
immigrants  or  their  descendants,  so  that  it  will  not  be  thrown  away." 

The  total  population  of  the  United  States  in  1870  was  38,500,C'00.  Careful  statis- 
ticians have  found  that  at  this  date  the  joint  product  of  the  Irish  colonial  element  and 
the  subsequent  Irish  immigration,  including  that  through  Canada,  was  14,325,000.  The 
joint  English  product  was  4,522,000,  and  the  joint  products  of  all  other  colonial  ele- 
ments and  all  subsequent  immigration,  including  the  colored  population,  was  19,653,000. 
Irish  immigration  since  1870,  while  not  so  proportionately  heavy  as  it  was  previous  to 
that  date,  had  brought  us  over  1,300,000,  and  if  we  add  these  and  their  product  to  the 
product  of  the  14,325,000  people  of  Irish  blood  in  the  United  States  in  1870,  it  would 
be  but  a  conservative  statement  to  make  that,  of  the  65,000,000  who  form  our  popula- 
tion now,  20,000.000  of  them  have  Irish  blood  in  their  veins. 

At  this  point  reference  may  be  made  to  a  private  letter  written  last  year  by  Vere 
Foster  to  the  Immigration  Commissioners  at  the  port  of  New  York,  in  which  that  gen- 
tleman states  that  he  and  his  brother  alone  had  in  forty-four  years  enabled  22,000 
young  girls  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty-two  years  to  go  from  Ireland  to 
the  United  States. 

This  brief  review  of  early  Irish  immigration  and  the  benefits  it  has  conferred  upon 
the  country  is  not  given  in  any  spirit  of  boastfulness,  but  simply  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that,  until  the  strong  current  of  German  immigration  began  to  set  in,  about 
1840,  nearly  all  the  immigrants  were  Irish.  From  1820  to  1830  Germany  sent  6,761;  during 
same  period  Ireland  sent  50,724.  This,  as  a  matter  of  tardy  justice  to  the  Irish  people, 
should  be  stated,  because  in  the  early  days  immigrants  from  Ireland  were  credited  as 
coming  from  the  United  Kingdom,  without  specifying  their  particular  nationality. 

From  a  report  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  at  Washington,  correct  informa- 
tion as  to  immigration  and  nationality,  subsequent  to  1820,  is  obtainable.  The  total  of 
immigrants  arriving  in  the  United  States  from  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  to 
June  30, 1892,  was  16,750,000.  Of  these  Germany  supplied  4,748,440;  Ireland,  3:952.lM7: 
and  the  other  countries  in  lesser  proportions.  To  the  number  officially  credited  to 
Ireland  there  should  be  three-quarters  of  a  million  added  to  make  up  for  those  who 
came  here  by  way  of  Canada  and  who  were  recorded  as  from  "  British  North  American 
provinces."  The  excess  of  the  German  over  the  Irish  immigration  has  been  made  up 
only  of  late  years,  and  the  fact  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  was  the  Irish  in  the 
earlier  periods  who  so  very  materially  aided  in  laying  the  foundations  of  our  splendid 
Repu  blic.  While  many  of  the  Germans  have  remained  in  the  Eastern  States  and  become 
good,  steady  citizens,  their  greater  number  proceeded  to  the  West  and  settled  down  on 
the  fertile  lands  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  the  Dakotas.  The  Irish  have  chiefly 
spread  over  the  New  England  and  Middle  States.  Of  late  years  the  Italian,  Swedish. 
Austro-Hungarian,  and  Prussian  immigration  has  grown  very  considerably.  For 
example,  the  Italian  immigration  for  the  decade  ending  I860  was  only  9,231,  while  the 
decade  extending  from  1880  to  1890  registered  307,309.  This  proportion  is  likewise  true 
o*  the  other  nations. 

There  is  a  common  belief  that  in  this  immigration  from  the  Continent  of  Europe 
there  is  a  certain  element  injurious  to  the  social  institutions  of  the  country.  This  has 
given  excuse  to  some  people,  claiming  to  be  the  only  true  Americans,  to  raise  a  cry 
against  immigration  in  general ;  but  all  intelligent  people,  unbiased  by  prejudice,  agree 
that  this  cry  is  neither  wise  nor  politic. 

The  present  restrictive  immigration  laws,  as  now  interpreted  by  the  Treasury 
Department  at  Washington,  i.e.,  applied  to  cabin  as  well  as  steerage  passengers,  to  pro- 
tect us  from  the  morally  and  physically  undesirable,  from  the  importation  of  paupers, 
criminals,  and  contract  labor,  are,  if  properly  and  fully  enforced,  fairly  adequate  to 
meet  the  necessities  of  the  situation.  I  believe,  however,  that  if  the  restrictions  could 
be  enforced  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  the  results  would  be  still  better  than  we 
get  now.  The  administration  of  the  law  would  also  be  more  humane.  If  prevented 
from  embarking  at  an  European  port,  the  immigrant  who  had  barely  enough  money  to 
purchase  a  passage  to  America  would  thus  be  saved  that  sum,  and  also  from  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  143 

greater  misfortune  of   chagrin,  humiliation,  and    even  despair,  that  seize  him  when 
turned  away  from  our  shores  and  sent  back  once  more  to  his  wretched  lot. 

The  question  of  disposing  of  this  crude  mass  of  foreigners  and  absorbing  them  into 
our  industrial,  political,  and  social  life  is  certainly  a  grave  one.  It  is  one  in  which  all 
philanthropists,  good  citizens,  and  lovers  of  humanity  should  take  a  living  interest.  The 
question  is,  indeed,  one  as  much  for  them  as  for  legislatures,  State  or  Federal;  and  this 
brings  up  the  question  of  colonization  as  it  presents  itself  to-day.  The  public  press 
of  New  York  of  a  recent  date  contained  two  very  striking  dispatches.  One  was 
from  Denver,  Col.,  telling  how  men  were  starving  from  hunger  for  want  of  employ- 
ment, and  were  threatening  depredations  under  the  pressure  of  physical  suffering  from 
want  of  food  and  shelter.  The  other  dispatch  was  from  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  and  told 
how  difficult,  even  impossible,  it  was  for  the  farmers  of  that  State  to  procure  hired 
labor  to  harvest  their  teeming  crops.  These  dispatches,  published  side  by  side,  on  the 
same  day,  clearly  indicate  that  it  is  not  immigration,  but  peculiar  social  conditions 
that  are  to  be  dreaded.  If  the  American  laboring  man,  native  or  naturalized,  could 
be  taught  that  cultivating  the  soil  is  the  most  noble  toil  that  a  man  can  engage  in, 
as  by  it  he  more  closely  than  at  any  other  work  obeys  the  intentions  of  God,  a 
mighty  change  for  the  better  would  be  effected.  If  he  could  be  brought  to  see  that 
health  and  happiness,  a  quiet,  peaceful,  and  long  life — God's  gifts  to  the  tillers  of  the 
soil — are  enjoyed  in  the  retired  rural  communities  where,  free  from  nervous  strain, 
mental  worry,  and  the  excessively  laborious  work  of  the  business  and  professional 
man,  the  speculator,  the  mechanic,  and  the  day  laborer  in  the  grinding  cities,  his  life 
would  be  better  and  happier.  The  rural  community  affords  a  life  that  God  intended 
for  man;  the  city  life  is  artificial,  controlled  by  the  ambitions  of  men.  The  farmer's 
increase  comes  by  the  beneficent  laws  of  nature,  even  while  he  himself  may  rest  in 
sleep.  The  toiler  in  the  city  must  pay  in  brain  and  muscle  for  every  mouthful  of 
bread  that  keeps  together  soul  and  body  in  himself  and  family. 

Colonization,  to  be  successful,  must  have  the  spirit  of  humanity  and  philanthropy 
in  it,  as  well  as  a  view  to  financial  returns  to  the  men  who  supply  the  funds.  When  a 
colony  is  to  be  established,  the  utmost  care  should  be  taken  that  those  placed  in  charge 
should  be  men  suitable  for  the  work,  and  who  would  not  turn  their  management  to 
aims  of  personal  aggrandizement.  Nor  should  the  persons  selected  as  members  of  the 
colony  be  taken  indiscriminately  and  at  random.  Their  character  should  be  carefully 
judged  and  their  capabilities  for  leading  the  industrious,  sober,  and  honest  lives  that 
would  be  likely  to  make  a  colony  successful,  should  be  ascertained.  Some  time  ago  a 
reverend  friend  in  a  Western  State  wrote  to  me  that  there  were  excellent  chances  in  a 
certain  section  of  the  West  for  young  women  to  obtain  large  wages,  steady  employment, 
and,  he  added  somewhat  jocosely,  alluring  prospects  of  early  and  successful  marriages. 
A  newspaper  man,  by  some  means  known  only  to  journalistic  enterprise,  got  hold  of  the 
letter  and  published  it.  It  was  copied  all  over  the  Eastern  States,  and  a  great  number 
of  applications  came  from  young  women  offering  to  proceed  at  once  to  this  Western 
paradise  if  their  expenses  for  transportation  were  provided.  In  the  whole  shower  of 
letters  there  were  not  twenty-five,  judging  from  their  contents,  whose  writers  I  would 
select  for  the  work  required.  The  girls  were  needed  for  general  housework,  but  the 
applicants  all  wanted  to  be  governesses,  matrons,  ladies'  maids,  music  teachers,  nurses, 
etc. — all  very  good  in  their  places,  but  unsuitable  for  the  positions  to  be  filled  in  the 
modern  Eden  of  our  reverend  friend. 

In  the  same  way  a  man  may  be  capable  of  even  excelling  in  certain  departments  of 
life,  but  may  not  have  the  requisites  of  a  successful  colonizer.  Thus,  much  rare  should 
be  exercised  in  selecting  candidates. 

Just  ten  years  ago  another  Catholic  Congress  was  assembled  in  the  city  of  Chicago, 
at  which  were  present  many  dignitaries  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  prominent  laymen. 
The  secretary  of  that  Congress,  William  J.  Onahan,  who,  by  a  happy  coincidence,  per- 
forms the  same  services  to  the  pre»ent  and  more  important  Congress,  called  attention 
to  the  dangers  and  abuses  which  immigrants  had  to  encounter  on  their  entrance  to 
America.  Reports  were  frequent  in  the  public  press  of  wrongs,  some  of  them  irrepara- 
ble, inflicted  on  immigrants  landing  at  New  York,  notwithstanding  the  existence  of  the 
Castle  Garden  establishment.  These  reports  clearly  showed  the  necessity  for  a  mission 
at  Castle  Garden  to  look  after  the  spiritual  and  temporal  welfare  of  the  immigrants. 

Some  forty-six  years  ago  a  number  of  philanthropic  and  charitable  men,  aware  of 
the  sufferings  and  dangers  to  which  the  poor  immigrants  were  exposed,  organized  a  so- 
ciety called  the  State  Board  of  Immigration.  Its  purpose  was  twofold,  namely,  to  protect 
immigrants  landing  at  the  port  of  New  York  from  those  who  sought  to  prey  upon  them, 
and  also  to  care  for  the  sick  and  helpless  among  them.  The  second  object  was  tc  afford 


144  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

• 

the  several  cities  and  counties  of  the  State  protection  from  the  importation  of  paupers 
and  criminals.  In  this  year  (1847)  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Immigration  leased 
Castle  Garden,  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  been  devoted  to  purposes  of  amusement. 
Its  gates  were  thrown  open  to  immigrants  of  every  clime,  and  through  them  passed 
many  men  who  subsequently  became  famous  in  history  for  many  and  great  achieve- 
ments. The  immigrants  here  had  a  place  of  refuge  where,  while  waiting  for  friends  or 
employment  to  come,  they  were  sheltered,  not  only  from  thedesignsof  evil  men,  but  from 
the  biting  frosts  of  the  winter's  night  and  the  scorching  rays  of  the  midsummer's  sun, 
and  here  also  thek  hunger  was  appeased.  Of  course  the  accommodations  were  not 
comfortable,  and  often  even  inadequate,  but  the  inmates  wrere  protected  from  robbery 
and  assault.  Even  after  arriving  at  Castle  Garden  and  passing  through  the  hands  of 
the  registration  clerks,  the  immigrants  were  not  safe.  They  went  to  the  labor  bureau 
to  wait  for  employment  or  the  arrival  of  friends  to  take  them  away.  But  where  were 
they  to  go  at  night  if  no  employer  or  friend  turned  up  during  the  day?  They  had  no 
alternative  but  to  go  with  the  first  lodging-house  keeper  or  runner  who  got  hold  of 
them.  For  anyone  acquainted  with  life  in  a  great  city  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the 
dangers  to  which  virtuous  young  girls  and  inexperienced  young  men  were  thus  exposed. 
These  dangers  it  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate.  Many  a  young  woman  was  ruined 
for  life,  and  many  a  young  man  had  his  whole  career  wrecked  at  the  outset  by  the 
associations  and  circumstances  among  which  they  were  thrown. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  Castfe  Garden 
officials,  when  the  Colonization  Society  had  its  attention  attracted  by  Mr.  Onahan  to 
the  evils  prevailing.  After  discussion  in  the  Congress,  Bishop  Ryan,  of  Buffalo,  one 
of  the  members,  was  requested  to  lay  before  the  late  Cardinal  McCloskey  the  opinion  of 
the  society  that  a  bureau  for  the  protection  of  immigrants  should  be  established  at 
Castle  Garden.  The  cardinal  warmly  approved  of  the  suggestion,  and  Rev.  John 
Joseph  Riordan,  of  happy  memory,  was  selected  for  the  work.  June  1,  1884,  Father 
Riordan  regularly  took  his  post  at  Castle  Garden.  He  soon  saw  the  necessity  of  a  home 
where  immigrant  girls  would  remain  until  such  time  as  they  obtained  employment, 
proceeded  on  their  journey,  or  met  their  friends.  A  house  was  leased  at  7  Broadway,  and 
a  temporary  home  established.  The  following  year,  1885,  the  property  at  7  State  Street 
was  purchased,  and  here  the  work  has  since  been  carried  on.  Since  its  establishment 
fully  40,000  young  girls  have  experienced  its  protection  and  benefits.  This  building  was 
constructed  long  ago,  and  was  first  occupied  as  a  private  mansion  and  afterward  used 
for  commercial  business,  and  is  consequently  but  poorly  adapted  for  the  purposes  of 
the  mission;  but,  as  soon  as  funds  can  be  raised,  a  new  building  will  be  erected  more 
suitable  for  the  work,  and  at  the  same  time  be  a  worthy  memorial  to  the  founder  of  the 
mission,  Rev.  John  Joseph  Riordan. 

The  mission,  it  may  be  stated,  is  American  as  well  as  Catholic,  and  extends  its 
hospitality  to  all  immigrant  girls  regardless  of  their  religious  beliefs.  Non-Catholic 
young  women  are  expressly  informed  that  they  are  not  obliged  to  attend  the  religious 
exercises  given  in  the  chapel  of  the  home.  The  good  resulting  from  the  work  done  at 
the  mission  flows  into  American  society,  and  will  be  felt  in  future  generations.  The 
mission  should,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  an  American  institution  as  well  as  a  religious 
agency.  Such  a  work  needs  no  commendation  here,  and  if  it  did,  anything  we  could 
say  would  but  feebly  set  forth  its  merits  when  compared  with  the  eloquent  words  of 
Cardinal  Gibbons  when  speaking  about  it  on  a  recent  occasion. 

"  The  Mission  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Rosary,"  said  his  eminence,  "  has  been  doing  a 
magnificent  work  in  throwing  a  mantle  of  protection  around  these  girls.  And  I  am 
only  too  glad  to  lend  my  presence  to  any  enterprise  which  is  designed  to  help  this  noble 
work.  These  maidens,  after  escaping  the  perils  of  the  sea  and  landing  on  our  shores, 
b  come  the  prey  of  the  landsharks  that  infest  your  city  and  seek  to  rob  them  of  that 
which  is  more  precious  than  life  itself — their  faith  and  the  jewel  of  purity." 

Martin  F.  Morris,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  spoke  at  some  length  on  "  The 
Independence  of  the  Holy  See;  Its  Origin,  and  the  Necessity  for  Its  Con- 
tinuance in  the  Cause  of  Civilization."  He  said: 

On  the  morning  of  October  27,  A.  D.  312,  two  great  armies  confronted  each  other 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  River  Tiber,  about  nine  miles  to  the  northeast  of  Rome.  Not 
often  before  in  its  wonderful  history  had  the  din  of  battle  come  so  close  to  the  eternal 
city.  Armies  had  often  marched  out  from  its  gates  to  conquer.  Armies  had  often 
marched  back  into  its  gates  triumphant  from  the  scene  of  distant  wars.  Now,  for  the 
first  time  since  Breunus  the  Gaul,  in  the  time  of  its  infancy,  had  marched  upon  the 
capital,  the  fate  of  Rome  and  of  the  world  was  to  be  decided  by  the  arbitrament  of 
arms  at  the  very  walls  of  Rome  itself. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  145 

Muxentius,  a  resolute  soldier  of  fortune,  led  one  of  these  two  hosts,  and  his 
garrison  held  the  city.  At  the  head  of  the  other  army,  which  had  come  down  from 
the  North  and  had  drawn  its  recruits  mainly  from  Gaul  and  Britain,  was  one  of  those 
mighty  men  of  destiny  of  whom  the  world  has  known  but  seven  in  all,  who,  as  we  read 
their  history,  impress  us  with  the  profound  conviction  of  their  ability  to  bear  down  all 
opposition  and  to  reach  the  destiny  assigned  to  them  by  heaven  in  spite  of  all 
obstacles. 

Whether  it  be  true  or  not  that  when  upon  that  eventful  morning  Constantino 
the  Great  marshaled  his  legions  for  the  fray  his  own  imperial  banner  bore  upon  it 
the  symbol  of  the  cross  and  the  legend  "In  hoc  signo  vinces,"  as  some  of  the  chron- 
iclers tell  us,  certain  it  is  that  the  result  of  this  conflict  was  to  disclose  to  the  Roman 
world  what  the  Roman  world  had  scarcely  suspected  before — that  it  was  no  longer 
pagan,  but  Christian.  For  three  centuries  of  merciless  persecution  Christianity  had 
found  a  refuge  in  the  catacombs;  now  it  ascended  the  throne  of  the  Ciesars.  The 
transition  perhaps  was  not  as  sudden  as  it  seems  to  us  to-day  to  have  been.  For,  day 
by  day  during  all  these  centuries,  in  spite  of  persecution,  and  even  by  reason  of  the 
persecution,  Christianity  had  gained  converts,  not  merely  in  the  cottages  of  the  lowly, 
but  even  in  the  palaces  of  the  Caesars  themselves.  The  noblest  names  of  Rome  are 
found  in  the  long  roll  of  the  Christian  martyrology;  and  no  doubt  close  observers  of 
the  course  of  events,  if  such  observers  existed  at  the  time,  may  have  anticipated  the 
result.  But,  as  frequently  happens,  the  result  came  at  last  as  the  sequel  of  a  sharp 
and  bitter  civil  war;  and  when  Maxentius,  in  his  flight  from  the  field  of  battle,  was 
drowned  in  the  Tiber,  paganism  went  down  with  him,  though  it  struggled  desperately 
for  a  time  against  the  overwhelming  waters  of  the  new  civilization.  The  contest  had 
not  been  in  name  a  contest  between  paganism  and  Christianity.  There  had  been  no 
outward  semblance,  whatever,  of  a  struggle  between  the  rival  forces  then  at  work  in 
the  Roman  Empire.  Two  rival  contestants  for  the  imperial  throne  had  simply  arrayed 
their  forces  against  each  other  as  similar  contestants  had  often  done  before.  But  out 
of  their  struggle  was  evolved  the  triumph  of  Christianity  and  of  the  new  civilization 
which  Christianity  represented. 

It  has  always  been  a  curious  subject  of  historical  inquiry  and  critical  conjecture 
why  Constantine  the  Great,  as  soon  as  he  had  secured  the  fruits  of  his  victory  and 
finally  consolidated  his  power,  removed  the  seat  of  government  from  the  City  of  Rome 
to  the  City  of  Byzantium  on  the  Thracian  Bosphorus,  ever  since  called  from  him  by  the 
name  of  Constantinople.  But  assuredly  there  was  a  purpose  of  profound  statesman- 
ship, as  well  as  a  providential  dispensation  to  prepare  Rome  to  become  the  religious 
capital  of  the  world,  while  it  ceased  to  be  the  center  of  political  and  governmental  ad- 
ministration. It  is  not  our  purpose  here  to  indulge  in  conjecture  as  to  the  political 
motives  which  may  have  induced  Constantine  to  regard  Byzantium  as  preferable  to 
Rome  for  the  capital  of  the  empire.  But  the  fact  that  this  movement  distinctly  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  conversion  of  Rome  to  be  the  ecclesiastical,  instead  of  the  politi- 
cal, capital  of  the  world,  without  even  the  shadow  of  solicitation  to  that  effect  on  the 
part  of  the  Pope,  is  a  circumstance  that  has  not  received  from  historians  the  considera- 
tion which  it  merits. 

Caesarean  Rome  was  destined  to  become  the  Rome  of  the  Pontiffs.  Out  of  thirty - 
tnree  popes  who  had  sustained  and  guided  the  infant  church  during  the  three  centuries 
of  struggle  and  persecution,  twenty-four  had  received  the  crown  of  martyrdom  and  had 
shed  their  blood  for  the  faith.  The  ground  which  they  had  contributed  so  copiously  to 
fertilize  deserved  to  become  their  own. 

We  attach  no  credit,  however,  to  the  story  of  the  grant  of  Rome  by  Constantine  to 
the  popes.  In  the  nature  of  things  neither  Constantine  or  any  of  his  successors  could 
have  dissociated  the  City  of  Romulus  and  of  the  Scipiosfrom  the  mighty  empire  which 
it  had  established,  and  upon  which  it  had  impressed  its  name  and  its  governmental 
institutions.  But  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  political  authority  from  Rome  to  Byzan- 
tium naturally  relegated  Rome  to  the  condition  of  local  self-government,  which  it  was 
always  the  policy  of  Roman  administration  to  foster  in  all  the  cities  of  the  great 
empire.  By  this  removal  Rome  became  practically  a  free  city,  with  the  power  of  the 
native  senate  restored  to  the  management  of  all  its  local  affairs,  and  with  the  super- 
added  influence  of  the  presence  within  it  of  the  chief  of  the  Christian  religion  to 
moderate  its  course  of  action  and  to  protect  it  from  the  violence  of  external  assault. 
Even  when,  under  the  sons  of  Theodosius,  the  Roman  Empire  was  broken  up  into  the 
Empire  of  the  East  and  the  Empire  of  the  West,  and  Italy  again  became  a  center  of 
political  activity  as  the  stronghold  of  the  Western  empire,  it  was  not  Rome,  but  first 
Milan  and  afterward  Ravenna,  that  became  the  seat  of  imperial  government.  Either 


146  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

studiously  and  by  design,  or  through  an  unconscious  sense  of  the  propriety  of  things, 
Rome  was  left  to  itself  and  to  the  popes.  And  when  the  empire  fell,  neither  Visigoths, 
nor  Ostrogoths,  nor  Lombards,  nor  Franks,  nor  Germans,  ever  interfered  with  this  tacit 
arrangement.  Never  again  was  it  sought  by  anyone  to  make  Rome  the  seat  of  temporal 
government.  The  Ostrogothic  capital  was  established  at  Verona;  that  of  the  Lombards 
at  Pavia. 

When  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  West  was  restored  in  name,  and  almost  in  fact,  for 
Charlemagne  by  Pope  Leo  III.,  in  A.  D.  800,  the  restored  sovereignty  of  the  Caesars 
was  evidenced  by  the  coronation  of  the  Frankish  monarch  at  Rome,  and  his  successors 
in  the  dignity  who  claimed  or  bore  the  title  of  Kaiser  of  the  holy  Roman  Empire  were 
never  regarded  as  fully  entitled  to  the  honor  except  as  the  consequence  of  a  similar 
coronation  by  the  hands  of  the  holy  Roman  Pontiff  in  the  City  of  Rome.  And  yet, 
never  to  any  of  them  did  it  occur  to  attempt  to  transfer  the  seat  of  government  from 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  or  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  or  Nuremburg,  or  Vienna,  to  its  old  loca- 
tion on  the  Palatine  hill.  The  public  sentiment  of  Europe  would  have  been  opposed 
to  any  such  attempt.  That  public  sentiment,  silently,  unconsciously,  but  for  that 
reason  all  the  more  potently,  had  decreed  that  Rome  should  be  a  free  city,  free  from 
the  control  of  the  great  feudal  monarchy,  free  from  all  external  control  of  every 
kind. 

And  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  never,  except  upon  rare  occasions,  did  any  of  the 
feudal  monarchies  of  Europe  seek  to  interfere  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the  City  of 
Rome.  Theoretically,  the  sovereign  of  the  German  Empire  was  required  to  goto  Rome 
for  his  coronation,  but  with  his  coronation  his  functions  within  the  eternal  city  were 
at  an  end.  Henry  IV.  and  Frederick  Barbarosa  sought  to  break  through  this  rule  of 
international  and  Christian  law,  and  the  public  sentiment  of  Europe,  stronger  than  even 
the  arms  of  the  great  Countess  Matilda  or  of  Robert  Guiscard,  drove  them  both  in  dis- 
grace from  Rome.  Within  the  walls  of  Rome  the  only  power  recognized  by  the  .public 
sentiment  of  Rome,  was  that  of  the  Roman  senate,  the  Roman  people,  and  the  Roman 
Pontiff.  And  down  to  the  year  1870  this  public  sentiment  was  strong  enough  to  pre- 
serve unimpaired  the  institutions  that  had  thus  been  so  quietly  evolved  and  estab- 
lished. For  we  may  unhesitatingly  assert  that  the  temporal  power,  as  well  as  the 
spiritual  authority,  of  the  Roman  pontiffs  was  the  result  of  gradual  evolution. 

We  presume  that  no  one  will  pretend  that  the  mass  of  dogma,  and  of  doctrine,  and 
of  religious  practice  that  now  obtains  among  us  was  known  in  its  fullness  to  tlr*  a;  os- 
tles  or  to  their  immediate  successors.  The  germ  of  it  all  they  undoubtedly  had;  but  it 
was  unnecessary,  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  they  should  have  had  it  in  all  the  plenti- 
tude  of  its  manifestations.  The  truth  has  been  unfolded  as  occasion  demanded,  each 
subsequent  declaration  of  -it  being  the  legitimate  consequence  of  the  original  revela- 
tion. 

So  it  was  likewise  with  the  temporal  po.\er.  Who  can  assume  to  place  his  finger 
on  the  precise  point  of  time  when  the  Roman  pontiffs  became  temporal  rulers?  We 
know  when,  and  how,  and  by  whom  the  monarchies  of  France  and  England  and  Ger- 
many were  founded.  We  know  when  the  Swiss  Republic  was  born.  We  know  the 
years  whence  Florence,  Pisa,  Genoa,  and  Venice  severally  became  independent  powers. 
The  great  landmarks  of  the  world's  history  are  the  catastrophes  out  of  which  nations 
are  born  and  dynasties  reared.  But  who  can  say  when  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes  began? 

We  are  told  of  a  grant  by  Constantine  the  Great  to  which  we  have  already  referred; 
and  we  ara  told  of  a  grant  by  Theodosius,  and  by  Bepin,  and  by  Charlemagne.  But  all 
these  are  undoubtedly  apocryphal.  We  have  more  accurate  knowledge  of  a  grant  by 
the  great  Countess  Matilda  of  Tuscany;  but  the  power  of  the  popes  had  then  been 
firmly  established.  And  authentic  history  tells  us,  with  circumstantial  detail,  how  the 
feudal  rulers  of  Urbino,  Carrara,  Bologna,  and  Benevento  gave  way  to  the  milder  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Roman  pontiffs. 

But  neither  to  Constantine,  nor  to  Theodosius,  nor  to  Pepin,  nor  to  Charlemagne, 
nor  to  the  Countess  Matilda  is  due  the  establishment  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes.  The  silly  imbecility  of  partisan  bigotry  has  sometimes  set  down  Pope  Gregory 
VII.,  better  known,  perhaps,  as  Hildebrand  of  Sienna,  as  the  founder  of  the  temporal 
power  of  the  papacy,  and  the  latter  end  of  the  llth  century  as  the  period  of  its  es- 
tablishment. But  only  the  most  intense  bigotry  or  the  most  willful  ignorance  can  be 
blind  to  the  fact  that  Hildebrand  of  Sienna  exercised  no  more  power  in  Rome  than  his 
predecessors  had  done  before  him.  History  fails  to  disclose  any  change  in  his 
time  in  the  government  of  the  eternal  city.  The  grant  which  was  undoubtedly  made 
by  Matilda,  of  the  Tuscan  territory,  subsequently  known  as  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter, 


HON.  C.  C.  BONNEY, 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN  GIBBONS,  LL.  D. 

CHICAGO. 

THOMAS  F.  RING, 

BOSTON. 


DR.  AUGUST  KAISER, 

DETROIT. 


MAURICE   F.  EGAN,  LL.  D., 

NOTRE  DAME,  IND. 


COL.  R.  M.  DOUGLAS,  LL.  D. 

GREENBORO. 

HENRY  C.  SEMPLE, 

MONTGOMERY. 

E.  O.  BROWN, 

CHICAGO. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  147 

enlarged  the  dominion  of  the  popes,  but  it  did  not  create  or  originate  it.  The  Roman 
territory  was  no  part  of  this  grant,  and  in  the  Roman  territory  the  power  of  the  popes 
had  already  been  established  for  several  centuries. 

In  subordination,  of  course,  to  the  divine  ordination  from  which  all  power  origin- 
ates, to  the  will  of  the  Roman  people  is  immediately  due  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes.  To  the  spiritual  chiefs,  in  whose  honor,  integrity  and  patriotism  they  had  confi- 
dence, the  Roman  people  deemed  themselves  justified  in  remitting,  from  time  to  time, 
the  conduct  of  their  temporal  affairs.  When  Alaric  the  Visigoth,  angered  at  the  imbe- 
cility of  the  rulers  of  Ravenna,  plundered  the  eternal  city  and  looked  from  the  Pintian 
hill  over  a  scene  of  indiscriminate  slaughter  and  carnage,  it  was  Pope  Innocent  I.  to 
whom  the  people  turned  in  their  despair,  and  who  induced  the  fierce  barbarian  to  with- 
draw. When,  soon  after,  the  terrible  Atilla  came  down  upon  Italy  with  his  savage  Mon- 
golian horde  and  spread  desolation  over  the  land,  it  was  to  the  Pope  again  that  the  peo- 
ple turned,  and  it  was  Saint  Leo  and  not  a  Roman  general  or  an  officer  or  army  of  the 
tottering  empire  that  encountered  the  savage  chief  under  the  walls  of  Aquileia,  turned 
him  back  from  his  purpose  and  saved  Rome  and  Italy  from  the  horror  of  Mongolian  con- 
quest. When  Ostrogoths,  and  Lombards,  and  Saracens,  and  Normands,  swarmed  over 
the  peninsula  to  ravage  and  plunder  it  was  reserved  to  the  popes  to  check  their  ravages 
and  to  mitigate  the  horrors  of  their  invasion.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  people  of  Rome 
remitted  the  temporal  power  in  their  State  to  those  who  alone  could  gave  them  from 
destruction? 

For  a  thousand  years  before  it  assumed  definite  shape,  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes  in  the  city  of  Rome  existed  and  was  recognized  by  the  tacit  acknowledgment  of 
the  Christian  world.  Never  before  and  never  since  in  the  history  of  the  world  has 
power  been  established  so  quietly  and  so  greatly  in  accord  with  the  wishes  of  the  peo- 
ple over  whom  it  was  exercised.  The  power,  in  fact,  was  the  gradual  development  of 
the  people's  will — so  gradual,  that,  as  we  have  said,  no  one  can  point  to  the  actual 
time  of  its  origin;  for  it  had  no  such  origin  as  other  governments  of  the  world  have 
had. 

It  is  very  true,  however,  that,  to  the  pontificate  of  Hildebrand  of  Sienna,  or  Pope 
Gregory  VII.,  we  are  to  refer  the  formal  establishment  of  the  temporal  power  of  the 
popes,  inasmuch  as  to  that  time  we  are  to  refer  the  culmination  of  the  feudal  system 
in  Europe,  and  the  first  great  victory  of  Christian  civilization  over  it  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Roman  pontiffs.  The  contest  between  feudalism  and  civilization,  beginning  with 
the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  West,  in  A.  D.  472,  was  a  long  and  bitter 
one.  It  had  lasted  over  a  thousand  years  when  the  discovery  of  America  enabled  the 
world  to  insure  the  ultimate  overthrow  of  the  system.  But  the  contest  is  not  even  yet 
entirely  at  an  end.  In  that  contest  the  feudal  classes  of  Europe  were  banded  against 
the  people  and  the  Christian  Church.  The  Roman  pontiffs  were  ever  the  most  consist- 
ent opponents  of  feudalism;  and  it  was  the  unceasing  effort  of  the  popes  to  restrain  the 
rapacity  of  the  "robber  barons,"  and  the  arbitrary  licentiousness  of  the  feudal 
monarchs. 

The  feudal  system  was  at  its  height  when  Hildebrand  became  Pope,  in  A.  D.  1073. 
Henry  IV.  of  the  house  of  Franconia,  an  able  and  up-principled  man,  was  then  Em- 
peror of  Germany  (A.  D.  1056-1106),  and  as  such  the  virtual  head  of  the  system.  A 
violent  contest  broke  out  between  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor.  Henry  sought  to  deter- 
mine it  by  an  appeal  to  the  brute  force  of  arms.  He  crossed  the  Alps,  invaded  Italy, 
and  marched  upon  Rome  with  a  view  of  deposing  the  Pope  and  procuring  the  election 
of  a  Pontiff  more  in  accord  with  his  wishes.  Suddenly  Matilda,  Countess  of  Tuscany, 
appeared  in  arms  against  him  and  resisted  his  advance.  Robert  Guiscard  hastened 
from  Naples  with  his  Normans  to  protect  the  City  of  Rome.  Europe  was  aroused  to  a 
sense  of  danger.  Rebellions  broke  out  in  Germany  itself.  Henry's  army  melted  away. 
Matilda  skilfully  foiled  all  his  movements,  and  the  discomfited  and  baffled  monarch  at 
last  was  compelled  to  come  to  terms  with  the  Pontiff.  In  their  famous  interview  at  the 
Castle  of  Canossa,  in  A.  D.  1079,  the  independence  of  the  Church  from  feudal  restraint 
and  the  triumph  ».  f  Christian  civilization  over  feudal  barbarism  were  definitely  secured. 
And  although  feudalism  survived  for  many  a  day,  the  result  of  that  interview  was  to 
secure  the  church  ever  afterward  from  the  encroachments  of  the  Northern  powers.  It 
was  further  to  insure  that  result  that  the  Countess  Matilda,  either  immediately  after- 
ward or  at  her  death  in  1115,  donated  to  the  popes  the  territory  along  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  between  the  Tiber  and  the  lake  of  Bolsona,  known  in  subsequent  times 
by  the  name  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  what  is  known  as  the  temporal  power  of  the  popes. 
Assuredly  no  temporal  power  was  ever  more  justly  acquired;  no  temporal  sovereignty 


148  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

ever  had  more  just  or  more  legitimate  foundations.  The  free  will  of  the  Roman  people 
and  the  public  sentiment  of  Europe  made  of  Rome  what  a  similar  sentiment,  crystal- 
izing  itself  in  organic  law,  has  made  of  the  City  of  Washington  and  the  District  of 
Columbia  for  the  purposes  of  our  Federal  Union.  The  government  of  the  Union  might, 
perhaps,  have  carried  on  successfully  within  the  territorial  limits  of  some  one  of  the 
States  of  the  Union,  as  indeed  was  done  temporarily  in  the  beginning,  when  the  capital 
was  located  first  at  New  York  and  afterwards  at  Philadelphia.  But  the  better  to  secure 
the  freedom  of  that  government  and  its  independent  action,  the  founders  of  our  consti- 
tutional system  most  wisely  deemed  it  proper,  and  even  necessary,  to  segregate  the  small 
territory  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  to  devote  it  for  all  time  to  that  purpose.  It 
was  not  their  idea  to  create  for  the  government  which  they  established  any 
imperial  domain,  but  simply  to  insure  its  independence  of  action.  By  the  divine  ordin- 
ation, and  by  the  public  sentiment  of  Europe  acting  in  accordance  therewith,  Rome 
was  intended  to  serve  for  the  Christian  world  a  purpose  similar  to  that  which  the  City 
of  Washington  serves  for  our  Federal  Union — as  a  place  where  all  may  meet  on  terms 
of  equal  freedom  and  independence. 

The  parallel  may  be  even  farther  extended.  We  have  said  that  it  was  not  the 
intention  of  the  founders  of  our  Federal  system  to  provide  a  large  domain  for  our  cen- 
tral government,  although  the  powers  of  that  government  were  to  be  co-extensive  with 
the  territorial  limits  of  the  Union,  and  its  influence  was  to  be  co-extensive  with  the  habit- 
able globe.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  their  express  purpose  to  make  that  domain  no  larger 
than  would  be  absolutely  required  to  secure  the  independence  of  the  government,  and 
a  small  district,  containing  not  more  than  100  square  miles  of  territory,  was  deemed 
amply  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  The  Christian  Church  was  established  as  a  power  on 
earth  independent  of  the  nations,  but  to  act  upon  all  the  nations,  to  pervade  them  with 
its  influence,  to  weld  them  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  fraternity,  but  with  a  purpose  and 
a  sphere  of  action  entirely  distinct  and  separate  from  that  of  the  nations.  "  Give  unto 
Ca3sar  the  things  that  are  Caesars,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's,"  was  the 
mandate  of  the  Divine  Founder  of  the  church.  And  this  mandate,  as  did  our  Federal 
constitution  with  the  Union  and  States  of  the  Union,  established  distinctly  the  co-or- 
dination of  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal  power.  The  founder  of  Christianity  no  more 
contemplated  the  subjection  of  the  temporal  to  the  spiritual  power,  as  in  the  Moham- 
medan system,  than  he  did  the  subjection  of  the  spiritual  to  the  temporal  power  which 
it  is  the  boast  of  Protestantism  to  have  accomplished  by  a  restoration  of  the  infamous 
system  of  State  religions,  characteristic  of  the  old  pagan  world,  and  which  it  was  the 
mission  of  Christianity  to  destroy.  By  the  separation  and  co-ordination  of  the  spiritual 
and  temporal  powers  the  freedom  of  both  were  to  be  secured.  And  we  may  add  that  an 
alliance  between  the  two  was  no  more  contemplated  than  the  subjection  of  the  one  to 
the  other. 

.Now,  while  it  necessarily  follows  that  the  possession  of  temporal  power  as  such  by 
the  church  is  not  only  not  necessary  to  it,  but  is,  in  its  nature,  injurious  to  the  purity 
of  its  existence;  the  possession  of  a  locus  for  the  free  and  independent  exercise  of  its 
governmental  functions  is  an  entirely  different  matter.  A  place  for  a  meeting  of  its 
councils  outside  of  the  territorial  limits  of  any  State  or  nation,  and  therefore,  presum- 
ably free  from  the  undue  influence  which  would  be  natural  within  the  limits  of  a  State 
or  nation — a  place  for  the  transaction  of  the  executive  business  of  the  church — a  place 
for  the  sessions  of  its  general  tribunals,  for  there  is  legislative,  executive  and  judicial 
business  to  be  transacted  by  the  church  as  well  as  by  the  State,  is  just  as  much  a 
necessity  for  the  church  as  it  is  for  the  State,  with  this  distinction,  perhaps,  that  the 
exercise  of  temporal  power  is  the  primary  purpose  of  the  State,  while  to  the  church  it  is 
merely  an  incident,  a  convenient  and  proper  incident  to  the  exercise  of  its  spiritual 
power,  but  yet  never  more  than  an  incident. 

The  church  may  exist  without  the  temporal  power  of  the  popes.  It  existed  without 
it  in  the  catacombs;  it  existed  without  it  through  all  the  ages  of  persecution.  Popes 
may  die  in  exile  or  in  prison,  as  they  have  died.  Godless  conspirators  against  the  cause 
of  truth  may  raise  again  the  banners  of  hell  over  the  altars  of  religion,  as  they  have 
frequently  done  in  the  past.  They  may  slay  the  priest  at  the  altar,  scatter  the  wor- 
shipers and  defile  the  sanctuary,  and  yet  the  spirit  of  religion  will  survive  and  the 
church  will  come  forth  again  triumphant,  as  it  came  forth  from  the  catacombs.  Free 
or  enslaved,  in  favor  with  princes  or  incurring  their  deadliest  enmity,  we  have  no  appre- 
hension for  the  church;  her  cause  is  the  cause  of  God  and  it  will  survive.  So  many 
tyrants  rage  against  the  cause  of  human  liberty;  but  the  spirit  of  liberty  can  not  be 
destroyed  by  tyrants.  Assuredly  it  can  not  seriously  be  claimed  that,  because  human 
liberty  can  survive  the  assaults  of  tyranny,  therefore  it  should  continue  to  be  subject 
to  them. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


149 


Is  it  any  more  reasonable  to  hold  that  because  the  church  will  undoubtedly  survive 
persecution  and  the  loss  of  its  independence,  therefore  it  ought  to  be  subjected  to  per- 
secution and  deprived  of  the  small  allotment  of  temporal  dominion  that  constitutes  the 
guarantee  of  its  freedom  and  independence? 

Man  is  by  nature  entitled  to  be  free;  therefore  is  he  entitled  to  free  institutions. 
Man  is  entitled  to  freedom  in  his  spiritual  relations;  therefore  is  the  church,  the  organ 
of  his  religion,  entitled  to  such  measures  of  temporal  authority  as  will  secure  its  inde- 
pendence and  its  freedom  of  action.  More  than  this  there  is  Dot  claimed  for  it;  more 
than  this  it  would  not  be  wise  for  it  to  possess. 

No  dispassionate  and  impartial  student  of  history  can  now  fail  to  recognize  the 
benefit  that  accrued  to  our  civilization  from  the  existence  of  the  papacy.  It  was  the 
papacy,  and  the  papacy  alone,  that  saved  Europe  from  the  grinding  despotism  of  the 
feudal  system.  From  the  brigandage  and  licentiousness  which  that  system  was  so  well 
calculated  to  perpetuate,  humanity  found  its  only  refuge  in  the  power  that  was  repre- 
sented by  the  papacy.  The  independence  of  the  papacy  secured  the  independence  of 
the  church.  And  the  ultimate  triumph  of  all  that  the  church  represented  and  was  to 
Europe — religion,  morality,  science,  literature,  female  virtue,  and  the  sanctity  of  the 
home.  Recall  for  a  moment  the  picture  drawn  by  a  great  dramatist  of  our  own  age;  it 
is  a  true  picture.  In  the  drama  of  Richelieu,  by  Edward  Bulwer  Lytton,  when  the 
famous  French  cardinal,  driven  from  power,  temporarily  deprived  of  his  honor,  and 
shorn  of  all  his  authority  by  the  loss  of  royal  favor,  was  threatened  with  an  assault  upon 
the  virtue  of  his  favorite  niece,  what  did  he  say  and  do;  and  what  was  the  power  that 
enabled  him  to  hurl  defiance  on  his  enemies.  Here  are  his  words,  that  deserve  to  be 
immortal: 

Mark  where  she  stand.    Around  her  form 

I  draw  the  awful  circle  of  our  solemn  church; 

Let  but  a  foot  within  that  holy  ground. 

And  on  thy  head— yea,  though  it  wore  a  crown — 

1  launch  the  curse  of  Rome. 

And  the  writer  is  true  to  the  spirit  of  history  when  he  makes  the  cardinal's  enemies 
shrink  from  his  denunciation  more  abjectly  than  they  would  have  cowered  before  any 
manifestation  of  political  authority. 

During  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  long  after  Protestantism  had  destroyed  the 
spirit  of  Christian  charity  and-  the  sentiment  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  in  Europe, 
the  Roman  pontiffs  were  the  arbiters  of  political  quarrels  and  national  controversies — 
not  because  they  arrogated  to  themselves  any  temporal  authority  over  the  nations,  as 
partisan  bigotry  has  falsely  asserted,  but  because  on  account  of  their  spiritual  charac- 
ter the  Christian  world  looked  to  them  as  the  most  natural  and  the  most  impartial 
judges  of  national  and  international  disputes,  and  the  faith  of  the  Christian  world,  in 
the  rectitude  of  their  decisions,  has  never  been  mistaken  or  misplaced.  When  were 
their  decisions  in  this  regard  wrong? 

A  remarkable  illustration  is  recalled  by  the  history  of  the  great  event  we  are  now 
commemorating.  When  the  grand  exploit  of  Columbus  had  opened  up  the  Western 
World  beyond  the  Atlantic  to  the  daring  adventure  of  Spain,  and  the  contemporaneous 
maritime  enterprise  of  Portugal  threatened  to  occasion  collisions  between  the  two 
nations,  Alexander  VI.,  who  then  occupied  the  Papal  chair,  and  to  whose  decision  the 
matter  had  been  referred  for  arbitration,  decreed  that  the  thirty-seventh  meridian  of 
longitude  west  of  the  straits  of  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands  should  be  the  dividing  line 
between  the  colonial  empires  of  the  two  powers.  There  was  no  usurpation  in  this 
decision,  as  the  malignant  falsifiers  of  Edinburgh  and  Geneva  would  have  us  believe 
— no  haughty  arrogation  of  sovereignty  over  this  newly-discovered  world  such  as  to 
justify  the  pontiffs  in  parceling  it  out  between  the  two  great  maritime  powers  of  the 
day.  The  action  of  the  Pope  was  simply  that  of  the  judge  or  arbitrator  to  whom  the 
controversy  for  the  settlement  of  a  disputed  boundary  had  naturally  been  referred 
by  those  interested  in  its  settlement.  tAnd  strangely  enough  the  two  parties  most 
nearly  interested,  Spain  and  Portugal,  acquiesced  in  the  decision  of  the  Pontiff  with- 
out a  murmur  of  dissent.  And  it  was  not  until  long  afterward,  when  the  basest 
malignity  of  falsehood  was  never  deemed  too  vile  for  the  use  of  intolerant  fanaticism  and 
religious  rancor,  that  one  of  the  most  beneficent  acts  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs  was 
characterized  as  an  evidence  of  their  usurpation  of  sovereign  powers  over  the  world. 

As  mediators  of  peace  and  arbitrators  of  international  difficulties  the  popes  of 
Rome  have  rendered  services  to  the  cause  of  human  civilization,  supposing  for  the 
moment  that  we  can  dissociate  that  term  from  religion,  which  no  historical  writer  of 
the  present  day  who  has  regard  for  the  cause  of  truth  can  ignore.  We  think  a  period 
has  been  reached  in  the  history  of  the  world  when  arbitration  between  the  nations 


150  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

may  be  substituted  for  the  brutal  agency  of  the  sword  as  a  more  sensible  and  more 
satisfactory  method  for  the  determination  of  the  quarrels  and  disputes  that  arise 
between  the  nations.  More  than  once  in  late  years  we  have  had  recourse  as  a 
nation  to  this  method  of  settling  our  difficulties  with  other  nations  of  the  world; 
and  the  method  has  commended  itself  to  the  common  sense  of  the  age  as  eminently 
wise  and  just.  In  other  words,  by  our  sporadic  efforts  we  are  striving  to  return  to 
the  system  of  a  more  permanent  character  represented  in  past  times  by  the  Roman 
Pontiffs.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  the  time  will  come  again  when  all  the  nations 
will  agree  by  common  consent  to  submit  their  controversies,  which  they  are  unable 
to  settle  amicably  between  themselves,  to  a  supreme  court  of  the  world,  presided  over 
by  the  Roman  Pontiffs?  But  in  order  that  the  Roman  Pontiff  may  be  free  to  act  as 
such  supreme  arbitrator,  in  order  that  the  Roman  Pontiff  may  be  free  to  act  as  the 
ordinary  arbitrator  of  the  affairs  of  our  universal  church  throughout  the  nations,  he 
must  not  be  the  subject  of  any  power  or  nation  himself.  For  such  subjection  would 
detract  from  his  impartiality  as  well  as  from  his  independence.  It  is  unjust  to  all  of 
us  throughout  the  world  that  the  head  of  our  religion  should  be  under  the  suspicion 
even  of  being  controlled,  constrained  or  influenced  by  the  temporal  authority  of  any 
nation  claiming  political  jurisdiction  of  his  person  or  of  his  surroundings. 

The  writer  of  this  paper  is  not  an  enemy  to  the  sentiment  of  united  Italy.  On  the 
contrary,  he  sympathizes  most  heartily,  not  only  with  the  desire  for  freedom  which  is 
assumed  to  have  been  so  large  a  factor  in  producing  a  united  Italy,  but  with  the 
general  theory  of  a  union,  or  at  least  of  a  confederation,  of  all  the  branches  of  cognate 
races  so  far  as  it  may  be  feasible  or  practicable  to  fuse  them  into  one  nationality.  But 
Rome  was  not  necessary  for  the  united  Italy.  Rome  has  become  the  capital  of  the 
world;  we  would  not  have  it  disgraced  into  becoming  the  capital  of  a  petty  European 
monarchy.  Rome  has  not  now,  even  if  it  ever  had,  any  strategic,  political,  or  com- 
mercial value  as  the  capital  of  an  Italian  monarchy,  or  of  an  Italian  republic,  or  of  an 
Italian  confederation  of  any  kind.  Italy  would  be  as  strong  without  it  as  with  it; 
stronger,  indeed,  without  it,  because  there  would  then  no  longer  be  the  friction  of  the 
religious  sentiment  that  must  continue  to  struggle  against  the  existing  conditions,  and 
that  must  necessarily  succeed,  sooner  or  later,  in  modifying  those  conditions  Rome 
should  be  a  great  free  city,  the  great  free  city  of  the  world,  the  holy  city,  and  the 
religious  capital  of  all  the  nations— not  a  mere  competitor  of  London,  or  Berlin,  or 
Vienna,  but  once  again  the  city  of  the  soul,  as  a  noble  poet  has  well  named  it,  to 
which  the  "Orphans  of  the  Heart"  may  ever  turn  as  their  home,  and  where  the 
children  of  every  nation  under  heaven  may  come  and  feel  themselves  at  home.  United 
Italy  will  make  no  real  sacrifice  of  nationality  by  the  restoration  of  Rome  to  the 
popes.  The  world  will  be  the  gainer  by  securing  anew  the  independence  of  the  Holy  See. 

Col.  Robert  M.  Douglas,  of  Greensboro,  N.  C.,  read  a  paper  on  "  Trade 
Combinations  and  Strikes,"  in  which  he  said : 

Trade  combinations  and  strikes  are  twin  children  of  an  advancing  civilization,  in 
which  the  individual  is  becoming  merged  into  the  aggregate,  not  only  as  to  his  rights 
of  property,  but  too  often  as  to  his  manhood  on  the  one  hand  and  his  conscience  on  the 
other.  Trade  combinations  are  of  different  kinds,  varying  with  the  objects  of  their  for- 
mation and  the  character  of  the  men  organizing  and  controlling  them;  but  throughout 
them  all  runs  the  essential  object  of  obtaining  by  co-operation  of  efforts  and  resources 
what  is  beyond  the  power  of  the  individual.  Strikes,  whatever  may  be  their  local 
causes  and  effects,  and  however  perverted  by  unworthy  leaders,  must  be  finally  regarded 
as  the  solemn  protest  of  the  individual  against  wrongs  for  which  he  feels  the  law 
presents  no  adequate  remedy. 

Trade  combinations  are  almost  invariably  effected  through  incorporated  companies, 
and  this  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  the  corporation  laws  of  this  country,  which,  in 
my  opinion,  through  their  unequal  operation,  are  largely  responsible  for  the  unfortu- 
nate relations  existing  between  labor  and  capital,  with  the  resulting  strikes. 

What  is  a  corporation?  It  is  a  fictitious  person,  created  by  law,  possessing  all  the 
property  rights  of  the  individual,  but  lacking  many  of  his  limitations  and  enjoying 
greater  privileges.  Like  an  individual,  it  can  buy  and  sell,  take  and  hold,  sue  and  be 
sued,  and  act  as  trustee,  administrator,  or  guardian.  Unlike  an  individual,  it  has 
neither  conscience  to  appeal  to,  nor  body  to  imprison.  Its  character  is  its  soul,  its  cap- 
ital stock  is  its  life's  blood.  It  enjoys  peculiar  privileges  not  given  to  individuals  or 
firms.  It  has  a  fixed  term  of  life,  unaffected  by  the  death  of  its  members,  and  hence  is 
not  hampered  by  will  or  descent,  dower,  courtesy,  or  homestead.  However  great  its 
capital  or  numerous  its  shareholders,  it  is  not  embarrassed  by  internal  differences  of 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  15  i 

opinion,  for  it  has  but  one  will,  which  is  the  will  of  the  majority.  Many  corporations, 
like  railroads,  possess  the  power  of  condemnation,  which  is  simply  the  practical  exercise 
of  the  right  of  eminent  domain,  one  of  the  highest  privileges  of  the  State. 

Usually  its  shareholders  have  no  personal  liability  beyond  the  amount  subscribed  ; 
and  by  an  ingenious  process,  based  upon  a  fictitious  purchase,  subscriptions  can  be 
turned  into  paid-up  stock  upon  the  actual  payment  of  a  small  percentage.  The  capi- 
talization of  railroad  companies,  that  is,  their  issues  of  stock  and  bonds,  rarely  ever 
represent  actual  investments.  A  syndicate  of  stockholders  of  a  projected  railroad 
will,  by  appeals  to  the  patriotism  and  self-interest  of  communities  and  individuals,  obtai  i 
all  the  public  and  private  subscriptions  possible,  and  then  organize  a  distinct  corpora- 
tion in  the  nature  of  a  construction  company.  As  officers  of  the  railroad  company, 
they  will  make  a  contract  with  themselves  as  the  construction  company  to  build  the 
road  for  a  fixed  price  per  mile,  generally  amounting  to  the  entire  bonds  and  stocks  of 
the  road,  including  public  and  private  subscriptions.  These  subscriptions,  with  the 
first  mortgage  bonds,  usually  build  the  road,  leaving  the  entire  second  mortgage  bonds 
and  nearly  all  the  stock  as  net  profits. 

These  issues  of  stock  and  bonds,  representing  nothing  but  wind  and  water,  of  course 
contribute  nothing  to  the  productive  capacity  of  the  road,  and  yet  they  elect  its  officers, 
control  its  management,  and  absorb  its  profits.  The  mere  payment  of  the  interest  on 
the  bonds,  without  any  dividend  on  the  stock,  would  be  an  enormous  profit  to  the 
builders.  Six  per  cent  on  the  par  value  of  a  bond  becomes  100  per  cent  if  the  bond 
costs  only  six  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  over  1,000  per  cent  if  it  costs  nothing. 

If  a  corporation  having  5,000  employes  cut  down  their  daily  wages  5  cents-  a 
reduction  which  none  could  afford  to  resist — it  would  be  a  net  saving  of  8250  per  day. 
It  would  mean  on  the  one  hand  from  875,000  to  8100,000  per  year  added  to  net  profits  of 
the  corporation,  and  on  the  other  2,000,000  loaves  of  bread  taken  from  the  mouths  of  the 
suffering  poor.  Successive  reductions  complete  the  grinding  process  to  the  limit  of 
human  endurance.  Is  not  this  a  dangerous  experiment  for  the  corporation  to  make  or 
the  State  to  permit? 

Our  civilization  rests  upon  a  surrender  by  the  individual  of  a  portion  of  his  natural 
liberty  in  exchange  for  the  protection  of  government,  and  he  has  a  right  to  demand 
that  the  government  shall  use  all  powers  necessary  to  his  protection.  Otherwise  is  he 
not  relegated  by  the  law  of  nature  to  his  natural  right  of  self-defense?  If  the  State 
create  an  artificial  person  with  powers  greater  than  his  own,  with  which  he  can  not  con- 
tend, has  he  not  a  right  to  demand  that  the  State  shall  provide  effiicient  means  to  pre- 
vent an  abuse  of  the  extraordinary  powers  it  has  given  to  its  creature? 

A  corporation  has  no  inherent  rights,  and  if  it  receives  from  the  State  powers  and 
privileges  greater  than  an  individual,  it  thereby  assumes  greater  responsibilities,  which 
neither  it  nor  the  State  can  ignore.  This  may  require  additional  legislation,  but  as  we 
have  enlarged  the  common  law  in  favor  of  the  corporation,  why  not  extend  it  for  the 
protection  of  the  individual?  It  contains  the  germs  of  all  necessary  remedies,  not  only 
for  the  abuse  of  corporate  powers,  but  for  many  other  existing  evils. 

At  first,  remedial  legislation  would  necessarily  be  somewhat  experimental;  but 
experience  would  soon  perfect  it.  All  corporate  privileges  should  be  held  at  the  will 
of  the  sovereign  grantor.  This  is  now  the  case  with  the  present  constitution  of  North 
Carolina  and  some  other  States.  Of  course  the  doctrine  of  "  vested  rights "  will  be 
invoked,  and  the  Dartmouth  College  case  cited,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  this 
case  was  decided  on  the  ground  that  the  college  was  an  eleemosynary  corporation. 
There  is  an  essential  difference  between  a  charter  granted  merely  to  perpetuate  the 
charitable  purposes  of  a  private  founder  and  one  conveying  valuable  franchises  directly 
affecting  the  general  public,  and  the  abuse  of  which  may  vitally  injure  communities  as 
well  as  individuals. 

In  any  event,  when  remedial  legislation  is  needed  to  correct  great  public  wrongs, 
our  legislators  should  always  give  the  people  the  benefit  of  the  doubt;  and  at  least  give 
the  Supreme  Court  the  opportunity  of  passing  upon  its  constitutionality.  If  necessary 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  can  be  amended. 

Each  State  should  have  a  department  or  bureau  of  corporations,  with  visitorial 
powers,  to  which  all  corporations  should  report  at  stated  times.  This  need  not  cost  the 
State  anything,  as  moderate  fees  would  more  than  pay  the  expenses.  The  visitorial 
powers  need  not  be  exercised  except  upon  complaint,  and  an  appeal  to  the  courts  should 
be  allowed.  The  majority  of  the  States  already  have  railroad,  banking  and  insurance 
commissioners,  and  but  a  slight  extension  of  their  powers  would  be  sufficient.  Tbero 
is  no  reason  why  large  manufacturing  corporations  and  transportation  companies 
should  be  any  more  free  from  State  supervision.  Treat  all  alike  and  require  from  all  a 


152  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

strict  observance  of  the  law.  Trade  combinations  and  strikes  are  not  private  affairs, 
concerning  only  employer  and  employed;  but  usually  injuriously  affect  a  large  number 
of  innocent  people,  and  become  public  nuisances  of  the  highest  order.  A  nuisance  is 
abatable,  and  an  affray  is  punishable  at  the  common  law.  In  an  affray,  which  is  the 
voluntary  fighting  of  two  or  more  persons  in  a  public  place,  both  parties  are  guilty, 
no  matter  who  began  it.  Why  should  it  not  be  so  with  strikes,  if  tLe  public  peace  be 
broken?  I  have  no  sympathy  with  the  red-handed  rioter;  he  should  be  promptly  sup- 
pressed. But  if  the  employer  or  his  agent  provokes  a  strike  by  oppression  or  unlawful 
combinations,  why  is  he  not  equally  guilty  with  the  poor  wretch  whom  he  has  driven 
to  desperation? 

Of  course  the  government  can  not  compel  anyone  to  employ  or  work  for  a  fixed 
price,  but  the  strike  or  the  lockout  must  be  kept  equally  within  the  law.  Whenever  a 
strike  occurs,  especially  one  in  any  way  affecting  the  general  public,  a  prompt  and 
thorough  investigation  should  be  made  by  the  State  authorities— not  only  into  the  acts 
committed,  but  also  into  the  causes,  remote  as  well  as  proximate.  The  resultant  acts 
of  the  strikers  are  generally  open  and  easily  seen  and  punished,  but  the  exciting  acts 
of  the  employer  are  more  secret  and  difficult  of  redress. 

The  investigations  should  extend  not  simply  to  overt  acts,  but  to  all  causes  of  com- 
plaint, including  the  rate  of  wages;  whether  paid  promptly,  and  in  cash,  or  orders; 
the  hours  of  labor,  whether  the  employes  live  in  houses  belonging  to  the  company, 
and,  if  so,  whether  the  rental  is  fair,  so  as  to  determine  whether,  on  the  whole,  the 
employes  receive  sufficient  remuneration  for  their  labor.  Wages,  apparently  fair,  can 
easily  be  largely  reabsorbed  by  high  rentals  and  store  accounts,  where  the  store  and 
tenant  houses  belong  to  the  company.  The  reasonableness  of  wages  depends  not  only 
upon  the  labor  of  the  employe,  but  also  upon  the  resulting  profit  to  the  employer. 
This  should  include  a  fair  return  upon  the  original  investment,  the  capital  actually 
employed  in  carrying  on  the  business,  and  the  personal  service  of  the  owners.  All 
these  should  be  matters  of  official  inquiry.  The  dividend  declared  upon  the  stock 
does  not  always  show  the  actual  profits,  as  large  amounts  may  be  carried  to  the 
surplus  fund,  expended  in  improvements,  or  paid  to  the  principal  owners  in  the  shape 
of  salaries. 

It  may  be  said  that  such  inquiries  are  inquisitorial,  but  so  is  the  cross-examination 
of  any  witness.  Practically,  all  strikes  occur  with  incorporated  companies  or  large 
manufacturing  establishments.  We  have  seen  that  corporations  would  have  no  right 
to  object,  as  they  placed  themselves  under  peculiar  obligations  to  the  state  when  they 
accepted  their  chartered  rights.  Private  manufacturers  are  in  no  better  position,  as 
they  derive  peculiar  benefits  through  the  operation  of  our  tariff  laws.  They  should 
remember  that  the  avowed  purpose  of  all  our  protective  legislation  is  to  protect  our 
laboring  classes  from  competition  with  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe,  and  to  enable  our 
manufacturers  to  pay  such  wages  as  will  permit  their  employes  to  support  and  educate 
their  families  in  a  manner  befitting  American  citizens  I  have  always  been  in  favor  of 
a  protective  tariff,  because  I  believed  it  protected  the  American  aborer.  In  granting 
this  protection  to  the  manufacturer,  the  government  should  require  him  to  show  that 
he  has  shared  its  benefits  with  the  humblest  laborer  from  the  sweat  of  whose  brow  he 
derives  his  profits. 

One  other  danger  inseparable  from  corporate  bodies  arises  from  their  utter  want  ot 
moral  responsibility.  Corporations  are  too  often  managed,  not  by  their  real  owners, 
but  by  officers  whose  trained  minds  and  consciences  are  devoted  to  the  single  purposr 
of  producing  the  largest  possible  profits  with  a  view  to  the  largest  possible  salaries. 
There  is  no  apparent  reason  why  the  right  to  apply  for  a  writ  of  quo  warranto  shoulc 
be  reserved  to  the  attorney-general  alone,  who  too  frequently  owes  his  election  to  somo 
powerful  corporation. 

But  little  can  here  be  said  about  trade  combinations  in  the  nature  of  trusts 
Avowedly  formed  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  prices  by  preventing  competition  or 
limiting  production,  they  are  essentially  vicious  in  their  nature,  dangerous  in  theii 
tendencies,  and  destructive  in  their  results.  The  United  States,  as  well  as  several  of 
the  States,  have  enacted  laws  against  trusts  and  unlawful  trade  combinations,  but  so 
far  apparently  with  little  success,  either  owing  to  defects  in  the  laws  or  lukewarm- 
ness  in  those  charged  with  their  execution.  Even  without  such  legislation,  the  old 
common  law  offences  of  forestalling,  regrating,  engrossing,  and  conspiracy  would,  if 
enforced,  remedy  many  xisting  evils. 

In  the  taxing  power  the  government  possesses  a  most  efficacious  remedy  for  trade 
combinations.  The  right  to  tax  is  the  power  to  destroy;  and  we  have  seen  this  power 
exercised  with  a  vengeance  on  State  bank  issues  and  foreign  imports. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  153 

This  question  of  taxation  brings  us  to  another  matter  in  which  the  poor  man  is 
placed  at  a  disadvantage.  It  has  been  said  that  our  churches  are  principally  supported 
by  the  comparatively  poor,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  government.  The  wealth 
of  the  rich  consists  largely  in  bonds  and  stocks  and  other  convertible  securities,  which 
can  be  easily  concealed  without  leaving  any  trace.  That  this  can  be  done  is  self- 
evident;  that  it  has  been  done  has  been  recently  shown  in  the  most  striking  manner. 
A  certain  amount  of  revenue  must  be  raised  for  the  purposes  of  government;  and  when 
one  species  of  property  escapes  taxation,  the  rate  is  necessarily  increased  upon  what  is 
taxed.  What  the  locomotive  fails  to  pay,  must  be  levied  upon  the  mule. 

A  laboring  man  can  rarely  escape  taxation.  He  has  no  money  or  stocks  or  bonds 
to  conceal.  He  can  not  evade  the  poll  tax  by  hiding  his  own  head,  neither  can  he  put 
his  mule  or  cow  in  a  safe-deposit  vault  and  swear  he  does  not  own  any.  The  poor 
farmer  ploughing  a  brindled  steer  upon  a  barren  hillside  pays  taxes  upon  his  steer  as 
well  as  upon  his  own  head.  He  has  fair  cause  for  complaint  if  the  railroad  magnate 
rolling  by  in  his  private  car  shirks  any  part  of  the  just  burdens  of  government. 

Another  principle  of  taxation  that  operates  very  unequally  is  that  which  permits 
all  debts  to  be  deducted  from  solvent  credits.  That  is,  if  a  man  owns  §10,000  in  notes 
or  bonds;  and  owes  §8,000,  he  returns  only  $2,000  for  taxation.  But  if  a  man  buys  a 
house  for  $1,000,  paying  $200  cash  and  giving  his  note  and  mortgage  for  the  remaining 
$800,  he  is  compelled  to  pay  taxes  on  the  entire  value  of  the  place.  His  actual  owner- 
ship extends  only  to  the  amount  he  has  paid,  and  on  that  alone  should  he  be  required 
to  pay  taxes. 

The  best  citizen  on  earth  is  the  man  who  owns  his  home.  Next  to  his  wife  and 
children,  it  is  to  him  the  dearest  thing  on  earth,  because  it  shelters  them.  He  con- 
stantly improves  and  beautifies  it,  and  becomes  more  and  more  identified  with  its  every 
feature.  He  seeks  to  avoid  and  prevent  every  danger  that  may  threaten  it.  He  is 
never  a  rioter.  The  State  should  by  every  means  in  its  power  encourage  a  citizen  to 
acquire  a  home  as  the  surest  pledge  of  his  fidelity.  Every  little  flower  planted  by  the 
contented  hand  of  a  freeman  is  a  stronger  prop  of  a  free  government  than  a  bayonet. 

These  few  suggestions,  the  result  of  professional  experience  and  earnest  considera- 
tion, are  submitted  to  you  in  the  hope  that,  however  crude  and  imperfect,  they  may 
contain  a  germ  which,  under  the  fostering  care  of  an  abler  hand,  may  develop  into 
some  measure  of  public  welfare.  The  dangers  that  threaten  our  country  and  its  insti- 
tutions are  evident.  The  remedy  is  yet  tt>  be  found;  but  its  essential  principle  lies  in 
a  just  recognition  of  the  rights  of  all  classes  of  our  people.  So  make  and  enforce  the 
laws  that  every  one  throughout  this  broad  land  shall  feel  and  know  that  there  is  no 
one  so  rich  and  powerful  as  to  be  beyond  the  avenging  arm  of  the  law,  and  none  so 
poor  and  humble  as  to  be  beneath  its  completest  protection. 

Rev.  John  R.  Slattery,  of  St.  Joseph's  Seminary,  Baltimore,  Md.,  followed 
with  an  able  paper  on  "The  Negro  Race;  Its  Condition,  Present  and 
Future."  He  said: 

The  religious  condition  of  our  eight  millions  of  blacks  gives  food  for  anxious  thought, 
and  is  fraught  with  lively  interest  to  every  citizen  of  this  Republic.  American  Catholics 
may  be  said  to  have  folded  their  arms  for  two  and  a  half  centuries,  especially  indeed 
since  the  war,  and  allowed  their  non-Catholic  countrymen  full  swing  in  the  religious 
training  of  the  colored  race.  We  did  our  share  for  them  in  other  ways;  we  had  more 
than  a  proportionate  representation  in  the  Union  army  which  emancipated  them,  while 
we  were  in  insignificant  number  on  the  opposite  side.  But  as  far  as  religion  goes  our 
efforts  have  been  trivial.  To  appreciate  how  truly  so,  consider  how  few  of  the  black 
race  are  Catholics — -but  one  in  fifty.  And  here  is  the  first  element  in  their  religious 
condition;  their  actual  numbers  adhering  to  the  various  sects  count  up,  all  told,  about 
four  millions,  while  fully  as  many  are  without  any  religion  at  all. 

Moreover,  the  peculiarity  of  their  religious  organizations  is  that  they  themselves  do 
their  whole  religious  work.  They  are  the  bishops,  preachers,  elders,  deacons,  and  flock. 
Except  a  few  Episcopal  clergymen,  all  the  ministers  laboring  among  the  blacks  are  of 
their  own  race.  The  white  clergymen  are  found  only  in  their  universities,  colleges,  sem- 
inaries, and  other  higher  schools;  yet  the  African  churches  seem  to  move  along  smoothly 
enough. 

As  to  their  religious  knowledge,  it  is  no  surprise  to  learn  that  very  many  of  the 
negroes  who  profess  religion  are  ignorant  of  the  most  fundamental  truths  of  revelation. 
They  have  some  idea  of  our  Lord,  a  great  reverence  for  His  Holy  Name,  a  notion  of  sin 
and  of  the  Bible — th*e  latter,  however,  more  in  a  superstitious  than  a  rational  way. 
Baptism,  in  the  eyes  of  a  multitude  of  them,  is  all  that  is  needed.  No  matter  what 


154  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

sect  may  claim  them,  once  baptized  they  are  saved.  "Once  in  grace  never  out  of  it;" 
or,  to  give  another  favorite  saying  of  theirs:  "  The  Blood  of  Jesus  never  burns."  Now, 
as  no  soul  is  exempt  from  the  necessity  of  learning  the  essential  truths  of  God's  revel- 
ation, it  is  a  primary  question  as  to  whether  or  not  these  are  acquired  by  the  blacks 
through  their  church  membership.  Behold  the  drawback  in  the  negro  churches.  They 
are  taught  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Christian  religion  but  very  imperfectly.  FaV 
too  often  their  churches  are  mere  hustings  for  political  candidates"  or  are  like  social 
clubs;  and  their  houses  of  worship  are  often  used  for  nearly  all  kinds  of  gatherings. 

At  the  same  time  the  ignorance  of  religious  truth  among  the  negroes  does  not 
weaken  the  religious  sentiment  which  is  naturally  strong  in  them,  and  which,  strange 
as  it  seems,  is  often  divorced  from  their  sense  of  morality.  In  this  matter,  however, 
they  are  without  anything  worthy  the  name  of  guidance.  Recently  a  leading  preacher 
declared  in  the  public  press  that  two-thirds,  if  not  three-fourths,  of  the  colored  preach- 
ers were  immoral.  "If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into  the  ditch."  It  is 
impossible  to  say  to  what  extent  this  laxity  of  morals  is  attributable  to  the  frightful 
doctrine  of  the  inadmissibility  of  grace,  which  is  not  theirs  alone,  but  that  of  the  many 
millions  of  Southern  whites  who  profess  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  justification.  Their 
test  of  conversion,  writes  a  Mrs.  Rice  in  the  Christian  Union,  is  an  abnormal  parox- 
ysmal experience,  after  which  they  have  "  got  religion  "  and  no  sin  is  to  be  laid  to  their 
charge.  This  writer  is  also  authority  for  the  statement  that  even  a  murderer  has  been 
known  to  conduct  a  Sunday-school,  with  great  apparent  zeal  and  unction,  for  months 
after  his  undiscovered  crime. 

Unhappily  the  attitude  of  the  whites  towards  the  immoralities  of  the  negroes  works 
much  harm  in  lowering  the  standard  of  morality  in  the  poor  people's  eyes.  A  black 
person  is  not  expected  to  be  virtuous,  and  is  looked  upon  with  wonder  if  he  or  she  hap- 
pens to  be  so.  It  is  related  of  an  elderly  colored  woman,  when  urging  a  younger  one  to 
give  up  her  bad  ways,  that  the  latter  gave  this  scornful  answer:  "  Huh!  de  white  folks 
hires  me,  an'  thinks  as  much  o'  me  as  dey  does  o'  you."  And  even  if  the  whites  stopped 
here  it  would  not  be  so  bad.  No  race  can  throw  the  first  stone  at  the  negroes,  for  their 
hybrids  belong  to  all  races. 

It  can  not  be  too  much  insisted  upon  that,  a&  a  rule,  the  whites  give  no  edifying 
example  to  the  blacks.  Especially  is  this  the  case  with  many  of  those  who  have  deal- 
ings with  the  negroes.  Many  employers,  venders,  traders,  and  agents  are  to  blame  for  a 
downward  moral  drift  in  those  poor  people.  Is  our  public  sentiment,  let  me  ask,  cal- 
culated to  engender  noble  aspirations  in  the  negroes?  Is  the  tone  of  the  press  such  as 
would  awaken  in  their  hearts  better  thoughts'?  Do  the  corrupt  practices  so  widespread 
in  politics;  the  systematic  adulterations  in  food,  clothing,  etc.;  the  frequent  fraudulent 
failures — do  such  facts  tend  to  elevate  the  negro  race?  We  need  not  then  be  surprised 
at  Fred.  Douglass'  question?  "If  the  negro  could  be  bottled  up,  who  could  or  would 
bottle  up  the  irrepressible  white  man?"  Men  are  always  ready  to  have  a  fling  at  the 
black  man,  who  usually  is  more  sinned  against  than  sinning. 

Who  is  responsible  for  the  irreligion  and  immorality  of  the  negro?  The  colored 
people  did  not  intrude  themselves  upon  us;  they  were  brought  here  in  chains,  and  held 
by  a  cruel  slave  code  in  the  communities  where  they  now  are.  Slavery,  then,  is  the 
first  cause;  a  negro  was  a  chattel  and  counted  as  such.  True,  in  good  Christian  fami- 
lies, which  are  too  often  the  exception,  the  slaves  were  conscientiously  looked  after.  But 
in  the  "negro  quarters "  it  seldom  happened  that  personal  and  family  rights  were  or 
could  be  recognized  or  respected.  Marriage,  alas  !  was  practically  a  union  during  the 
good  pleasure  of  the  master;  nor  were  Catholic  masters  always  found  proof  against  the 
demands  of  poverty  or  cupidity  when  it  was  question  of  marital  or  parental  rights 
among  the  slaves,  even  sacrificing  their  own  offspring  when  of  Ham's  race.  Nor  in  dis- 
posing of  their  slaves  did  they  always  consider  whether  the  purchasers  were  Catholics 
or  not. 

The  whole  tendency  of  the  slave  code  was  in  favor  of  the  whites,  who  should  be 
angels,  indeed,  not  to  abuse  the  practically  limitless  power  by  which  the  laws  invested 
owners  of  slaves. 

A  concomitant  to  slavery  was  ignorance.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  Republic  slaves 
were  permitted  to  read  and  write;  afterwards  this  was  forbidden  by  severe  laws.  And 
we  have  heard  former  slaves  tell  how,  when  they  were  growing  up,  they  would  steal  out 
at  night  with  their  spelling-book  or  reader  hidden  next  thp  skin,  in  order  to  take 
reading  lessons  from  some  kind  friend,  although  at  the  risk  of  a  severe  whipping  if 
caught. 

Nor,  in  this  connection,  should  we  forget  the  transition  from-  slavery  to  freedom. 
Emancipation  must  have  wrought  a  strange  intoxication  to  the  millions  of  slaves  who 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  153 

had  seen  themselves  ever  surrounded  by  whites,  who  alone  were  respectable  and  who 
frequently  idled  away  their  entire  lives.  Emancipation,  they  thought,  was  to  make  the 
blacks  like  such  whites.  Wild  dreams  of  ease  and  comfort  must  have  flitted  through 
their  imaginations.  Hence,  to  realize  the  stern  condition  which  the  daily  life  of  duty 
and  care  entailed  upon  them  must  have  produced  among  many  of  the  emancipated  very 
strange  results. 

We  think  that  Protestantism  may  in  part  be  held  responsible  for  the  present  irre- 
ligious and  immoral  condition  of  the  negroes.  The  widely-spread  race  prejudice,  as 
powerful  in  the  North  as  in  the  South,  though  shared  by  Catholics  as  well  as  by  others, 
is  truly  a  Protestant  instinct.  It  is  inhuman,  un-Christlike,  and  unworthy  even  of  our 
manhood,  not  to  speak  of  our  citizenship  or  our  Christianity.  For  two  and  a  half  cen- 
turies our  non-Catholic  countrymen  have  had  control  of  the  negro  in  the  South,  and 
what  is  the  result?  They  gave  him  in  some  measure  their  religion;  they  placed  no 
restriction  on  their  religious  teaching  or  on  their  codes  of  morality;  to-day  the  whites 
and  blacks  of  the  South  profess  common  beliefs;  yet  in  spite  of  all,  we  hear  from  the 
whites  hardly  a  good  word  of  the  blacks.  How  marked  a  contrast  is  this  to  the 
influence  of  the  Catholic  Church! 

From  the  baptism  of  Clovis,  when  the  haughty  Gaul  despised  the  Goth  fully  as 
much  as  ever  our  Southern  whites  despised  the  blacks,  to  the  crowning  of  Charle- 
magne as  the  common  head  of  an  undivided  people,  only  the  same  period  of  time 
elapsed  as  that  between  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  our  territory  and  the  present 
day.  Yet  it  was  long  enough  for  the  Catholic  Church  to  blend  the  master  and  slave 
into  one,  and  to  make  the  new  race  the  custodian  of  the  ancient  and  the  beginner  of 
modern  civilization.  Nor  was  it  different  with  Goths  and  Romans  in  Italy,  with  Nor- 
mans and  Saxons  in  Great  Britain.  Even  in  our  day  and  in  our  own  hemisphere,  what- 
ever misery  afflicts  Spanish  America,  the  Catholic  instinct  of  human  equality  has 
delivered  it  from  race  antagonisms.  There  is  no  negro  problem  in  Catholic  South 
America. 

But  when  we  look  at  our  negro  question  from  the  missionary  point  of  view,  and  ask, 
Is  not  the  Catholic  Church  in  America  to  be  blamed  for  lack  of  zeal?  I  answer  with 
an  unhesitating  Yes.  After  all,  Protestantism  has  done  something  to  Christianize  the 
blacks;  but  we  have  done,  I  may  say,  nothing.  They  have  made,  and  are  making,  great 
missionary  efforts,  pouring  out  money  like  water;  but  we  have  attempted  almost 
nothing.  In  fact,  it  was  announced  a  few  years  ago,  at  the  Lake  Mohonk  conferences, 
that  the  various  denominations  had  spent,  sir-ce  the  war,  on  the  negroes,  thirty-five 
millions  of  dollars.  Add  to  that  immense  sum  the  hundred  and  thirty  higher  institu- 
tions, with  twenty-five  thousand  scholars,  of  v^hom  one  thousand  are  preparing  for  the 
Protestant  ministry. 

Imperfect  as  is  this  picture  of  the  re'igipus  condition  of  the  negro  race  and  of  its 
causes,  it  is  enough,  however,  to  give  u>  a  fair  idea  of  the  state  of  things.  It  tells  us  of 
from  eight  to  nine  millions  of  blacks,  living  in  one  section  of  our  land,  and  that  the 
most  Protestant,  just  emerged  from  slavery;  enjoying  the  franchise;  learning  how  to 
read  and  write;  two-thirds  of  them  living  on  plantations,  one  and  all  being  made  to  feel 
a  frightful  ostracism  which  descends  so  deep  as  to  exclude  them  in  some  places  from 
public  conveyances;  a  people  one-half  of  whom  have  no  religion,  and  the  other  half  are 
professing  only  a  shade  of  sentimental  belief. 

Yet  there  is  a  cheerful  view  to  be  taken.  However  sadly  situated  this  people  may 
be,  there  are  bright  hopes  in  store  for  them.  All  drawbacks  and  discouragements  not- 
withstanding, they  have  won  the  nation's  respect.  They  are  not  rebels  against  public 
authority;  they  are  law-abiding  citizens.  They  love  the  worship  of  God;  in  their  child- 
ish way  they  desire  to  love  God;  they  long  for  and  relish  the  supernatural;  they  will- 
ingly listen  to  the  word  of  God;  their  hearts  burn  for  the  better  gifts.  'Ihey  are  hard 
working;  patiently  and  forgivingly  do  they  bear  their  wrongs.  This  is  in  marked  con- 
trast with  their  white  neighbors,  too  many  of  whom  have  not  a  word  of  good  to  say  for 
the  black  man,  thus  verifying  the  old  paradox  that  we  never  forvive  those  whom  we 
have  wronged,  much  as  we  may  pardon  those  who  have  injured  us. 

It  is  related  of  Michael  Angelo  that  going  along  the  streets  of  Rome  he  espied  a 
rough,  unhewn  block  of  marble.  "  There  is  an  angel  hidden  there,"  said  he,  pointing 
to  the  stone.  Having  had  it  brought  to  his  studio,  the  immortal  artist  soon  began  to 
chip  at  it,  and  to  hack  at  it,  and  to  shape  it,  till  finally  there  came  forth  from  it  the 
faultless  angel  in  marble,  which  his  prophetic  eye  had  seen  in  it. 

A  similar  block  of  marble  is  the  negro;  far  harder  to  work  upon  than  the  Carrara 
lump  of  Michael  Angelo,  because  the  chisel  must  be  applied  to  the  human  heart.  And 
has  the  negro  a  human  heart?  Is  he  a  man?  Ves,  thank  God!  he  is  a  man,  with  all 


ic5  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

*h?  affections  and  longings,  all  the  faculties  and  qualities  of  human  kind  ±>ehold, 
then,  it  is  his  manhood  that  is  the  first  ground  of  our  hope.  Like  the  Roman  poet 
Terence,  who  is  himself  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  a  negro,  since  he  was  one  of 
the  slaves  of  Scipio  Africanus,  the  black  man  may  say:  "  Homo  sum,  et  nihil  humanum 
alienum  a  me  puto."  The  negro's  first  claim  upon  us  is  our  common  humanity,  and 
that  means  a  close  tie  of  brotherhood. 

The  future  of  the  negro  appears,  therefore,  to  a  missionary  like  myself  to  be  hope- 
ful. It  rests  primarily  on  the  great  truth  that  the  human  race  is  one.  There  is  one 
Lord,  one  God,  one  Father  of  all.  From  this  we  rise  to  the  supernatural  destiny  of  our 
common  humanity;  one  Jesus  Christ,  one  church,  one  life  of  probation,  one  heaven,  one 
hell.  The  negro  has  everything  that  makes  a  man,  everything  that  makes  a  Christian. 
Holy  Church  teaches  the  same  doctrine  tc  blacks  as  to  whites;  furnishes  the  samo 
sacramental  channels  of  grace,  baptizes  the  black  infant,  confirms  the  negro  boy, 
administers  Holy  Communion  to  him,  marries  the  black  man  and  woman,  ordains  the 
black  priest,  gives  him  the  same  extreme  unction  as  the  white  receives.  As  the  negro 
passed  out  of  slavery  it  was  the  Catholic  Church  which  could  say  to  him  with  the 
apostle,  in  his  new  relation:  "For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  to 
fear,  but  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption  whereby  we  cry,  Abba!  (Father)." — 
Romans  viii.  15. 

Her  code  of  laws  for  the  black  is  the  same  as  for  the  white — no  difference.  Sunday 
mass,  Friday  abstinence,  Lenten  fast  oblige  the  black  man  no  more  than  the  white. 
Yes,  the  human  nature  predestined  to  Christian  grace,  and  so  admirably  recognized  by 
the  church,  is  the  foundation  of  our  hopes. 

The  negro's  heart,  like  the  white  man's,  is  essentially  good.  Here  we  have  a  foot- 
hold. Grace  we  know  builds  upon  nature  and  presupposes  it.  The  civil  law  in  its  turn 
recognizes  the  manhood  of  the  negro;  who  votes,  or  should  legally  vote,  like  a  white 
man,  is  ruled  by  the  same  laws;  bows  to  the  same  rulers  in  the  general,  state, and  local 
governments;  has  before  him,  if  delinquent  (at  least  on  the  statute-book),  the  same 
legal  process  and  sentence,  the  same  jail  and  keepers  as  the  white  man.  In  ante- 
bellum days  there  were  special  enactments  which  made  the  negro  a  chattel.  In  our 
days  all  odious  restrictions  are  disappearing  before  a  juster  and  fairer  recognition  of  his 
manhood. 

The  manhood  of  the  negro  race,  moreover,  is  a  truth  of  religion,  and  one  which 
Leo  XIII.  has  well  insisted  upon  in  his  letter  to  the  bishops  of  Brazil  at  the  time  of 
the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  that  country.  "It  was  sin,"  he  writes,  "which 
deserved  the  name  of  slavery;  it  was  not  natural.  From  the  first  sin  came  all  evils,  and 
specially  this  perversity,  that  there  were  men  who,  forgetful  of  the  original  brother- 
hood of  the  race,  instead  of  seeking,  as  they  should  naturally  have  done,  to  promote 
mutual  kindness  and  mutual  respect,  following  their  evil  desires,  began  to  think  of 
other  men  as  their  inferiors,  and  to  hold  them  as  cattle  born  to  the  yoke  "  And  the 
very  argument  which  we  hear  so  often  in  political  agitation,  and  read  so  much  in  the 
public  press,  viz.,  that  by  nature  the  black  man  is  inferior,  Leo  XIII.  declares  an  out- 
rage on  our  common  humanity. 

When  in  addition  to  the  consideration  of  the  negro's  manhood  we  add  the  further 
reflection  that  the  greater  part  of  mankind  were  slaves  at  the  coming  of  Christ,  there 
is  all  the  less  reason  to  despise  our  black  countrymen,  and  all  the  more  hope  for  their 
future.  Men  go  into  ecstacies  over  the  future  of  the  white  races;  they  love  to  recount 
their  progress  since  the  dawn  of  the  Christian  era.  Let  us  remember  to-day,  however, 
how  widespread  slavery  was  in  ancient  days.  We  all  are  the  offspring  of  races  the  vast 
majority  of  whom  were  legally  or  practically  slaves.  The  negroes  to-day  are  only  taking 
their  turn. 

In  the  Roman  Empire  slaves  were  so  numerous  that  Petronius  in  his  "  Satyrion" 
makes  one  of  the  players  ask  the  servant  how  many  infant  slaves  were  born  on  his 
estates  the  preceding  day,  and  is  informed  that  thirty  boys  and  forty  girls  were  the 
increase  of  that  day  on  that  one  estate.  Roman  patricians  took  a  pride  in  having  every- 
thing they  needed  made  by  their  own  slaves,  thus  destroying  free  labor,  and  with  it.  in 
the  course  of  time,  their  own  supremacy  These  slaves  were  whites,  and  very  many  of 
them  mechanics  :  carpenters,  masons,  shoemakers,  millers,  bakers,  wool-combers,  weav- 
ers, dyers,  tailors,  embroiderers,  etc.  Add  to  these  carvers,  mosaic  workers,  glaziers, 
painters,  as  well  as  three  other  grades  corresponding  to  professions  in  our  times,  viz., 
architects,  surgeons,  and  physicians. 

As  in  Rome,  so  throughout  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world.  White  slavery  flourished 
everywhere,  and  Canon  Brownlow  is  the  authority  for  the  statement  that  serfdom  has 
not  as  yet  been  legally  abolished  in  England,  although  it  has  ceased  to  be  a  practical  ques- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


'57 


tion  since  the  War  of  the  Roses  —  that  is,  for  four  centuries.  In  Italy  a  modified  form 
of  slavery  existed  to  the  end  of  the  17th  century,  in  Spain  till  the  first  quarter 
of  the  18th  century,  and  only  the  revolution  of  1789  blotted  out  French  serfdom 
—  all  this  in  spite  of  the  steadfast  and  aggressive  efforts  of  Catholicity. 

In  Ireland,  before  St.  Patrick  came,  a  female  slave,  called  "  cumhal,"  was  the  unit 
of  currency,  thus  showing  how  deeply  rooted  was  slavery  in  ancient  Irish  institutions. 

Although  St.  Patrick,  once  himself  a  slave,  made  great  efforts  towards  emancipa- 
tion, still  slavery  flourished  in  Ireland  till  St.  .Lawrence  O'Toole  moved,  at  a  national 
synod,  at  Armagh,  in  1170,  to  recognize  the  English  invasion  as  a  sign  of  divine  anger 
against  the  Irish  for  their  slave-holding.  A  peremptory  admonition  was  thereupon  sent 
out  ordering  the  release  of  all  English  slaves  in  the  land.  Thenceforward  it  disappeared, 
till  Cromwell  sent  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  Irish  men  and  women,  boys  and 
girls,  as  slaves  into  the  West  Indies. 

In  the  life  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  we  read  that  the  thought  of  his  foundling  asylum 
originated  at  the  sight  of  the  place  called  La  Cooche,  where  those  unfortunates  were  sold 
to  circus  managers  and  the  like.  He  himself  for  some  years  was  a  slave  in  Africa,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  escape  at  the  first  opportunity. 

Since  the  discovery  of  America,  however,  the  slavery  that  we  have  been  familiar 
with  is  negro  slavery.  The  color  of  the  slave  changed;  and  with  it  our  memories  seem 
comatosed.  We  forget  the  slavery  of  our  ancestors.  In  modern  times  the  negroes  seem 
to  have  slipped  into  the  shoes  of  the  more  ancient  white  slaves.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
fact  of  slavery  itself  which  will  argue  against  the  negroes,  nor  again  will  their  color 
prove  aught  derogatory  to  their  advancement.  After,  indeed,  centuries  of  Christi- 
anity, the  white  races  have  not  much  to  boast  of.  In  the  matter  of  religion  they  are 
much  split  up ;  in  morals  there  is  in  our  days  a  strange,  sad  laxity ;  in  honesty  the 
world  is  all  but  dominated  by  very  loose  and  unjust  principles.  Of  course  there  is  prog- 
ress —  wonderful  progress  —  yet  not  to  such  an  extent  as  would  belie  the  hopes  of  the 
negro's  advance. 

If,  then,  the  negro  may  be  called  a  man  among  men  and  an  heir  to  all  the  glorious 
privileges  of  humanity,  and  also  of  Christianity,  what,  we  may  ask,  are  the  means  to  be 
employed  to  place  him  in  possession  of  his  divine  heritage?  There  is,  I  believe,  one  true 
means  for  his  advancement,  and  that  is  the  negro  himself,  guided  and  led  by  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  first  element  in  the  elevation  of  the  black  race  is  the  black  man  himself. 
To  attempt  anything  for  the  blacks  without  making  the  black  man  himself  the  chief 
instrument  for  good,  would  be  to  attempt  the  play  of  "  Hamlet"  with  the  part  of  Ham- 
let left  out. 

His  future  demands  the  building  up  of  his  character,  and  this  is  best  done  by  the 
mingled  efforts  of  brotherly  white  men  and  worthy  black  men.  His  temperament,  his 
passions  and  other  inherent  qualities,  in  great  measure  also  his  industrial  and  social 
environments,  are  beyond  his  control,  and  he  needs  the  aid  of  the  best  men  of  his  own 
race,  but  associated  with  and  not  divorced  from  the  co-operation  of  the  best  of  the 
white  race.  In  the  formation  of  his  character,  which  is  his  weak  spot,  chief  stress 
should  be  laid  on  moral  training  and  education.  External  influences,  controlled  by 
noble  men  and  women  of  both  races,  will  count  for  more  with  him  than  with  us.  We 
can  hardly  appreciate  how  much  the  negro  has  to  contend  with  while  making  his  moral 
growth,  for  neither  the  antecedents  nor  surroundings  of  our  black  countrymen  are  cal- 
culated to  draw  out  the  noblest  side  of  human  nature.  That  personal  encouragement 
to  well-doing,  to  ambition  to  rise  above  degrading  circumstances  so  necessary  to  all  of 
us,  so  indispensably  so  to  him,  the  black  man  rarely  receives.  Neither  by  nature  nor  by 
traditional  training  can  the  colored  people,  taken  as  a  body,  stand  as  yet  upon  the  same 
footing  of  moral  independence  as  their  white  brethren.  The  careful,  patient,  and  Chris- 
tian intervention  of  the  whites,  and  the  best  of  the  blacks  working  together  in  using  all 
the  means  demanded  for  the  formation  of  manhood  and  womanhood  is  their  right  as  well 
as  their  need  in  the  present  hour.  They  must  be  given  the  ample  charity  of  Christ 
in  their  development,  just  as  they  have  been  given  the  full  equality  of  citizenship.  And 
in  all  this  Catholics  should  lead  the  way.  The  influence  of  Catholics  should  be 
extended  to  foster  and  develop  in  the  colored  race  those  traits  which  tend  to  impart  a 
sterling,  self-reliant  character. 

Catholics  may  do  very  much.  We  are  a  large  proportion,  if  not  a  majority,  in  many 
labor  organizations.  Let  us  welcome  black  working-men  to  every  equality.  We  have 
very  many  influential  Catholics  in  public  life.  Let  them  take  sides  in  matters  touching 
the  blacks  under  the  guidance  of  Catholic  principles.  There  are  about  nine  thousand 
priests  in  the  land  ;  let  every  priest  exert  an  influence  of  sympathy  in  his  personal  deal- 
ings with  the  colored  people  of  his  vicinity.  Perhaps  there  are  twenty  thousand 


158  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

religious  teachers  who,  in  their  institutions,  should  receive  negro  boys  and  girls  without 
discrimination.  If  Catholics,  thus  in  possession  of  a  vast  power  for  moral  elevation, 
give  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  their  black  countrymen  in  all  civil  and  personal 
relations,  the  work  of  converting  them  will  be  easy.  Nor  can  we  Catholics  afford  to 
ignore  them  or  exclude  them.  For  if  we  should  do  so,  then  the  name  "  Catholic  "  would 
be  a  misnomer  when  applied  to  the  American  Church,  and  we  should  sink  into  the  posi- 
tion of  a  sect.  The  negroes,  as  things  stand,  care  nothing  for  the  Catholic  Church.  Why 
should  they?  What  has  the  Catholic  Church  done  for  them?  But  they  would  be  the 
most  ungrateful  people  earth  ever  bore  if  they  should  forget  what  our  non-Catholic 
countrymen  have  done  and  are  doing  for  them  in  every  relation  of  life. 

Turning  again  to  ourselves,  let  every  one  of  us  in  private  life,  whether  laymen, 
priests,  or  religious,  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  not  enough  to  give  a  despised  race  their 
legal  rights,  but  that  Christian  principle  exacts  a  special  regard  for  race  susceptibilities. 
The  Irish  and  Germans  and  Italians  resent  the  terms,  "  Paddy,"  and  "  Dutchman."  and 
"Dago,"  so  let  us  cease  to  call  the  colored  people  " Niggers "  and  " Darkies,"  even  in 
private  conversation ;  and  in  every  other  way  let  us  do  unto  the  black  people  as  we 
should  wish  to  be  done  by  were  we  blacks  ourselves.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  among 
whites  of  every  kind  there  is  an  immense  amount  of  partly  Christian  and  partly  natural 
tradition,  which  is  weak  among  the  blacks  by  no  fault  of  their  own.  There  is  the  home, 
the  domestic  fireside,  the  respect  for  Sunday,  the  sense  of  respectability,  the  weight  of 
the  responsibilities  of  life,  the  consciousness  of  duty,  the  love  of  honesty,  which  is 
regarded  as  true  policy,  the  honor  of  the  family  name,  the  fear  of  disgrace,  together 
with  the  aspirations  for  a  share  in  the  blessings  and  privileges  which  our  country  and 
civilization  afford.  And  while  very  many  of  our  white  countrymen  are  not  Catholics, 
and  are  even  but  nominal  Christians,  still  these  weighty  influences  wield  a  potent  charm 
for  good  over  their  lives. 

In  regard  to  the  negro  race,  however,  these  hardly  exist ;  at  best  they  may  be  found 
in  isolated  cases,  though  it  is  true  that  very  encouraging  signs  of  them  are  seen  occa- 
sionally. Yet  a  vital  part  in  the  natural  development  of  the  negro  will  be  secured  by 
these  elements,  the  sense  of  responsibility,  the  dignity  as  well  as  duty  of  labor,  and, 
lastly,  self-denial  and  thrift. 

All  these  sit  too  lightly  on  the  negroes.  Care  for  the  future  they  know  not ;  and 
although  they  labor  well  enough,  yet  they  lack  thrift.  Their  cheerful  dispositions 
lighten  much  of  their  sorrows ;  and  their  love  for  music  also  soothes  full  many  an  evil 
day  and  dismal  night.  A  patient,  suffering  race  are  they,  whose  sorrows  are  sure  to 
win  for  them  the  fulness  of  divine  blessings.  Poverty  and  lowliness  were  charac- 
teristics of  the  Messias;  they  are  two  marked  traits  in  the  negro  race.  They  too  are,  as 
it  were,  "  A  leper,  and  as  one  stricken  by  God  and  afflicted."  Surely,  if  fellow-suffering 
creates  a  bond  of  sympathy,  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  must  deeply  sympa- 
thize with  and  love  the  negro  race. 

We  have  intimated  that  the  Catholic  Church  has  accomplished  little  for  the  con- 
version of  the  negroes.  It  is  but  just  to  add  here  what  is  really  being  done. 

From  the  official  report  of  the  episcopal  commission  charged  with  the  distribution 
of  the  annual  collection  for  the  negro  missions,  we  learn  that  during  the  six  years  of  its 
existence  $220,220  have  been  distributed  among  negro  missions,  and  as  much  more 
among  Indians. 

There  are  at  present  twenty-eight  priests  laboring  among  the  negroes  exclusively, 
who  are  in  charge  of  thirty  churches.  Of  course  they  do  not  include  the  many  more 
in  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Missouri,  and  elsewhere,  whose  churches  are  partly 
for  whites  and  partly  for  blacks. 

Since  1888,  when  the  reports  began  to  be  published,  the  average  number  of  adult 
converts  yearly  is  about  670,  while  every  year  there  were  4,500  children  baptized. 
Moreover,  twenty  odd  different  orders  of  white  women  have  charge  of  108  schools,  in 
which  assemble  7,884  pupils.  The  orphanages  and  other  institutions  for  colored  chil- 
dren are  growing.  St.  Benedict's  Home,  Rye,  N.  Y.;  the  Providence  House  of  Mother 
Katherine  Drexel,  near  Philadelphia;  orphanages  for  boys,  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  and 
Leaven  worth,  Kans.;  one  for  girls,  as  also  a  foundling  asylum,  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  and 
two  other  orphan  asylums  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  New  Orleans,  La  ,  are  all  doing  good 
service  for  the  homeless  children  of  Ham,  while  the  home  for  aged  colored  people  in  New 
Orleans,  La.,  shelters  the  lingering  days  of  its  worthy  inmates.  The  night-schrol  and 
guild  in  Baltimore  and  the  industrial  school  at  Pine  Bluff,  Ark.,  are  both  paving  the 
way  towards  teaching  colored  children  a  means  of  livelihood. 

There  are  three  orders  of  colored  women,  the  Oblates  of  Baltimore,  established  in 
1829;  the  Holy  Family  of  New  Orleans,  dating  from  1842,  and  the  Sisters  of  St.  Francis, 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


159 


started  about  five  years  ago  by  Bishop  Becker,  of  Savannah.  There  are  four  sisterhoods 
exclusively  devoted  to  the  negroes:  the  Franciscans  from  England,  who  have  houses  in 
Baltimore,  Richmond,  Norfolk;  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  San  Antonio,  Texas; 
the  Sisters  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  Mother  Katherine  Drexel's  Community,  in  Phila- 
delphia; the  Mission  Helpers  of  Baltimore.  These  last-named  are  devoted  to  the  home- 
life  and  training  of  negro  women,  visiting  the  jails,  hospitals,  and  having  sewing-schools 
even  in  private  houses.  In  all  about  seventy  Catholic  sisters  have  consecrated,  or  will 
shortly  consecrate,  their  lives  before  God's  altar  for  the  sake  of  the  sin-laden  and  igno- 
rant images  of  Christ  in  ebony  setting. 

Unhappily,  however,  none  of  our  brotherhoods  as  yet  have  ever  wielded  a  birch  in 
a  negro  Catholic  school. 

The  society  to  which  I  belong  has  missions  in  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  Virginia. 
At  our  training  school,  the  Epiphany  Apostolic  College,  are  upwards  of  sixty  young 
men,  of  whom  several  are  colored,  studying  the  subjects  necessary  for  their  advance. 
At  St.  Joseph's  Seminary,  our  mother-house  in  Baltimore,  seventeen  seminarians  are 
being  trained  for  the  negro  missions.  These  young  men  represent  the  whole  country 
from  Maine  to  Oregon,  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  large  num- 
ber of  aspirants  for  the  negro  missions  is  due  to  the  generous  co-operation  of  the 
bishops  and  clergy  of  our  land,  while  their  support  is  given  us  by  the  noble  Catholic 
laity,  who  in  very  great  numbers  subscribe  for  our  little  annual — The  Colored  Har- 
vest. 

We  may  fitly  close  with  the  sentiment  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  when  contrasting 
our  Lord's  conduct  in  refusing  to  go  to  the  nobleman's  dying  son,  although  asked  to  do 
so,  while  unasked  he  went  and  healed  the  centurion's  servant. 

"He  did  not  deem  that  the  nobleman's  son  was  worthy  of  His  presence,  but  He  re- 
fused not  to  help  the  centurion's  servant.  What  is  this  but  a  rebuke  to  earthly  pride, 
which  maketh  us  to  respect  in  men  their  honors  and  riches  rather  than  that  divine 
image  wherein  they  are  created  ?  It  was  not  so  with  our  Redeemer,  who  would  not  go 
to  the  son  of  the  nobleman,  but  was  ready  to  come  down  for  the  centurion's  servant,  to 
show  that  to  Him  the  things  which  are  great  among  men  are  but  of  little  moment,  and 
the  things  which  are  little  esteemed  among  men  are  not  beneath  His  notice. 

"  Our  pride,  then,  standeth  rebuked — that  pride  which  maketh  us  forget  for  the 
sake  of  one  man  that  another  man  is  a  man  at  all.  This  pride,  as  we  have  said,  looketh 
only  at  the  surroundings  of  men,  not  at  their  nature,  and  seeth  not  that  God  is  to  be 
honored  in  a  man  because  he  is  a  man.  Lo  !  how  the  Son  of  God  will  not  go  unto  the 
nobleman's  son,  but  is  ready  to  go  and  heal  the  servant.  Of  myself  I  know  that  if  any 
one's  servant  were  to  ask  me  to  go  to  him,  I  have  a  sort  of  pride  which  would  say 
to  me,  silently  inside  my  heart:  Go  not;  thou  wilt  lower  thyself;  the  papal  dignity 
would  be  lightly  esteemed;  thy  exalted  station  will  be  degraded.  Behold  how  He 
who  came  down  from  Heaven  doth  not  deem  it  below  Him  to  go  to  help  a  servant, 
and  yet  I,  who  am  of  the  earth  earthy,  shrink  from  being  trodden  on." 

"Prayer  for  America"  is  the  subject  of  the  following  paper,  which  was 
prepared  and  read  by  Rev.  F.  G.  Lentz,  of  Bement,  111.: 

Inspired  by  an  all-knowing  God,  400  years  ago  a  man  set  out  from  a  small  port  in 
Spain  to  find  a  new  world.  The  consummation  of  his  cherished  desires  was  a  most 
astonishing  discovery,  which  has  overshadowed  all  his  weary  years  of  waiting,  and 
efforts  to  persuade  a  doubting  generation  of  the  truth  of  his  predictions.  His  unbounded 
faith  alone  was  jreat  enough  to  overcome  all  abstacles,  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  bring 
to  a  happy  issue  God's  designs  for  the  human  race. 

What  Columbus  attributed  to  special  inspiration,  many  would  have  been  glad  to 
have  claimed  as  the  achievement  of  their  own  genius.  But  as  a  devout  Catholic  the 
discoverer  of  America  would  have  held  in  abhorrence  any  attempt  to  deprive  God  of 
the  honor  due  Him.  But  wherefore  this  special  revelation?  To  the  hour  of  his  death 
Columbus  claimed  that  God  designed  by  him  to  make  known  a  new  world,  that  the 
faith  might  be  spread  and  the  Holy  Name  of  Jesus  be  glorified.  This  he  declared  before 
the  court  of  Spain  ;  stated  it  in  his  prayer  of  thanksgiving  for  the  great  work  accom- 
plished by  him,  and  dying  charged  that  they,  his  children,  should  not  fail  to  use  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  the  revenues  derived  from  his  wonderful  discovery  to  propagate  the 
faith.  Glory  to  God,  who  took  His  faithful  and  suffering  servant  to  Himself  and  left  to 
us  the  extraordinary  legacy  of  his  discovery.  The  fruits  of  his  laborings  and  sufferings 
we  now  enjoy  ;  for  not  only  was  the  settlement  of  a  new  continent  made  possible,  but 
the  establishment  of  the  grandest  and  noblest  government  the  world  has  ever  seen,  be- 
come practicable. 


ifo  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

But  man,  every  man  has  duties,  not  only  to  himself,  but  public  duties  which  con- 
cern him  and  his  fellow-man.  Everyone  leads  a  public  as  well  as  a  private  life.  It  is 
a  natural  instinct  which  makes  us  rejoice  in  our  public  joys  and  weep  over  our  public 
sorrows.  We  have  collective  griefs  and  collective  joys.  It  was  not  a  vain  thought  that 
made  Jeremiah  weep  over  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  He  forgot  his  own  troubles  in 
mourning  over  the  downfall  of  his  nation  and  the  destruction  of  his  countrymen;  they 
were  bone  of  his  bone;  they  were  sinew  of  his  sinew,  citizens  of  the  same  common  wealth, 
and  a  nation  of  his  nationality,  and  whatever  befell  them  happened  to  himself.  This  is 
an  innate  natural  feeling  in  us  all — love  of  our  country  and  sorrow  for  our  country's 
wrongs.  We  wish  it  well,  and  unless  every  spark  of  patriotism  is  dead  within  our 
bosoms  we  can  have  no  pleasure  but  in  its  prosperity.  It  becomes  us  then  to  know  its 
needs  and  to  seek  to  effectuate  them.  Patriotism  is  b^rn  of  religious  life  and  we  can  not 
be  true  to  heaven  without  embracing  the  divinity. 

But  right  here  comes  in  the  question:  What  does  our  country  most  need  in  order  to 
prosper  and  continue,  aye,  to  propagate  her  glorious  work  till  all  the  nations  and  people 
of  the  earth  have  learned  from  her  to  imitate  her  behests  to  humanity?  What  above  all 
other  th  ngs  will  enable  her  to  proceed  triumphantly  on  her  career  of  not  only  giving 
the  greatest  blessings  to  her  citizens,  but  teaching  the  human  race  the  way  thereto? 
What  she  needs  above  all  things  is  the  truth.  "  You  shall  know  the  truth  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free." — St.  John  viii.,  32. 

It  was  for  this  God  inspired  the  discovery  of  America;  it  was  for  this  Columbus 
labored  and  toiled  for  years  amidst  so  many  disappointments;  it  was  for  this  so  many 
missionaries  sacrificed  time  and  life;  it  was  for  that  and  this  too  that  the  persecuted  of 
every  race  should  find  here  a  home  and  plenty;  it  is  for  this  I  appeal  to  you  to  endeavor 
to  understand  and  do  your  part  towards  carrying  out  God's  idea  in  revealing  the 
American  continent;  and  not  to  be  an  encumbrance,  "  a  light  hid  under  a  bushel,"  that 
shall  be  removed  because  your  candlestick  leaves  only  darkness,  where  light  should 
abound.  If  you  have  come  into  the  inheritance,  a  larger  freedom  for  truth,  and  greater 
worldly  blessings,  remember  you  are  but  stewards  of  God.  All  sacred  writers  teach 
us  that  we  shall  render  to  God  according  to  our  gifts.  Our  Lord  shows  us  that  the 
man  with  ten  talents  must  account  for  more  than  he  with  only  five.  But  woe  to 
him  who  has  not  wisely  used  the  talents  intrusted  to  his  care. 

We  have  the  truth;  the  faith  that  is  in  us  must  be  made  manifest.  For  this  God 
opened  up  the  New  World;  for  this  he  enlarged  our  freedom,  that  we  might  make 
known  the  divine  knowledge  revealed  to  us.  Unworthy  nations  have  lost  the  great  gift 
of  faith  because  they  knew  n  >t  how  to  use  the  gratuity.  Shall  we,  too,  prove  recreant 
to  the  trust?  Shall  we,  too,  hear  one  day  the  words,  "Wicked  and  adulterous  gen- 
eration?" Matt,  xvi.,  1.  God  forbid! 

We  know  that  the  whole  law  is  founded  on  charity,  love,  not  only  for  God,  but 
our  fellowmen.  We  do  not,  can  not,  love  God  if  we  do  not  love  man,  the  image  and 
likeness  of  the  Divine  Creator.  No  man  can  say  he  loves  God  and  hates  his  fellow- 
man.  These  two  loves  go  hand  in  hand.  "  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  But  how 
can  we  say  we  love  God  if  we  do  not  aid  our  fellow-citizens  to  the  truth? 
" Though  I  should  speak  with  tongues  of  angels  and  men;  though  I  have  knowledge 
enough  to  fathom  all  mysteries,  and  faith  enough  to  remove  mountains;  though  I 
should  give  my  goods  to  the  poor,  and  my  body  to  the  flames,  and  have  not  charity, 
I  am  nothing.  Everything  else  is  useless  to  me."  I.  Cor.  xiii.,  7.  "  Silver  and  gold  I 
have  none,"  says  St.  Peter  to  the  lame  man,  "  but  what  I  have  I  give  thce.  In  the 
name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  arise  and  walk."  Acts  iii.,  6. 

What  have  we  to  give  this  people?  Above  all  things  else,  faith.  What  then,  "Am 
I  my  brother's  keeper?  "  In  this  matter  we  are.  God  brought  about  the  discovery  of 
this  continent  that  His  name  might  be  made  known  and  glorified;  that  we  who  have  the 
faith  are  bound  by  every  obligation  to  manifest  it.  It  is  a  corporal  work  of  mercy  to 
instruct  the  ignorant,  and  God  has  declared  that  those  who  do  so  "  shall  shine  as  stars 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  And  yet,  my  friends,  how  little  has  been  done!  Many  a 
poor  soul  has  gone  through  this  world  hungering  for  the  faith  that  we  might  have 
brought  to  it,  and  we  would  not.  We  forget  that  faith  is  a  divine  gift.  We  do  not 
seem  to  understand  that  these  people  have  not  the  knowledge  required  to  ask  for  it. 
"  How  shall  they  call  upon  Him  whom  they  have  not  believed?  "  Rom.  x.  If  they  know 
not  God  they  can  not  call  upon  Him.  There  never  was  yet  a  nation  who  came  to  the 
faith  of  their  own  volition;  it  must  be  brought  to  them,  and  the  true  Catholic  has 
always  been  filled  with  the  instinct  to  propagate  the  truth.  It  is  only  where  this  feel- 
ing does  not  exist  that  the  faith  makes  no  progress,  even  among  Catholic  people- 
"  Why  is  the  world  covered  with  iniquities?  Why  are  so  many  souls  lost  by  the  thou. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  161 

gauds?  Why  is  the  earth  made  desolate?  Because  no  one  considereth  in  his  heart."' 
Jer.  xii.,  2.  The  lament  of  the  prophet  is  applicable  to  our  day  and  country.  We  may 
say,  why  do  not  these  people  come  and  learn  the  truth?  My  friends,  if  you  and  I  had 
bean  raised  under  the  same  influence,  surrounded  by  the  same  atmosphere,  we  would 
never  have  entered  a  Catholic  Church.  Don't  blame  them.  Let  us  seek  first  to  over- 
come our  own  indifference  and  then  mark  the  result. 

No  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  were  ever  brought  into  the  fold  by  the  methods 
we  have  hitherto  pursued.  The  apostles  of  all  times  have  gone  to  the  people  and  made 
known  the  message.  The  very  word  gospel  means  that — announcing  the  glad  tidings. 
All  may  not  indeed  be  apostles,  but  think  you  that  while  the  apostles  went  forth  to 
battle  with  error,  the  Christians  of  their  day  spent  the  time  in  idleness  and  indifference? 
While  the  army  of  the  Lord  is  in  the  field  battling  for  right  and  truth,  have  those  of  the 
household  no  duties?  When  the  British  sought  to  invade  our  country,  and  New  Orleans 
was  threatened,  what  did  the  Catholics  do?  They  gathered  'round  the  tabernacle  and 
incessantly  besought  the  Lord  of  Hosts  to  protect  the  brave  men  in  the  field,  and  save 
their  homes  from  rude  invasion.  When  the  Israelites  of  old  were  battling  with  the 
enemies  of  their  race,  did  not  the  people  come  to  the  aid  of  Moses,  praying  upon  the 
mountain  top,  until  victory  crowned  their  armies? 

It  may  not  be  ours  to  apply  the  intellectual  lance  of  argument,  or  expound  the 
doctrine  of  the  church,  but  it  does  become  our  duty  to  let  the  love  of  our  heart  rise  in 
incessant  prayer  to  the  God  of  Light,  that  He  may  enlighten  the  darkness  of  their  under- 
standing, and  make  fruitful  the  work  of  apostolic  men  laboring  to  explain  God's  truths. 
Not  only  did  the  apostles  pray,  but  the  people  also  prayed,  that  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  might  be  known  and  spread  throughout  all  nations.  St.  Peter  was  praying  when 
he  received  the  call  to  go  out  to  the  centurion,  Cornelius.  St.  Paul  was  praying  when 
he  beheld  the  vision  inviting  him  to  go  to  the  Macedonians.  But  some  say  that  non- 
Catholics  do  not  wish  to  believe.  I  deny  that  these  people  desire  to  be  unbelievers. 
They  run  hither  and  thither  to  everyone,  saying:  "Where  is  the  Lord?  Where  is  the 
Lord?"  not  knowing  where  the  truth  may  be  fouad.  Their  very  earnestness  teaches  us 
that  they  have  a  desire  to  know  the  truth.  Their  conduct  is  vision  enough  for  us  if  we 
only  heed  the  warning.  How  many  have  not  heard  the  cry,  like  Agrippa  of  old,  "  Thou 
almost  persuadeth  me."  Convinced  many  of  them  are,  but  not  persuaded,  i.  e.,  have 
not  the  grace  of  conversion.  They  know  not  how  to  ask.  They  still  doubt,  and  "  he 
who  doubts  is  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  which  come  and  go." — James  i.,  6. 

And  herein  lies  our  work.  We  know  the  author  of  life  and  light  and  truth,  and  we 
know  how  to  ask  without  doubting,  and  our  prayers  will  be  heard.  We  forget  that 
those  outside  the  church  have  neither  the  sacraments  or  the  grace  of  a  sinless  person. 
We  know  and  believe  that  he  who  is  pure  has  more  power  than  the  sinner.  Strong 
in  our  faith,  we  are  capable  of  overcoming  all  obstacles  and  the  Lord  will  hear  our 
prayer.  "Whatsoever  you  shall  ask  the  Father  with  faith,  you  shall  obtain." — Matthew 
xxi.,  22. 

Do  not  blame  those  who  have  not  the  faith;  do  not  find  fault  with  those  who  know 
not  how  to  pray,  or  have  little  power  because  of  unrepented  souls;  but  rather  let  us 
reckon  with  ourselves  and  with  the  strength  of  giants,  because  of  our  belief,  besiege 
the  throne  of  grace,  storm  heaven  with  our  humble  petitions,  and  much  shall  be  vouch- 
safed us  because,  in  our  burning  charity  for  our  brother,  we  "  have  loved  much."  We 
can  convert  this  people,  and  make  it  one  of  the  grandest  missionary  nations  with  which 
God  has  ever  vouchsafed  to  bless  the  human  race.  With  their  enlightened  freedom,  a 
government  founded  on  the  natural  rights  of  man,  their  large-heartedness,  their 
generous  impulses,  their  cleverness  in  surmounting  all  difficulties,  they  will  lead  all 
other  peoples  and  nations  in  carrying  the  torch  of  enlightenment,  preaching  the  truth, 
and  bringing  the  blessing  of  God's  holy  word  to  others,  and  thus,  by  placing  on  Colum- 
bus' brow  a  diadem  woven  by  the  charity  of  his  inheritors,  they  shall  bring  themselves 
into  the  ocean  of  infinite  love,  and -for  all  eternity  glow  with  the  added  luster  of  those  to 
whom  they  have  brought  hope,  peace,  and  heaven. 

Surprise  has  often  been  expressed  that  the  Irish  race  should  cling  to  the  faith, 
after  so  many  tribulations.  All  that  human  ingenuity  could  do  has  been  tried  to  dis- 
possess them  of  the  truth;  yet  no  people  have  remained  more  faithful  to  the  doctrine 
that  was  delivered  to  the  saints.  Fire  and  the  sword,  the  rack  and  prison,  exile  and 
starvation,  all  in  vain,  have  been  used  to  extirpate  faith.  Well  may  they  exclaim, 
"  Where  is  the  nation  that  has  not  heard  our  woes?  All  peoples  have  been  a  witness  to 
our  sufferings."  Yet,  glory  be  to  God,  they  have  ever  been  among  the  most  exemplary 
and  steadfast  Christians  the  world  has  known.  Why  is  it  that  when  so  many 
others  have  perished  they  never  faltered?  It  can  be  explained  only  on  one  theory. 


1 62  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

They  have  ever  been  the  foremost  missionary  nation  of  the  earth.  From  the  day  St. 
Kolumkill  went  to  lona,  St.  Call  and  his  companions  to  the  continent,  to  revive 
faith,  to  our  own  day,  they  have  been  scattered  over  the  whole  earth,  everywhere  bear- 
ing testimony  of  Jesus  Christ  crucified.  Riches  they  had  not,  but  of  that  which  they 
had  they  freely  gave  to  their  fellow-beings,  and  the  Lord  God  has  preserved  them  a 
strong  and  vigorous  people  when  others  have  perished.  We  look  upon  their  woes,  and, 
after  the  manner  of  the  world,  would  commiserate  the  nation;  we  look  to  heaven  and 
see  them  trooping  within  its  portals  triumphantly  to  enjoy  an  everlasting  crown  of  bliss 
as  a  reward  of  their  charity,  piety,  and  zeal,  in  spreading  the  glad  tidings  of  faith  to  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  May  those  who  are  descendants  of  these  people  never  waver  in 
their  energy,  or  forget  their  glorious  lineage,  but  perpetuate  the  good  work  so  glori- 
ously undertaken  by  their  forefathers. 

If  we  have  been  "salted  with  fire,"  as  the  Lord  says,  the  salt  must  not  become  unsav- 
ory. 4  The  penetrating  fire  of  charity  must  ever  burn  brighter  within  our  breasts  until  it 
becomes  a  consuming  flame  which  shall  warm  all  within  its  rays.  It  knows  no  failing  ; 
is  not  repulsed  ;  will  not  desist  from  zealously  loving  God  and  its  neighbor,  but  per- 
severe until  all  are  enwrapped  in  the  bosom  of  the  Infinite. 

Difficulties  will  but  stimulate  us  to  greater  exertion.  Fear  will  leave  us  no  rest 
until  we  have  converted  the  nation,  Christianized  the  people,  «nd  brought  salvation  to 
the  country.  The  warning  of  the  prophet,  "Why  are  hearts  made  desolate?  Why  are 
souls  lost  by  the  thousands?  Because  no  man  considereth  in  his  heart,"  should  fill  us 
with  such  a  dread  that  we  would  gladly  join  heart  and  soul  in  the  prayer  already  being 
offered  up  by  the  thousands  of  our  brethren  in  the  faith.  Sacrifice  and  oblation  we 
should  offer.  Our  humble  supplications  we  should  pour  forth  at  the  throne  of  Divine 
Grace  until  we  have  won  for  our  separated  brethren  that  pearl  without  price,  the  in 
estimable  favor  of  Divine  Faith,  that  they  who  are  not  of  the  household  may  be  brought 
into  the  fold,  where  "  there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  Shepherd,"  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
reigning  gloriously  over  all  for  time  and  eternity. 

Frank  J.  Sheridan,  delegate  from  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  read 
an  interesting  paper  suggesting  plan  and  reasons  for  the  establishment  of  an 
organization  by  the  Catholic  Columbian  Congress  to  be  known  as  the 
Catholic  Association  of  the  United  States  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial 
Conciliation  and  Voluntary  Arbitration.  Mr.  Sheridan  said: 

The  Columbian  Catholic  Congress  has  been  called  into  existence  mainly  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  and  putting  into  practical  effect  in  the  United  States  the  ency- 
clical of  Pope  Leo  XIII.  on  the  condition  of  labor.  In  that  document  the  way  is 
clearly  pointed  out  for  the  solution  of  the  labor  problem  and  for  improving  the  con 
dition  of  the  working  people.  The  details  are  left  for  us  to  carry  out. 

The  natural  desire  on  the  part  of  the  wage-earner — to  get  as  much  for  his  labor  as 
he  can — and  the  like  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  employer — to  pay  as  little  for  it  as 
possible — have  brought  about  a  series  of  conflicts,  more  or  less  violent  and  disastrous 
in  their  results,  and  reflecting  severely  on  this  age  of  progress,  liberality  and  enlight- 
ened civilization. 

The  Department  of  Labor  of  the  United  States  government,  devoted  to  painstaking 
and  searching  investigation  of  industrial  conditions  in  our  own  and  foreign  countries, 
and  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  connected,  has  made  an  elaborate  report  on  the 
subject  of  strikes  and  lockouts.  The  figures  presented  therein  throw  startling  light  on 
the  significance  and  magnitude  of  this  system  of  industrial  civil  war.  It  shows  that 
for  the  six  years,  from  1881  to  1886,  there  were  strikes  in  22,304  establishments  in  the 
United  States,  involving  1.323,203  employes,  and  that  there  were  lockouts  in  2,214  estab- 
lishments, involving  170,747  employes,  making  a  total  of  1,493,950  persons  directly 
affected. 

The  leading  causes  of  the  strikes  were  the  question  of  wages  and  the  question  of 
hours;  9,439  or  42.30  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  strikes  were  for  an  increase  of 
wages;  4,344  or  19.48  per  cent  of  the  total  number  were  for  reduction  of  hours;  1,734  or 
7.77  per  cent  were  against  reduction  of  wages,  and  1,692  or  7.59  per  cent  were  for 
increase  of  wages  and  reduction  of  hours.  From  this  we  learn  that  the  causes  men- 
tioned account  for  77.16  per  cent  of  all  the  strikes.  The  evils  resulting  are  partially 
shown  in  the  figures  giving  the  losses  to  employers  and  employed.  The  loss  to  employes 
from  these  strikes  and  lockouts  was:  For  strikes.  851.814.723;  for  lockouts,  $8,157.717; 
a  total  of  $59,972,440.  The  loss  to  employers  for  both  strikes  and  lockouts  was 
$34,163,814. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  163 

Quite  82  per  cent,  of  the  strikes  were  ordered  by  labor  organizations,  and  79  per 
cent,  of  the  lockouts  were  ordered  by  combinations  of  managers.  The  figures  show  the 
immense  loss  in  wages  to  the  employes  directly  connected  with  the  strikes.  They 
prove  that  the  workingmen  lost  nearly  twice  as  much  as  the  employers,  while  less  able 
to  bear  it.  We  can  trace  more  of  the  consequences  in  the  records  of  the  almshouses, 
the  records  of  the  houses  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  the  records  of  the  police  courts,  the 
prisons,  and  the  penitentiaries.  Strange  though  it  may  seem,  we  can  also  trace  it  in 
the  records  of  the  divorce  courts.  The  department  of  labor  has  given  the  number  of 
divorces  in  our  country  for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  with  minute  detail  as  to  cause 
and  effect.  An  examination  of  this  report  shows  that  during  periods  of  industrial 
depression,  of  which  strikes  and  lockouts  are  but  manifestations,  divorces  increased 
enormously,  while  in  periods  of  prosperity  there  was  an  extraordinary  decrease.  I  need 
hardly  say  that  in  divorce  statistics  Catholic  families  are  not  included. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  further  upon  the  distress  caused  by  this  system  of 
righting  alleged  wrongs,  In  a  convention  of  Catholic  laymen,  meeting  for  the  express 
purpose  of  considering  the  condition  of  labor  and  to  adopt  plans  for  its  improvement, 
the  foremost  topic  must  be  how  to  put  an  end  to  the  misery  and  crime  attendant  upon 
tho  settlement  of  labor  troubles,  and  what  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  a  peaceful 
solution  in  the  adjustment  of  disputes.  There  are  some  who  advocate  governmental 
compulsory  arbitration — the  creation  of  a  legal  tribunal  whose  decisions  would  be  final, 
and  compelling  the  wage-worker  to  work  for  perhaps  a  less  rate  than  he  wishes  to,  or 
the  employer  to  pay  more  than  he  can. 

Compulsory  arbitration  is  not  arbitration  at  all.  To  arbitrate  there  must  be  two 
willing  parties.  A  cut-and-dried  board  of  arbitration,  created  by  State  legislation,  and 
without  the  power  of  compelling  obedience  to  its  decisions,  must  be  a  failure.  I  might 
call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  to  the  fact  that  Cardinal  Manning  settled  the  great 
London  strike  by  methods  of  conciliation  and  voluntary  arbitration,  and  without 
appealing  to  the  compulsory  law  of  1824.  The  great  Cardinal  had  a  more  stubborn 
and  less  intelligent  element  to  contend  with,  too,  than  we  have  here. 

A  more  recent  and  gratifying  result  of  voluntary  arbitration,  in  another  field,  is 
that  of  the  Bering  Sea  controversy.  We  agreed  to  submit  the  case.  The  arbitrators 
decided  against  us.  We  stand  by  the  decision,  and  submit  to  the  awards.  And  if  we 
can  induce  American  employers  and  workingmen  to  submit  their  cases  in  a  like 
manner  they  also  will  stand  by  the  decisions  without  any  law  of  enforcement. 

The  highest  American  authority  and  compiler  of  an  exhaustive  report  on  the 
subject  of  "Arbitration" — the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor — in  the  June 
(1893;  Forum  proves  conclusively  that  compulsory  arbitration  is  an  impossible  remedy, 
and  would  result  in  slavery  for  the  workingmen  and  socialism  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  He  further  asserts  that  "  voluntary  arbitration  in  industrial  matters  is  one 
of  the  highest  and  broadest  eatures  of  co-operation,  and,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the 
simplest  methods  for  restoring  harmony  where  conflict  is  threatened  or  even  where  it 
exists." 

This  Congress  must  repudiate  any  policy  which  would  make  a  slave  of  the  working- 
man  or  establish  State  socialism  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  while  it  also  desires  to 
settle  this  question  by  peaceable  methods.  The  Catholic  churches  of  the  United  States  in 
the  villages,  towns,  and  cities  are  filled  to  the  doors  with  wage-earners.  They  will  readily 
listen  to  a  method  for  the  remedy  of  their  grievances  in  accordance  with  the  teachings 
of  their  religion.  The  influence  of  a  grand  Catholic  organization,  composed  of  wage- 
earners  and  employers,  advocating  brotherly  co-operation  and  the  reign  of  reason, 
instead  of  the  passions,  can  not  but  tend  to  promote  the  happiness  of  all  the  people 
and  the  prosperity  of  our  beloved  country. 

It  is  with  the  utmost  confidence  that  the  proposition  is  made  to  the  Catholic 
Columbian  Congress  to  organize  the  Catholic  Association  of  the  United  States  for  the 
promotion  of  industrial  conciliation  and  voluntary  arbitration.  This  Congress  is  thor- 
oughly representative  of  the  Catholic  laity  of  the  Uni'ed  States.  In  its  capacity  it  is 
fully  competent  to  deal  with  all  practical  methods  in  a  practical  manner.  The  organi- 
zation proposed  is  entirely  practical,  and  comes  within  the  scope  of  the  work  laid  out 
for  the  Congress  to  accomplish. 

I  ask  the  delegates  to  carefully  consider  the  plan  proposed,  and  in  connection  there- 
with I  submit  the  following  extracts  from  Pope  Leo's  encyclical  on  the  condition  of  la- 
bor, paragraphs  21  and  59: 

"Mutual  agreement  results  in  pleasantness  and  good  order;  perpetual  conflict  nec- 
essarily produces  confusion  and  outrage.  Those  Catholics  are  worthy  of  all  praise,  and 
there  are  not  a  few,  who,  understanding  what  the  times  require,  have,  by  various  enter- 


164  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

prises  and  experiments,  endeavored  to  better  the  condition  of  the  working  people  with- 
out any  sacrifice  of  principle.  They  have  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  working  man,  and 
have  striven  to  make  both  families  and  individuals  better  off;  to  infuse  the  spirit  of 
justice  into  the  mutual  relations  of  employer  and  employed;  to  keep  before  the  eyes  of 
both  classes  the  precepts  of  duty  and  the  laws  of  the  gospel — that  gospel  which,  by  incul- 
cating self-restraint,  keeps  men  within  the  bounds  of  moderation,  and  tends  to  estab- 
lish harmony  among  the  divergent  interests  and  various  classes  which  compose  the 
State.  It  is  with  such  ends  in  view  that  we  see  men  of  eminence  meeting  together  for 
discussion,  for  the  promotion  of  united  action  and  for  practical  work." 

It  was  with  this  in  mind  that  the  committee  on  organization,  with  Archbishop  Fee- 
han  as  chairman  and  W.  J.  Onahan  as  secretary,  wrote  the  following  in  its  official  call 
and  programme  which  is  in  your  hands: 

"  The  Congress  must  be  prepared  to  propose  practical  reforms  on  the  lines  looked 
for  at  its  hands.  It  will  not  suffice  that  it  shall  have  been  the  medium  and  opportunity 
for  the  delivery  of  clever  essays  and  eloquent  addresses  on  the  various  themes.  Much 
more  is  expected  from  it.  Permanent  and  effective  results  and  enduring  benefits  are 
looked  for  at  its  hands,  as  the  outcome  of  this  memorable  assemblage  of  Catholic  intel- 
ligence and  Catholic  earnestness." 

I  therefore  beg  to  submit  the  proposed  plan  of  organization  and  objects  of  the 
association. 

NAME.— This  organization  shall  be  known  as  the  Catholic  Association  of  the  United 
States  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Conciliation  and  Voluntary  Arbitration. 

OBJECTS.— The  objects  of  this  association  shall  be  the  gradual  abolition  of  strikes,  lockouts, 
and  boycots  as  remedies  for  the  adjustment  of  the  grievances  arising  between  employers  and 
wage-earners,  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  policy  of  conciliation  and  arbitration,  to  be 
carried  out  in  a  wise  and  systematic  manner.  This  system  contemplates: 

1.  The  removal  of  causes  of  discussion  and  the  prevention  of  differences  from  becoming 
disputes. 

2.  The  settlement  of  difficulties  after  a  demand  from  either  side  has  been  made  and  before 
such  demand  has  been  resisted  by  urging  the  submission  of  such  difficulties  to  arbitration. 

3.  The  infusing  of  a  spirit  of  justice  into  the  mutual  relations  of  employers  and  employed. 
NATIONAL  BOABD.— The  aims  of  the  association  shall  lie  carried  out  under  the  direction  of 

a  national  board,  which  shall  be  composed  of  two  laymen  from  each  diocese  in  the  United 
States,  who  shall  be  chosen  in  the  first  instance  by  the  delegates  of  each  diocese  to  the  Catholic 
Columbian  Congress  at  Chicago,  and  thereafter  in  such  a  manner  as  may  be  provided.  The 
archbishops  and  bishops  of  the  United  States  shall,  ex-officio,  be  members  of  the  national 
board. 

The  national  board  shall  elect  a  president,  secretary,  and  such  other  officers  as  may  be 
necessary.  It  shall  also  enact  such  by-laws  for  the  government  of  tne  association  as  it  may 
deem  proper. 

SHALL  ESTABLISH  PAKISH  ORGANIZATIONS.— It  shall  bring  all  the  weight  of  its  influence 
and  prestige  to  bear  in  the  formation  of  subordinate  local  parish  boards,  and  actively  co-oper- 
ating with  the  parish  priests  and  the  earnest,  thoughtful,  and  influential  wage-earners  and 
employers  of  each  congregation  in  the  formation  of  such  local  boards,  and  thus  create  a  grand 
national  organization  of  Catholic  men,  intelligent  of  purpose,  and,  with  influences  permeating 
all  classes  of  society,  bring  about  an  era  of  good  will. 

NOT  AN  OFFICIAL  BOARD  OF  ARBITRATION.— Whije  conciliation  and  the  arbitration  of  labor 
difficulties  are  the  ends  aimed  at  by  this  association,  it  shall  not,  either  as  a  local  or  a  national 
body,  constitute  itself  an  official  or  semi-official  board  of  arbitration.  The  very  essence  and 
successful  workings  of  our  policy  lie  in  the  voluntary  selection  of  the  arbitrators  in  each  case, 
by  the  employers  on  the  one  hand  and  the  employed  on  the  ether,  The  efforts  of  the  associa- 
tion will  be  employed  solely  in  bringing  such  a  condition  of  affairs  about. 

I  am  not  wedded  to  any  one  of  the  details  of  the  proposed  association.  They  can 
easily  be  amended  and  improved  upon,  but  the  organization  itself  is  necessary.  Unless 
all  signs  of  the  times  fail,  there  will  be  immediate  work  for  this  association. 

Let  us  open  the  conference  doors  through  this  board  of  arbitration,  and  keep  them 
open  until  a  perfect  settlement  is  arrived  at.  With  such  an  organization,  and  with  such 
a  man  as  Archbishop  Ireland  as  its  president,  the  working  men  of  the  United  States 
will  know  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  their  friend.  They  would  not  listen  in  silence, 
as  they  do  now  in  their  labor  unions  and  assemblies,  to  the  voice  of  the  anarchic  con- 
tinental socialist,  who  cleverly  and  with  ability  tells  them  that  the  church  is  their 
enemy  and  a  hindrance  to  their  liberty. 

"  Women  of  the  Middle  Ages  "  was  the  subject  of  an  interesting  paper  by 
Anna  T.  Sadlier,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.  The  substance  of  the  paper  follows: 

Previous  to  the  medieval  era  Christianity  had  raised  womanhood  from  the  slough 
of  paganism.  Already  an  astonished  world  had  b:  gun  to  cry  out,  "  Ye  gods  of  Greece, 
what  women  have  these  Christians ! "  During  the  middle  ages,  from  the  sixth  to  the 
middle  of  the  15th  century,  woman  attained,  as  it  were,  her  full  growth  under  the 
aggis  of  the  church,  the  church  which  serenely  held  sway  over  the  mad  chaotic 
world  struggling  into  civilization.  It  would  be  an  impossible  task  here  to  classify 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  165 

medieval  woman  by  distinctions  of  race  or  epoch.  Rather  let  us  examine  her  con- 
dition, personal  qualities,  and  the  tone  of  society  toward  her  on  the  broad  lines  of 
cloistered,  royal,  saintly,  and  learned  women. 

The  nun  played  such  a  part  in  the  drama  of  medieval  life,  as  to  raise  woman  to 
the  climax  of  her  power.  The  nun  was  a  chief  factor  in  procuring  the  emancipation  of 
women  and  proclaiming  her  equality,  in  a  Christian  sense,  with  man,  by  giving  her  a 
separate,  individual  existence.  Immured  in  her  cloister,  the  nun  exercised  a  protective 
influence  over  the  wife  and  mother,  and  caused  them  to  be  reverenced  on  account  of 
the  possibilities  of  heroic  virtue  which  she  displayed.  To  the  rudest  warrior  she  was 
"a  thing  enskied  and  ensaintad."  In  short,  by  her  ideal  of  consecrated  virginity,  the 
church  secured  the  elevation  of  woman. 

"The  protection  and  better  education  given  to  women  in  these  early  communities," 
says  Mrs.  Jameson,  "the  venerable  and  distinguished  rank  assigned  to  them,  when  as 
governesses  of  their  order,  they  became  in  a  manner  dignitaries  of  the  church,  the 
introduction  of  their  beautiful  and  saintly  effigies,  clothed  with  all  the  insignia  of  sanc- 
tity and  authority,  into  the  decoration  of  places  of  worship  and  books  of  devotion,  did 
more,  perhaps,  for  the  general  cause  of  womanhood,  than  all  the  boasted  institutions  of 
chivalry."  Can  the  tremendous  influence  be  overrated  of  such  sanctuaries  of  learning 
as  Whitby  and  Coldingham,  Ely  and  Wimbourne,  Barking  and  Folkestone,  Hartpool  and 
Hanbury,  Roncerai  and  Chelles,  Faremoutier  and  Brie,  Luxeuil,  and  Les  Andelys, 
Fontevrault  and  Longchamps,  Gandersheim  and  Fulda,  Cologne  and  Heidenheim. 

Each  an  oasis  in  a  barbaric  land,  redolent  of  spirituality,  of  asceticism,  of  refine- 
ment, and  of  culture.  Sometimes  particular  inmates  cast  a  luster  on  certain  monaste- 
ries. As  Hilda  at  Whitby,  from  her  sanctuary,  where  it  looked  seaward  on  the  cliffs, 
the  abbess  sent  forth  bishops,  eminent  ecclesiastics  and  apostolic  women.  For,  after 
the  custom  of  the  times,  she  governed  both  men  and  women.  Her  influence,  far  reach- 
ing, extended  over  the  surrounding  country.  Her  exact  discipline  recalled  primitive 
Christianity.  She  caused  learning,  like  the  palm  tree,  to  grow  and  flourish.  At  Whitby, 
the  Saxon,  Milton  Ceadon  poured  forth  his  inspired  strain  to  Hilda,  seated  in  state 
with  disciples  and  counselors  questioning  him,  with  so  keen  a  perspicacity,  upon  vari- 
ous points  of  his  narrative. 

Ebba  of  Coldingham.  was  scarcely  inferior  in  learning  and  sanctity  to  the  abbess 
of  Whitby.  Like  her,  she  governed  not  only  her  dual  monastery,  but  exercised  for 
thirty  years  an  important  influence  on  the  destinies  of  her  country. 

Walburga,  or  Walpurgis,  a  niece  of  Boniface,  was  speedily  called  from  the  cultured 
repose  of  Wimbourne  into  the  Germanic  field,  where,  with  her  nuns,  she  continuedto 
cultivate  letters,  while  she  did  much  to  civilize  the  people,  besides  presiding  over  the 
great  school  of  Bischoffsheim  and  devoting  her  knowledge  of  medicine  to  the  service  of 
the  poor.  Her  name,  in  course  of  time,  became  mingled  with  curious  superstitions;  for 
example,  the  Walpurgis  night. 

An  attractive  figure  is  that  of  the  Abbess  Lioba,  or  the  beloved,  with  her  learning, 
her  knowledge  of  Scripture — she  had  committed  the  whole  Bible  to  memory — her 
beauty,  her  humility;  washing  the  feet  of  her  nuns  and  serving  them  at  table,  her  zeal, 
making  her  the  valued  auxiliary  of  Boniface,  when  she  had  passed  from  Wimbourne  to 
Germany;  her  sweetness,  her  cheerfulness.  "  She  was  as  admirable  in  her  understand- 
ing as  she  was  boundless  in  her  charity,"  says  her  biographer,  Ralph  of  Fulda. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  cloisters  were  thronged  with  nuns  of  the  blood  royal,  Ethelburga, 
the  first  royal  widow  to  enter  religion;  Etheldreda,  of  the  strange,  romantic  story; 
Elfleda,  who  aided  Wilfred  in  his  struggle  to  fix  the  Roman  discipline  upon  the  Celts; 
Earcontha,  Domneva,  Eanpleda,  Ermenburga,  Hereswida,  Eadburga,  Wereburga, 
Ermenilda  and  Sexburga  were  all  nuns  of  royal  birth — in  one  instance,  three  genera- 
tions, grandmother,  mother  and  daughter  met  in  the  cloister.  Some  were  widows,  some 
had,  by  permission,  separated  from  their  husbands,  some  had  entered  religion  in  early 
youth,  being,  in  the  forcible  Saxon  word,  veritable  "  Godes-Brydes," — "  Brides  of  God." 

To  Heldilidaand  her  nuns  of  Barking,  Aldhelm  dedicated  his  "  Praise  of  Virginity." 
To  the  Abbess  Cyndreda,  he  left  his  vestments  when  dying. 

In  Ireland,  land  of  saints  and  scholars,  where  learning  at  the  darkest  periods 
found  asylum,  St.  Bridget,  of  the  royal  house  of  Ijeinster,  exercised  much  the  same 
patriarchal  sway  over  men  and  women  as  Hilda  at  Whitby.  Many  poetic  legends 
cluster  about  that  spot  dedicated  to  virtue  and  learning,  and  for  a  thousand  years 
after  Bridget's  death  a  lamp  burned  at  her  tomb.  "  That  bright  lamp  which  burned  at 
Kildare's  holy  fane.'7 

Hathmuda.  daughter  of  Count  Lindulph,  "  a  lover  of  letters  and  student  of  script- 
ure," restored  at  Gandersheim  a  school  for  Saxon  ladies.  It  won  celebrity  through  the 


1 66  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

acquirements  of  Hroswitha,  "The  White  Rose  of  Gandersheim."  She  was  second  of 
the  name,  the  first  having  been  noted  as  a  logician.  She  studied  at  the  convent,  be- 
sides grammar  and  the  liberal  arts,  Greek  and  Latin  and  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle, 
and  wrote  many  works  in  prose  and  poetry.  Of  these  the  dramas  after  Terence  met 
with  instant  recognition  as  models  of  pure  diction  and  exquisite  sentiment,  also  display- 
ing a  knowledge  of.  dialectics  and  astronomy.  Hroswitha's  letters  display  a  humility 
absolutely  saint-like  in  one  on  whom  the  adulation  of  her  contemporaries  was  lavished. 

The  author  of  "  Christian  Schools  and  Scholars."  when  remarking  that  the  teachers 
of  Hroswitha  had  preserved  her  modesty,  her  almost  childlike  naivete,  and  deep  religious 
humility,  adds:  "And  the  same  remark  applies  to  the  conventional  schools  in  general." 
Better  things  were  included  in  their  scheme  of  education  than  a  mere  knowledge  of 
the  liberal  arts,  the  wisdom,  which  is  the  beginning  of  discipline,  and  "unto  which  no 
defiled  thing  cometh." 

St.  Frides\vida,  flying  from  the  importunities  of  a  princely  suitor,  built  at  a  certain 
spot  a  monastery,  which  in  time,  falling  into  the  hands  of  canons  regular,  developed 
under  the  protection  of  Wolsey  into  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  A  second  step  toward  the 
foundation  of  the  university  was  made  when  Edith  d'Oyley,  who  was  not,  however,  a 
nun,  built  Osney  Priory,  at  a  spot  indicated  to  her  by  the  chattering  of  pies. 

St.  Croix  Abbey  at  Poitiers,  founded  by  Radegond,  Queen  of  Clothaire  I.,  received 
her  into  its  silent  life,  after  many  useful  years  spent  upon  the  throne,  giving  patronage 
to  art  and  literature,  laboring  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  cultivating  the  society  f  the 
learned.  She  was  the  friend  of  Venantius  Fortunatus,  who  composed  the  'Vexilla 
Regis,"  on  the  translation  of  a  relic  of  the  true  cross  to  her  monastery.  She  possessed, 
as  we  read,  "not  only  elegant  letters,  but  profound  erudition,"  and  after  her  retirement 
to  Poitiers,  imparted  those  stories  of  knowledge  to  young  girls  of  all  classes  whom  she 
loved  to  collect  around  her. 

Other  high-born  nuns,  famous  for  their  acquirements,  were:  Burgundofara,  "  la 
noble  baronnede  Bourgogne,"  abbess  of  Faremoutier;  Adelaide,  of  Cologne;  Hildegarde, 
of  Bingen;  Isabel,  sister  of  St.  Louis;  Blanche,  of  France;  Jane,  of  Navarre;  Matilda,  of 
Anjou. 

The  attainments  of  the  nuns  appear  to  have  been,  for  the  time,  considerable. 
They  studied  phil  sophy  and  belles-lettres,  the  scriptures  and  the  fathers.  Their  cor- 
respondence was  kept  up  in  Latin,  and  sprinkled  with  quotations,  proving  their 
acquaintance  with  the  classics.  Many  of  them  knew  Greek.  They  reached,  in  fine, 
the  highest  degree  of  culture  then  possible.  Like  their  contemporaries,  they  were 
ignorant,  no  doubt,  of  much  that  we  know.  Probably  they  also  knew  much  that  would 
surprise  our  "  sweet  girl  graduates,"  and  knew  it  thoroughly  and  well.  Many  nuns 
were  proficient  as  copyists,  adorning  manuscripts  with  gold  and  gems.  They  were 
accomplished  needlewomen,  skilled  in  rare  tapestries  and  embroideries. 

"  Outside  their  communities,  and  mingling  in  the  current  of  historical  events, 
several  of  these  vigorous  women,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  have  left  their  trace  on  the 
history  of  their  country."  The  idea  of  spiritual  assistance  became  so  interwoven  with 
the  idea  of  nuns,  as  it  has  bee  .1  remarked,  that  in  many  families  a  spectral  nun  was 
supposed  to  give  warning  of  impending  calamity. 

"  To  early  acquaintance  with  the  cloister  much  that  distinguished  the  character  of 
women  in  the  middle  ages  is  due,"  remarks  Digby;  -'•  even  when  education  was  not 
received  there,  visits  were  made  to  devout  sisters.  The  maiden  of  the  castle  knew  the 
sanctity  and  peace  of  cloistral  life,  and  formed  there  her  idea  of  virtue."  Symbols  of  a 
true  democracy,  the  lowly  mingled  with  the  high-born  in  these  communities,  and  often 
r  se  to  commanding  stations,  though  names  and  details  concerning  those  of  high  rank 
were  more  carefully  preserved  by  contemporary  chroniclers. 

Deaconesses  were  a  recognised  order  in  the  church  till  the  9th  century,  as  were 
also  recluses,  who  inhabited  caverns  and  mountains.  Such  was  Rosalie  of  Palermo, 
whose  name  has  remained  in  veneration  through  the  centuries. 

The  queens  of  the  middle  ages  are  a  numerous  and  important  class.  Among  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  who,  in  common  with  the  other  Teutonic  races,  assigned  a  lofty  part  to 
women,  the  queens  possessed  territorial  rights  and  rights  of  jurisdiction,  having  separ- 
ate courts  and  affixing  their  names  to  public  documents.  Like  the  nuns  of  their  race, 
they  were  ardent  as  apostles.  Thus  the  gentle  Queen  Bertha  was  saluted  by  Gregory 
as  "  a  second  Helena,"  who  had  given  England  to  the  faith,  which  she  did,  not  only  by 
protecting  Augustine,  but  by  converting  Ethelbert,  her  husband.  Her  daughter, 
Ethelburga,  brought  Edwin  and  Northumbria  to  Christianity,  as  Achfleda  converted 
Penda  and  the  Mercians,  and  Ermenilda,  with  Egbert  of  Kent,  aided  in  the  spread  of 
truth,  and  supported  Wildfrid  and  Rome.  Many  of  them  were  learned  themselves,  and 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIA*  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  167 

the  cause  of  learning  in  others,  as  Osburga,  mother  of  Alfred,  who  inspired  him  with 
her  own  love  of  knowledge,  and  directed  his  studies. 

Elsintha,  his  wife,  and  Ethelfleda,  his  daughter,  were  of  similar  tastes.  "  Edith 
the  Good,"  wife  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  is  quaintly  called  "  a  storehouse  of  liberal 
knowledge,"  and  Ingulf,  Abbot  of  Croyland,  relates  how,  as  a  boy,  she  questioned  him 
upon  his  studies, "  readily  changing  from  the  quirks  of  logic,  which  she  knew  thor- 
oughly well,  she  would  entrap  me,"  he  says,  "  in  the  snares  of  argumentation." 

The  queens  of  the  Norman  pariod,  beginning  with  the  wife  of  the  Conqueror,  con- 
tinued the  high  tradition  of  learning,  sometimes  of  sanctity.  For  instance,  tbe  sisters 
and  the  two  queens  of  Henry  Beauclerc  are  mentioned  as  being  accomplished  scholars. 
"  There  is,  perhaps,  no  more  beautiful  character  recorded  in  history,"  says  the  Protest- 
ant-Skene,  in  his  Celtic  Scotland,  "  than  that  of  Margaret  of  Scotland.  For  purity  of 
motives,  for  an  earnest  desire  to  benefit  the  people  among  whom  her  lot  was  cast,  for  a 
deep  sensa  of  religion  and  great  personal  piety,  for  the  unseltish  performance  of  what- 
ever duty  lay  before  her,  and  for  entire  self-abnegation,  she  is  unsurpassed."  This 
saintly  queen  labored  with  intelligence  and  a  true  understanding  of  the  issues  at  stake 
to  reform  abuses  in  the  contemporary  church  of  Scotland  and  restored  venerable  lona, 
fallen  to  ruins. 

Another  Margaret,  a  woman  of  a  still  more  commanding  intellect,  but  whose  pr'- 
vate  life  was  far  from  irreproachable,  united  by  her  political  sagacity  and  strength  of 
will  all  the  Scandinavian  kingdoms  under  her  sway.  She  was  called  "  the  Semiramis 
of  the  North." 

The  Frankish  dynasty  furnishes  us  with  such  lovable  types  of  women  as  Clotilda, 
who  obtained  the  somewhat  dramatic  conversion  of  her  husband  on  the  battlefield,  and 
Bathildis,  who  labored  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  spread  of  learning,  who 
founded  and  afterward  became  abbess  of  Chelles. 

The  life  of  Matilda,  wife  of  Henry  I.  of  Germany,  reads  like  romance  from  the 
moment  her  royal  lover  beholds  her,  the  pupil  of  Hereward  convent,  through  the  long 
years  when  they  were  "one  in  mind  and  heart,  prompt  to  every  good  work."  as  through 
her  regency  and  her  widowhood,  passed  so  holily.  The  following  quaint  account  is 
given  of  her  by  a  contemporary:  "  She  ministered  to  the  cock  who  announced  the  day 
to  call  up  the  faithful  to  serve  Christ,  nor  did  she  forget  the  singing  birds,  for  whom 
she  scattered  crumbs  in  the  name  of  their  Creator.  She  carried  food  to  the  poor  and 
candles  to  oratories  in  her  own  chariot.  In  winter  she  caused  great  fires  to  be  lighted 
and  kept  up  all  night,  both  in  and  out,  so  that  everyone  who  wandered  might  have 
warmth  and  light." 

Queen  Elizabeth,  of  Portugal,  who  won  by  her  unceasing  efforts  to  promote  peace 
the  title  of  Pacis  et  Patrise  Mater  and  Sant  Isabel  de  Pax,  is  only  less  interesting  than 
that  other  Elizabeth,  whose  marriage  to  her  beloved  Landgrave  Louis,  her  pathetic 
efforts  to  lead  a  saint's  life  at  a  court,  the  cruel  persecutions  she  endured,  and  her  widow- 
hood, are  so  familiar  to  us.  Of  such  a  type  was  Hedwiga,  of  Poland,  who  married 
against  her  inclination  to  promote  the  peace  of  Christendom. 

Bridget,  Princess  of  Sweden,  sanctified  her  husband,  eight  children,  and  edified  a 
court  before  founding  the  Order  of  the  Brigittines.  Agnes  of  Bohemia,  wife  of  Fred- 
erick II.,  Cunegondeof  Bavaria,  good  Queen  Maud  of  England,  Hildegrade,  Empress  of 
Charlemagne;  Agnes,  wife  of  thetrerman  Henry  III.,  so  successful  a  regent,  are  among 
those  who  led  a  life  of  nun-like  austerity  upon  thrones.  Many  medieval  queens  be- 
longed to  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis. 

Margaret  of  Anjou,  by  a  series  of  splendid  failures,  strove  to  hold  the  scepter  for  a 
dynasty.  Philippa  of  Hainault,  was  not  only  noted  for  learning,  but  for  political 
wisdom.  Blanche  of  Castile,  the  model  of  Christian  mothers,  was  a  patron  of  letters, 
and  Blanche  of  Navarre  deserved  to  be  called  "  the  mother  of  the  poor."  The  life  of 
Catherine  Cornaro,  Queen  of  Cyprus,  reads  like  a  romance.  Theophania,  the  Greek 
princess,  like  Anna  Commena,  author  of  the  Alexiad,  was  an  enthusiastic  student.  On 
her  marriage  she  brought  the  brilliant  literary  atmosphere  of  Constantinople  to  the 
court  of  the  Othos.  Hedwiga  of  Bavaria,  a  Greek  and  Latin  scholar,  educated  her 
nephew  Burkhard,  afterwards  abbot.  Anneof  Brittany,  the  beloved,  was  "  as  skilled  in 
Greek,  Latin,  and  astronomy  as  any  clerk  in  the  kingdom." 

The  medieval  households  are,  in  the  main,  beautiful  pictures  of  Catholic  life. 
There,  "at  the  fireside  of  the  heart,  feeding  itsflame,"  woman's  true  place,  the  mistress 
of  the  family  shone.  Wise,  intelligent,  loving  and  beloved,  respecting  and  respected, 
she  was  troubled  by  no  theories  of  female  suffrage  or  equal  rights  or  divided  skirts. 
Her  own  rights,  thanks  to  the  church,  were  too  secure;  her  duties  too  sacred.  A 
helpful  wife,  a  conscientious  mother.  "  Happy  the  ages,"  cried  Digby,  "  when  men  had 


1 68  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

holy  mothers."  She  trained  sons  to  fill  high  places  and  daughters  to  vigorous 
practical  utility,  and  she  gained  the  love  of  her  servants.  Every  woman  in  those 
days  was  made  acquainted  with  every  detail  of  household  duty.  With  high-born 
women  the  duties  were  simply  wider  and  more  onerous.  She  had  to  know  medicine  and 
surgery  and  church  music  and  embroidery,  as  she  was  fitted  to  exercise  the  splendid 
hospitality  of  the  times,  with  that  exquisite  courtesy  to  strangers,  which  was  a  rigid 
social  law.  But  she  had  to  sew  and  spin  and  cook  and  keep  a  time  apart  for  reading. 
Spinning  was  a  favorite  occupation,  by  the  way,  of  all  classes  of  medieval  women. 
Dante  represents  the  women  of  Florence  as  spinning  as  "  they  listened  to  old  tales  of 
Troy,  Fesole,  and  Rome." 

Young  women  before  marriage  lived  in  much  retirement.  They  never  went  forth 
unattended,  and  in  public  places  usually  wore  white  folds  and  black  cloaks,  such  as  are 
still  worn  by  certain  communities  of  nuns.  Dress  in  general  was,  however,  very  much 
a  matter  of  national  or  individual  temperament.  Sometimes  medieval  women  are  com- 
mended by  contemporary  writers  for  simplicity  in  dress,  wearing  "  unornamental  busk- 
ins and  &  plain  robe  of  camlet  or  serge,  with  hood  to  match."  Again  they  are 
reproached  with  a  too  great  magnificence,  reveling  in  clothes  of  gold  and  silver,  embroid- 
ered with  gold  and  gems.  Sometimes  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  this  love  of  finery 
infected  even  degenerate  cloisters.  Severe  strictures  were  passed  upon  abbesses  who 
appeared  in  scarlet  or  violefc  tunics  and  hoods  edged  with  miniver,  who  curled  their  hair 
and  arranged  their  veils  as  ornaments. 

Charity  toward  the  poor,  the  suffering,  the  afflicted  was  eminently  characteristic  of 
medieval  women.  Always  munificent,  their  charity  chose  a  thousand  tender  and  deli- 
cate modes  of  manifesting  itself,  seeing  even  in  the  mendicant  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Mary,  the  mother  of  God,  was  the  first  great  cause  of  the  elevation  of  women. 
Divinely  fair  and  holy,  ever  present  to  the  medieval  mind,  she  taught  man  to  reverence 
and  woman  to  deserve  reverence.  She  appeared  upon  the  pennons  of  knights  or  in 
their  war  cries,  particularly  if  the  cause  were  holy.  Upon  her  they  framed  their  ideal. 
The  maiden  in  the  cloister,  with  her  consecrated  teacher,  placed  Mary's  image  in  minia- 
tures or  illuminations.  The  lady  of  the  castle,  with  her  bondswoman,  uttered  the 
transcendent  prayer:  "  Hail,  full  of  grace."  The  wandering  glee  woman  or  the  serf  fresh 
from  toil  bent  the  knee  at  Mary's  wayside  shrine.  Even  the  gypsies,  in  their  midnight 
celebration  of  Christmas,  joined  with  the  generations  in  calling  her  blessed. 

Everywhere  that  ideal,  divinely  human,  before  which  all  mere  earthly  perfection 
fades.  Therefore  any  summary  of  the  woman  of  the  middle  ages  must  be  faulty,  even 
as  a  matter  of  philosophical  or  ethical  inquiry,  which  ignores  the  omnipresent  and 
almost  omnipotent  influence  of  Mary,  mother  of  God. 

Under  the  head  of  "  Guilds  and  Fraternal  Benefit  Societies,"  J.  P.  Lauth, 
of  Chicago,  111.,  read  a  paper  on  "  Their  Insurance  Feature  Preferable  to 
Pension  Funds."  He  said,  in  substance: 

I  shall  undertake  in  the  brief  time  at  my  disposal  to  deal  in  a  general  way  with  one 
or  two  phases  of  the  much-vexed  labor  question,  such  as,  first,  the  old  guilds  and 
recently  organized  labor  societies;  and,  second,  why  their  insurance  feature  is  prefer- 
able to  a  pension  fund  for  workmen.  It  may  be  in  order  to  say,  by  way  of  introduction, 
a  few  words  touching  the  dignity  of  labor  and  the  attitude  toward  it  of  the  church: 

Cardinal  Manning  said:  "  Labor  is  capital  in  the  truest  sense.  The  strength  and 
skill  that  are  in  a  man  are  as  much  his  own  as  his  life-blood;  and  that  skill  and  strength 
which  he  has  as  his  personal  property  no  man  may  control."  And,  according  to  Adam 
Smith,  "  The  property  which  every  man  has  in  his  own  labor,  as  it  is  the  original  founda- 
tion of  all  other  property,  so  it  is  the  most  sacred  and  inviolable."  Labor  is  the  exer- 
cise of  the  best  powers  of  man.  As  Herbert  Spencer  says:  "  All  observing  instruments, 
all  weights  and  measures,  scales,  micrometers,  thermometers,  barometers,  etc.,  are 
artificial  extensions  of  the  senses;  and  all  levers,  screws,  hammers,  wedges,  wheels, 
lathes;  etc.,  are  artificial  extensions  of  the  limbs."  And  how,  then,  since  it  is  so  potential 
an  agency,  and  so  much  more  enterprising  when  free  than  when  controlled,  can  it  be 
consistently  sought  to  have  the  law  apply  to  and  control  its  operations?  The  answer 
is,  that  it  is  sought  simply  to  have  the  law  define  its  rights  within  the  scope  of  reason- 
able freedom,  so  that  they  may  not  be  invaded  to  its  detriment  by  unscrupulous  and 
designing  persons.  It  should  be  made  possible  for  workmen  to  collect  their  wages  with 
less  difficulty.  They  should  be  enabled  to  recover  damages  in  case  of  personal  injury 
through  the  employer's  wrong  without  weary  years  of  delay  and  heavy  expense.  In 
fact,  in  many  respects  the  law  could  and  should  serve  them  more  efficiently  than  it 
does. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  169 

I  need  not  hesitate  to  state  that  the  church  has  always  been  well  disposed  toward 
labor.  She  interposed  in  behalf  of  the  villeins  of  the  feudal  period  at  all  proper  times, 
and  finally  succeeded  in  bringing  about  their  emancipation.  She  favored  the  guilds 
during  the  middle  ages,  and  steadily  sought  to  promote  their  welfare.  She  opposed 
slavery  in  every  form  and  shape  from  the  beginning,  and  does  so  still.  To  her  the  con- 
dition of  the  working  population  has  always  been  a  subject  of  special  solicitude.  The 
great  labor  encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  affords  ample  proof  as  to  the  attitude  of  the  church 
in  this  respect.  It  expresses  sympathy  with  labor  and  the  legitimate  aspirations  of 
toilers  throughout  the  world.  It  points  out  the  reciprocal  duties  of  labor  and  capital. 
It  urges  the  necessity  of  ameliorating  the  condition  of  poorly-paid  and  neglected  work- 
ers. It  acknowledges  the  right  of  laborers  to  combine  in  fraternal  societies  and  unions, 
with  a  view  to  securing  remunerative  wages  and  protecting  their  interests.  It  asserts 
that  it  is  the  right  of  the  State,  if  not  its  duty,  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  shorter  hours, 
better  sanitary  conditions,  and  the  prevention  of  female  and  child  labor  in  exhausting 
employments.  It  contends  that  the  standard  of  labor  should  not  be  that  of  mere  sub- 
sistence, but  such  as  may  facilitate  the  acquirement  of  property,  provide  for  the  feeble- 
ness of  old  age,  and  the  diminished  earning  capacity  resulting  from  accident,  afford 
opportunity  for  moral  and  intellectual  improvement,  and  give  the  means  of  cultivating 
the  physical  powers,  together  with  time  for  nsct ssary  recreation.  That,  surely,  is  a  most 
enlightened  view  to  take  of  the  labor  question.  The  most  enthusiastic  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  the  working  people  could  not  reasonably  ask  for  more. 

The  church  says,  in  the  language  of  the  gospel,  that  "the  laborer  is  worthy  of 
his  hire."  But  at  the  same  time  she  informs  him  that  he  has  reciprocal  duties,  in 
that  he  must  faithfully  seek  to  promote  the  interests  of  his  employer  and  exer- 
cise reasonable  diligence  in  the  performance  of  his  work.  If  a  man  will  not  work, 
neither  let  him  eat."  (Thess.  iii,  10.)  In  short,  he  should  be  a  true  laborer  as 
defined  by  the  great  bard  of  Avon  in  "As  You  Like  It:"  "I  am  a  true  laborer. 
I  earn  that  I  eat,  get  that  I  wear,  owe  no  man  hate,  envy  no  man's  happiness,  glad  of 
other  men's  good,  content  with  my  harm." 

I  shall  now  refer  more  particulary  to  the  guilds,  so  notable  and  important  in  their 
relations  to  labor  during  the  middle  ages.  Fraternal  societies,  composed  of  artisans, 
existed  in  Greece  and  Rome  at  an  early  period.  They  becama  incorporated  under  the 
last  of  the  Caesars.  The  church  recognized  and  favored  them,  and  they  became  the 
Christian  guilds.  In  364  Valentinian  I.  confirmed  the  privileges  granted  by  the  pre- 
ceding emperors.  In  succeeding  centuries  all  persons  who  were  members  of  a  parti- 
cular trade  in  a  city  or  locality  became  united  in  a  guild,  which  had  the  right  to 
regulate  the  production  and  sale  of  the  things  made  by  such  trade.  A  person  was  not 
permitted  to  work  at  a  trade  unless  he  had  become  a  member  of  the  guild  controlling 
it,  and  one  of  the  primary  conditions  of  membership  was  to  have  served  as  an  apprentice 
for  a  designated  number  of  years.  The  apprentice  was  bound  out  to  a  master,  of  whose 
family  he  became,  for  a  time,  a  member.  His  moral  education  and  technical  training 
were  committed  to  the  master.  He  was  required  to  learn  to  make  the  tools  of  his  trade, 
as  well  as  to  do  its  work.  Only  one  or  two  apprentices  could  be  taught  at  a  time. 
When  the  young  man  had  served  the  requisite  number  of  years,  he  became  a  journey- 
man or  hired  workman. 

A  stainless  reputation  was  necessary  to  membership  in  the  guild.  Known  immor- 
ality or  dishonesty  was  a  sufficient  ground  for  expulsion.  The  guild  settled  the  hours 
of  work  and  the  rate  of  wages.  In  certain  lines  of  handicraft,  workmen  were  accus- 
tomed to  travel  from  town  to  town  in  order  to  see  the  different  processes  of  carrying  on 
their  trades.  When  the  savings  of  a  workman  were  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  pay 
the  prescribed  fees  and  his  technical  skill  was  proved  by  the  making  of  what  was 
called  a  masterpiece,  he  rose  to  the  third  and  highest  stage  of  the  industrial  order  and 
became  himself  a  master.  But  he  remained  subject  to  the  control  of  the  guild  which, 
in  conjunction  with  the  local  authorities,  regulated  the  hours  of  labor,  the  ecclesiastical 
holidays,  etc. 

The  guild  acted  also  as  a  court  of  arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  controversies 
between  the  master  and  his  wrorknaen.  It  restricted  the  number  of  workmen  that  a 
master  might  employ.  This  removed  from  him  the  temptation  of  seeking  to  get  rich 
by  their  labor.  Thus,  too,  the  number  of  masters  was  kept  comparatively  large,  and 
every  industrious  apprentice  could  hope  to  become  one  in  time  and  attain  to  the  high- 
est grade  in  the  industrial  ranks. 

The  guild  carefully  guarded  against  the  sale  of  goods  adulterated,  or  ill-m?dft,  or  of 
short  weight  or  measure.  It  discharged  the  duties,  also,  of  a  benefit  society  and  popu- 
lar bank.  It  aided  sick  members  and  took  care  of  the  families  of  those  deceased.  Ir 


1 70 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIA*  CATHOLIC  CONGEESSES. 


had  a  corporate  fund,  or  regularly  collected  subscriptions  or  dues  from  the  member?, 
and  was  thus  in  a  position  to  make  advances  to  such  of  their  number  as  were  in  diffi- 
culty, to  support  the  aged,  and  to  maintain  the  widows  and  orphans  of  members  de- 
ceased. Each  guild  had  a  patron  saint  whose  festival  it  specially  celebrated.  For  3X- 
ample,  St.  Joseph  was  the  patron  saint  of  carpenters,  while  St.  Crispin  represented 
shoemakers  and  workers  in  leather.  Religious  exercises  and  the  giving  of  alms  were 
recommended  and  fostered.  Production  was  so  arranged  as  to  keep  all  employed. 
About  the  time  of  the  reformation,  the  religious  element  of  the  guilds  became  subordi- 
nated to  the  more  worldly  aims  and  selfish  interests  of  the  members,  and  thereafter 
they  declined  and  finally  disappeared,  although  within  recent  years  an  effort  has  been 
made  to  revive  them. 

Referring  now  to  more  recent  times.  We  know,  historically,  of  only  one  labor 
organization  as  having  had  an  existence  in  this  country  prior  to  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  that  was  the  Calkers'  Club  of  Boston.  The  word  caucus  is  said  to  be  a 
corruption  of  it  in  our  political  nomenclature.  In  1792  a  trades'  union  of  shoemakers 
existed  in  Philadelphia.  The  earliest  strikes,  of  which  we  have  record,  took  place  in 
the  same  city  in  the  years  1798  and  1805.  Two  or  three  years  later,  there  was  an 
extensive  strike  in  New  York.  However,  it  is  only  within  the  past  twenty- five  years 
that  labor  organizations  have  made  anything  like  substantial  headway  in  this  country. 
They  comprise  now  over  two-thirds  of  all  our  artisans  and  workmen.  The  individual 
trades  are,  generally  speaking,  well  organized,  and  seek,  so  far  as  practicable  without 
the  active  exercise  of  the  religious  principle,  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  old 
guilds.  The  efforts  heretofore  made,  however,  to  band  them  together  in  unity  of 
purpose  and  active  co-operation  in  respect  to  matters  effecting  them  jointly,  or  as  a 
whole,  have  not  been  specially  successful. 

In  Great  Britain  labor  fraternities,  or  trades  unions,  came  into  being  with  the 
growth  of  factories  and  the  destruction  of  domestic  hand  industries.  The  organization 
of  these  unions  was  prohibited  by  law  and  so  remained  until  1824.  They  began  in 
secrecy,  and  their  maintenance  often  depended  upon  the  exercise  of  force  and  violence. 
However,  little  by  little,  they  won  toleration  and  recognition.  In  1875  they  had  become 
so  powerful  as  to  secure  public  approval.  The  working  people  of  France,  Germany, 
Austria,  Italy,  Belgium,  and  the  Continent  generally,  have  also  organized  labor  frater- 
nities or  trad'es  unions.  The  spirit  of  the  French  Revolution,  toned  down  to  a  kind  of 
a  weak  socialism,  seems  to  pervade  a  large  number  of  them.  However,  they  have  won 
successes. 

In  1883,  the  French  Premier  made  arrangements  with  the  land  bank  of  France  for 
advances  of  20,000,000  francs  to  build  13,000  dwellings  for  artisans  in  the  environs  of 
Paris,  the  government  guaranteeing  payment.  The  houses  were  sold  to  workmen  under 
agreement  that  payment  should  be  made  in  twenty  annual  installments  of  less  than  the 
ordinary  rental  of  the  poorest  city  quarters.  The  work  of  erecting  them  was  begun  in 
a  period  of  financial  stringency,  and  thus  thousands  of  artisans  who  could  not  afford  to 
be  idle  were  kept  employed.  Moreover,  the  city  of  Paris  borrowed  50,000,000  francs  for 
the  erection  in  like  manner  of  model  tenement-houses,  designed  for  rent  to  persons  not 
able  to  pay  more  than  150  or  300  francs  a  year.  The  tenants  are  relieved  in  part  from 
taxation  while  occupying  these  tenements. 

The  German  insurance  bill  of  1887  provides  that  all  workmen  who  pass  the  age  of 
70  years,  or  become  completely  and  permanently  incapacitated  for  work,  shall  have  a 
pension.  The  bill  affects  only  workmen,  apprentices,  servants,  and  administrative 
employes  having  a  yearly  pay  of  not  more  than  2,000  marks.  Premiums  on  the  insur- 
ance must  have  been  paid  for  thirty  years,  or  for  five  years  where  it  is  claimed  on  the 
ground  of  disability.  A  third  of  the  premium  is  paid  by  the  insured,  another  third  by 
the  employer,  while  the  other  third  comes  from  the  imperial  treasury.  The  pension 
rate  in  the  case  of  old  age  is  120  marks  a  year,  while  it  varies  from  that  amount  to  250 
marks  when  given  for  disability.  Women,  under  like  circumstances,  are  entitled  to 
only  two-thirds  of  what  men  receive.  The  pension  system  of  Germany  includes  civil 
officials  and  even  teachers.  Th3  greatest  burdens  that  the  working  classes  of  Germany 
have  now  to  bear  consist  in  heavy  taxes  and  service  in  the  army.  The  generality  of  the 
pension  system  and  the  great  size  of  the  army  necessitate  the  imposition  upon  the  labor 
of  the  country  of  an  extraordinary  burden  of  taxation.  And  yet,  strange  to  say,  there 
seems  to  be  no  special  opposition  to  the  pension  policy,  which  has  a  firm  foothold  in  the 
country. 

The  fraternities  of  workmen  in  Belgium  have  been  a  source  of  much  concern  to 
the  government,  yet  numerous  salutary  laws  have  been  enacted  at  their  instance.  For 
example,  wages  must  be  paid  in  cash;  two-fifths  of  salaries  not  exceeding  1,200  francs 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  171 

are  exempt  from  execution  for  debts;  councils  of  industry  have  been  established  to 
reconcile  differences  between  employers  and  employes;  debts  contracted  in  liquor 
houses  can  not  be  recovered,  and  those  who  sell  liquor  to  intoxicated  persons,  as  well 
as  the  intoxicated  persons  themselves,  are  liable  to  fine  and  imprisonment. 

The  influence  of  labor  fraternities,  properly  conducted,  has  been  salutary.  They 
have  contributed  to  secure  higher  wages,  bring  about  shorter  hours,  remove  middle- 
men or  sub-contractors,  and  support  members  when  out  of  work.  They  resemble  the 
guilds  in  acting  as  benefit  societies  and  insuring  members  against  accident,  sickness, 
and  old  age.  Moreover,  they  expedd  large  sums  in  a  direction  foreign  to  the  solicitude 
of  the  guilds,  and  that  is  in  providing  for  unemployed  members.  All  who  were  able 
and  willing  to  work  had  plenty  to  do  in  the  time  of  the  guilds. 

I  need  hardly  apologize  for  referring  so  of  ten  to  the  guilds,  for  every  person  interested 
in  the  growth  of  our  modern  fraternities  of  workmen  may  study  them  with  advantage. 
Such  study  in  connection  with  the  perusal  of  the  late  encyclical  of  our  Holy  Father  on 
the  subject  of  labor  can  not  fail  to  arouse  something  like  a  fitting  appreciation  of  the 
great  and  constant  interest  of  the  church  in  the  welfare  of  the  working  people.  The 
church  favored  the  guilds,  and  the  guilds  were  powerful  and  prosperous  while  they- 
hearkened  to  and  obeyed  her.  In  the  same  spirit  she  favors  to-day  our  fraternal  organi- 
zations of  workmen.  She  favors  them,  not  as  revolutionary  bodies,  not  as  materialistic 
agencies,  not  as  societies  banded  together  for  purposes  so  mean,  selfish,  or  unworthy  as 
to  make  secrecy  seem  necessary.  On  the  contrary,  she  favors  them  as  a  means  of 
enabling  workmen  to  secure  and  maintain  their  rights;  to  advance  their  common 
interests  by  means  of  the  educational  agencies  available;  to  be  guided  by  the  same 
ethics  and  rules  of  morals  collectively  that  individually  they  acknowledge;  to  be  good 
citizens  and  obedient  to  the  laws,  and  to  be  directed  by  the  light  of  faith  in  Him  who 
wrought  with  His  own  hands  and  gave  His  life  for  others. 

These  societies  are  beneficial  in  a  high  degree  when  honestly,  intelligently,  and 
properly  managed  and  directed.  The  members  are  mutually  benefited  and  the 
interests  of  the  entire  community  advanced.  The  place  of  meeting  becomes  a  school 
in  the  most  practical  sense.  Men  thus  brought  together  become  a  great  force  for  the 
accomplishment  of  good.  They  combine  almost  spontaneously  to  defend  right  against 
wrong  in  contests  involving  that  issue.  Viewed  in  that  light,  our  labor  societies 
deserve  the  support  and  co-operation  of  all  good  citizens  without  reference  to  vocation, 
position,  or  station.  The  old  guilds  had  such  support,  employers,  merchants,  public 
officials  and  clergymen  co-operating  with  them,  and  no  one  can  deny  that  they  con- 
tributed to  promote  the  common  good,  maintain  the  public  tranquility  and  restrict  to 
narrowest  limits  the  evidences  of  poverty  and  mendicancy. 

The  insurance  feature  of  these  societies  is  deserving  of  unqualified  commendation. 
It  is  essential  to  their  prosperity,  if  not  their  very  existence.  It  aims  at  realizing  in  a 
secure  and  comparatively  easy  way  some  of  the  chief  ends  for  which  we  live  and  labor. 
It  provides  for  sick  and  needy  members.  It  is  by  their  bedside  in  illness  and  their 
grave  in  death.  It  alleviates  their  last  suffering  by  the  assurance  that  want  shall  be 
averted  from  those  near  and  dear  to  them.  It  stimulates  the  courage  of  the  widow 
and  orphans.  It  affords  them  the  means  of  battling  successfully  against  the  adversities 
of  the  world.  It  enables  the  careful  and  provident  mother  to  maintain,  educate  and 
rear  her  children  as  good  Christians  and  useful  members  of  society.  It  bespeaks  a 
continued  interest  of  the  members  of  the  fraternity  or  union  in  the  family  of  their  de- 
ceased associate,  and  an  effort  to  procure  suitable  employment  for  the  children. 

A  workman  acting  by  himself  and  for  himself  frequently  forgets,  till  too  late,  the 
important  duty  of  making  provision  for  his  helpless  family.  His  example  teaches 
selfishness,  improvidence  and  vicious  habits  to  his  children.  In  their  poverty  and 
bitter  need  they  are  prompted  each  to  look  out  for  himself.  The  tie  to  the  family 
center  is  broken.  They  lose  sight  of  one  another,  and  their  fortune  is  as  varying  as 
their  environments.  Again,  the  mother's  death  may  be  hastened  through  the  weight 
of  her  sorrow  and  the  consciousness  of  her  helplessness.  Then  the  last  hope  is  gone. 
No  one  is  left  to  guide  them  in  the  way  of  religion,  in  the  path  of  morality,  in  the  in 
struction  of  the  schools.  Look  around  you  in  this  great  city — aye,  even  in  the  State 
and  country  !  Trace  to  their  origin  vice  and  intemperance,  indifference  to  religion  or 
even  actual  apostacy.  Do  they  not,  as  a  rule,  lead  you  up  to  a  condition  of  things  such 
in  the  main  as  I  have  described  ?  How  many  children  might  be  saved  to  the  church 
and  morality,  to  the  school  and  usefulness,  if  provision  were  made  for  them  before  the 
death  of  the  father — if  they  could  continue  to  live  under  the  family  roof-tree. 

Men  are  differently  constituted.  It  may  as  well  be  admitted  that  a  great  many  of 
our  working  people  seem  to  lack  the  power  to  save.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  I  submit, 


172  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

that  every  man  of  that  class  would  derive  advantage  from  joining  a  fraternal  benefit 
association.  In  it  he  would  meet  the  best  element  of  working  men — men  who  read  and 
think,  men  who  enjoy  a  sense  of  manly  independence  in  the  consciousness  that  neither 
in  sickness  nor  death  need  they  or  their  families  fear  the  poorhouse  or  soul  withering 
consequences  of  abject  poverty.  Membership  in  it  would  teach  him  to  be  practical,  in- 
dustrious, economical  and  attentive  to  the  probable  wants  of  the  future.  It  would 
make  him  self-respecting  and  manly.  It  would  encourage  him  to  strive  to  provide  a 
home  for  his  family,  and  to  surround  himself  with  the  comforts  of  life,  if  not  the  luxur- 
ies. It  would  bring  him  into  closer  relationship  with  his  associates  of  the  brotherhood 
than  he  would  otherwise  be.  He  would  become  interested  in  their  welfare  and  they  in 
his.  They  would  advance  mutually  their  common  weal.  Their  interest  in  his  welfare 
would  make  him  a  greater  power  in  the  community  than  ever  he  was  before  or  could  be 
without  their  co-operation.  In  short,  he  would  become  a  steadier  man  and  better  cit- 
izen. 

The  insurance  feature  of  such  societies  is,  in  my  opinion,  far  preferable  to  the  Ger- 
man policy  of  pensioning  workmen.  We  know  that  in  this  country  there  is  a  formida- 
ble feeling  of  opposition  to  anything  like  a  civil  pension  list.  Moreover,  we  may  well 
believe  that  no  man  of  becoming  pride  would  wish  to  be  a  beneficiary  of  the  govern- 
ment on  a  civil  pension  list  in  the  face  of  that  feeling.  His  pension  dole  would  be 
regarded  simply  as  a  gratuity  or  charitable  offering  to  aid  him  in  keeping  out  of  the 
poorhouse.  It  would  not  tend  to  stimulate  to  honorable  enterprise  either  him  or  his 
children ;  but  it  would  tend  to  make  him  a  mere  creature  of  the  government  or  an 
automaton,  so  to  speak,  which  might  be  moved  at  its  will  this  way  or  that.  In  fact,  it 
might  become  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  country  to  have  so  great  a  power  subject 
to  the  caprice  of  any  administration  or  political  party. 

In  the  fraternal  society  a  member  gives  a  legal  consideration  for  what  he  or  his  fam- 
ily is  to  receive.  It  is  honorable  for  him  to  receive  it,  for  it  proves  him  to  have  been 
industrious  and  frugal,  intelligent  and  far-seeing.  It  provides  means  to  rear  and  edu- 
cate the  children,  and  his  example  is  a  salutary  inspiration  to  them.  They  are  kept 
together  and  work  with  and  for  one  another  until  grown.  They  live  long  enough  under 
the  same  roof-tree  to  know  and  share  the  beautiful  love  d.stinguishing  the  relations 
existing  between  parents  and  children,  and  brothers  and  sisters.  Such  children  are 
proud  of  their  parents  and  proud  to  remember  and  do  what  their  parents  taught  them. 
They  are  true  to  one  another,  and  seek  to  be  guided  by  the  inspirations  and  hallowed 
memories  of  their  youthful  companionship. 

Fortunately,  in  this  glorious  country  of  ours — a  country  formally  placed  under  the 
standard  of  the  cross  by  the  great  discoverer,  whose  achievement  we  commemorate 
this  year — labor  is  to-day  freer  to  act  and  stronger  in  union  than  ever  it 
was  before,  and  the  influence  of  our  fraternal  benefit  societies  has  not  been 
without  avail  in  contributing  so  to  make  it.  But  its  freedom  may  become 
license  and  its  strength  dissipated  and  lost  in  outbreaks  of  lawlessness,  unless  it 
acknowledges  and  seeks  to  be  guided  by  sound  moral  principles,  such  as  the  church 
prescribed  for  the  guilds.  To  these  principles  our  fraternal  benefit  associations  have 
sought  to  conform  so  far  as  practicable  under  existing  conditions.  Let  them  be 
strengthened,  for  they  tend  to  secure  unity,  impart  confidence  and  increase  the  power 
of  labor.  Let  them  be  established  far  and  wide,  and,  like  the  guilds  of  old,  they  will 
satisfactorily  settle  the  hours  of,  and  remuneration  for,  toil.  Acting  in  line  with  the 
sound  principles  prescribed  by  the  church,  as  indicated  in  the  recent  labor  encyclical 
of  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  it  would  be  within  their  power,  as  of  old,  to  provide  steady  employ- 
ment at  fair  wages  for  workmen,  teach  them  to  become  "  true  laborers,"  and  solve  the 
many  serious  problems  presented  by  the  labor  question. 

"  Life  Insurance  and  Pension  Funds  for  Wage  Workers,"  was  the  title 
of  an  organization  paper  read  by  E.  M.  Sharon,  of  Davenport,  Iowa.  The 
contents  of  the  paper  were  as  follows : 

Christianity  applied  to  the  labor  problem  illumines  it  and  furnishes  new  rules  for 
its  solution.  The  encyclical  of  Leo  XIII.  is  the  most  comprehensive  and  enlightening 
declaration  of  the  rights  of  labor  ever  enunciated.  The  ruler  of  the  spiritual  world 
becomes  the  philanthropic  statesmen  of  the  age  and  applies  the  treasured  wisdom  of 
the  church  of  Christ  to  devising  means  to  better  the  condition  of  the  wage  worker. 
He  brushes  aside  the  sophistries  of  capitalists  and  economists,  and  recognizes  no  condi- 
tions which  limit  the  rights  guaranteed  him  and  due  from  every  industrial  system.  In 
his  Christian  philosophy,  the  rise  and  fall  of  stocks,  the  ups  and  downs  of  markets, 
human  tariffs,  over  or  under-production,  the  exigencies  of  states,  create  no  just  excuse 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  173 

for  depriving  the  laborer  of  the  means  of  providing  a  reasonable  frugal  support  for 
himself  and  family.  The  wage-worker  himself  can  make  no  contract  which  attains 
less  than  this.  He  gives  the  reason. 

Man,  no  matter  what  his  position  beyond  the  things  personal  to  himself,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  society,  the  head  of  a  family,  the  head  of  a  society,  one  of  the  societies  whose 
aggregation  makes  up  the  State.  To  injure  him  injures  that  society,  injures  the  State. 
His  relation  to  his  fellowman,  to  the  church,  imposes  other  duties  than  those  which  he 
owes  to  the  mere  bodily  wants  of  himself  and  dependents.  Society  must  protect  itself, 
must  continue  itself,  must  enforce  the  foundation  factors  of  its  own  propagation  and 
prosperity. 

Here  arises  the  necessity  of  "  life  insurance  and  pension  funds  for  wage  workers." 
Without  them  the  position  of  the  most  fortunate  laborer  is  insecure.  He  is  able  to  give 
no  assurance  that  he  will  continue  to  provide  for  himself  and  his  family;  that  he  will 
maintain  his  position  in  society  and  perform  the  duties  which  society  exacts  from  him, 
instead  of  becoming  a  burden  upon  it. 

Were  it  not  for  sickness,  for  body  maiming  accidents  and  unprovided  old  age,  assur- 
ance would  be  useless.  If  old  age  alone  took  from  man  his  earning  capacity,  if  through 
all  the  years  of  his  manhood,  he  continued  to  support  his  family,  rearing  a  generation 
to  take  its  place,  full-fledged,  in  life's  field  of  labor,  if  filial  duty  supported  his  faltering 
steps  to  the  grave,  insurance  and  pensions  would  not  have  a  necessary  place  in  man's 
economy,  nor  an  advocate  before  this  Congress. 

But  even  in  this  favored  land,  liability  to  accident  besets  the  wage-worker  round 
about,  follows  his  every  step  through  life.  The  railroads  alone,  last  year,  killed  2,451  of 
their  employes,  and  maimed  and  injured  22,396.  It  is  claimed  that  accidents  in  mine 
and  factory,  and  outside  of  them,  in  the  United  States,  annually  destroy  the  earning 
capacity  of  workmen  to  the  amount  of  $150,000,000.  This  vast  amount  is  destroyed 
and  taken  from  the  productive  labor  and  wealth  of  the  nation.  These  injuries  entail  sick- 
ness, loss  of  time  and  wages,  lasting  disability  and  death.  They  come  when  the  domestic 
sky  is  brightest;  they  come  to  the  home  where  are  wife  and  lisping,  helpless  children. 

These  conditions  demand  decisive,  comprehensive  remedies.  Let  us  see  what  has 
been  done  to  allay  the  blasting  effects  of  industrial  injuries.  The  trades  unions  have 
within  the  past  decade  taken  up  the  matter  of  sick,  disability  and  mortality  benefits, 
and  are  doing  a  splendid  work  for  their  members,  through  their  own  unaided  efforts. 
The  industrial  insurance  associations  are  furnishing  a  large  amount  of  insurance  in 
Email  sums.  The  fraternal  and  benevolent  mutual  assessment  societies  are  doing  a 
good  work  at  a  small  cost.  A  beneficial  class  of  work  is  done  by  voluntary  action  of 
manufacturers,  railroad  managers  and  other  employers  of  labor.  But  this  is  not  enough.' 
These  systems  do  not  comprise  the  insurance  of  one-twentieth  of  the  real  wage -workers 
of  the  country. 

In  striking  contrast  to  this  condition,  under  the  German  compulsory  system  of 
insurance,  sixty-four  trades  unions  report  an  insured  membership  of  five  millions,  and 
there  are  other  insured  employes  to  the  number  of  eight  and  one-half  millions.  Germany, 
with  less  than  fifty  million  inhabitants,  has  adopted  an  insurance  and  pension  system 
that  includes  in  one  branch  over  thirteen  and  one-half  millions  of  her  people.  This  is 
purely  an  accident  insurance.  There  are  sick  and  invalidism  and  old  age  insurance 
associations  which  complement  this  system,  and  make  it,  in  the  results  accomplished, 
the  most  perfect  ever  devised. 

We  do  not  take  kindly  to  compulsory  measures  in  this  country.  We  are  apt  to 
conjure  up  the  ghost  of  governmental  paternalism  ;  sumptuary  laws  are  but  to  be  so 
named  to  be  condemned.  But  in  practice  the  State  provides  unquestioned  that  the 
relatives  of  a  poor  person  shall  contribute  to  its  support  and  the  summary  processes  of 
the  courts  are  invoked  to  enforce  the  mandates  of  the  State.  The  State  compels 
obedience  to  sanitary  rules  and  regulations  before  the  dire  results  of  their  violation 
manifests  itself  in  disease  and  death.  The  State  already  supervises  railroads  and 
public  carriers,  has  a  voice  in  their  every  contract,  fixes  the  limits  of  compensation  for 
freight  and  passenger  carriage,  regulates  the  appliances  of  cars  and  engines,  locates  their 
stations  and  compels  reports  of  every  transaction.  This  governmental  interference  has 
been  deemed  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  natural  rights  of  individuals  and  the 
well-being  of  the  society  of  which  they  form  a  part.  It  might  exercise  its  paternal  care 
for  the  benefit  of  wageworkers  also  without  transcending  its  legitimate  and  proper 
powers. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  state  what  we  want,  what  any  system  must  provide. 
Every  man,  woman,  and  child,  employed  for  wages,  should  receive  free  medical  attend- 
ance and,  at  least,  half  wages  during  disability,  from  any  cause,  whether  connected  with 


174  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

his  or  her  employment  or  not,  and,  in  case  of  death,  funeral  benefits  and  a  pension  equal 
to  half-wages  to  wife  and  children  or  other  dependents  during  the  continuance  of  such 
dependency.  Only  the  grossest  negligence,  willful  conduct,  or  dissipation  should 
deprive  of  these  benefits.  When  disabling  injury  or  death  comes  to  a  household,  it  is 
not  justice,  it  is  not  Christianity,  it  is  not  social  economy,  before  despairing  wife  and 
helpless  babies,  to  weigh  with  over-nicety  the  degrees  of  negligence  of  master  and  serv- 
ant; to  inquire  how  far  each  contributed  to  death  or  disability;  nor  to  enter  upon  that 
usual  learned  discussion  of  latent  and  patent  defects  in  destructive  machinery,  or 
whether  the  danger  was  so  obvious  that  the  workman  should  have  given  up  the  means 
of  earning  a  livelihood  for  himself  and  family,  or  was  justified  in  believing  that  the 
master  had  performed  his  duty.  Nor  does  society  care.  It  sees  the  destruction  of  a 
member,  useful  and  valuable.  It  sees  the  destruction  of  its  earning  capacity,  a  contri- 
buting, paying  member  of  itself  transformed  into  a  dependent  burden,  another  self-sup- 
porting family  for  which  it  must  become  responsible. 

Abolish  the  distinction  between  principal  and  vice-principal,  employe  and  co-em- 
ploye, independent  employment  and  privity  of  contract,  abolish  everything  that  stands 
between  the  injured,  disabled,  or  destroyed  husband,  father,  or  son,  and  the  recompense 
that  would  have  been  his  had  the  injury  not  occurred.  Abolish  all  distinctions  which 
have  allowed  the  industrial  world  to  unload  its  burdens  on  the  social  world.  Provide 
that  for  the  wage-worker,  his  wife  and  children  and  parents,  provision  has  been  made, 
and  that  neither  want  nor  want's  temptation  shall  ever  come  to  him  or  his. 

Whence  shall  come  the  millions  to  provide  these  benefits  and  pensions?  They 
should  come  from  the  industries  that  the  wage-workers  build  up,  from  the  billions  of 
wealth  that  their  labor  produces.  Industrial  interests  can  be  adjusted  to  such  changed 
conditions. 

There  are  two  sources  from  which  to  draw  the  funds  necessary  to  support  a  system 
accomplishing  the  necessary  results.  These  are  the  wage  fund  and  that  part  of  the 
cost  of  production  or  of  operation  known  as  the  employer's  liability  expense.  To  pay 
insurance  and  pensions  from  these  sources  would  obviate  the  objection  that  such  a 
system  would  unduly  derange  or  increase  the  cost  of  production  in  mining,  manufactur- 
ing, and  farming,  and  of  operation  for  public  carriers.  It  is  advisable  to  make  this  con- 
cession in  inaugurating  a  new  system,  although  every  sentiment  of  justice  and  hu- 
manity demands  that  the  industries  of  the  country  ought  to  bear  the  burden  of 
supporting  the  victim  whose  brawn  and  sweat  and  blood  create  its  wealth  and  insure 
its  prosperity,  and  the  sooner  our  industries  adjust  themselves  to  such  a  liability  the 
better  it  will  be  for  our  general  prosperity  and  our  claim  of  being  a  Christian  nation. 
The  people  of  this  country,  as  consumers,  are  willing  to  have  such  charge  added  to  the 
cost  of  the  products  which  they  consume. 

The  law,  the  common  and  statute  law  of  this  country,  does  impose  some  obligation 
on  the  employer  of  labor,  when  it  is  shown  that  the  relation  of  master  and  servant 
exists.  That  law,  while  assuming  that  the  servant  "  hires  out,"  and  gets  paid,  with  re- 
ference to  the  usual  dangers  and  hazards  of  his  occupation,  graciously  holds  the  em- 
ployer liable  if  he  negligently  increases  these  hazards  and  dangers.  The  employer's 
liability,  in  case  of  injury  to  his  employe,  is  measured  by  the  expense  of  getting  a  re- 
lease from  the  injured  or  proving  successfully  to  a  court,  and  sometimes  to  a  jury,  that 
he  did  not  increase  the  usual  hazards  of  the  employment,  or  if  he  did,  that  the  em- 
ploye ought  to  have  seen  it.  It  takes  years  to  prove  this  or  to  have  it  disproved,  and 
in  the  meantime  the  injured  employe,  weary  of  enforced  idleness,  in  despair,  too 
•often  has  gone  to  the  poorhouse  or  to  his  grave. 

How  much  this  liability  costs  in  lawyers'  fees  and  court  costs  and  enforced  or  vol- 
untary payments,  is  not  wholly  a  matter  of  conjecture.  The  railroads  reporting  to  the 
;Iowa  railroad  commissioners  in  1892,  with  a  pay  roll,  exclusive  of  general  officers  and 
'telegraphers,  of  $30,000,000,  reported  disbursements  on  account  of  injuries  to  persons,  of 
81,190,000  and  legal  expenses,  exclusive  of  salaried  solicitors  and  attorneys,  of  $590,000. 
It  will  be  conceded  that  the  incidental  expense  of  employes  acting  as  witnesses,  adjust- 
ers, engineers,  general  solicitors  and  attorneys  and  their  assistants,  would  offset  all  legal 
expenses  not  connected  with  claims  for  damages  for  personal  injuries. 

The  way  to  ascertain  the  expense  of  the  liability  of  manufacturers,  builders,  mine 
owners,  municipal  and  private  corporations,  and  other  employers  of  labor,  is  to  inquire 
what  is  paid  to  others  for  assuming  this  liability.  Employers  are  very  generally  carry- 
ing liability  insurance.  For  this  a  premium  is  paid  equal  on  the  average  of  about  1  per 
cent,  of  the  wages  paid  the  employes  whose  wages  are  insured  against.  Five  of  the 
companies  doing  business  in  Iowa  last  year  reported  premium  receipts  of  over  $7,763,000. 

Upon  what  principle  of  economy  is  this  vast  amount  of  money  paid,  under  proper 
regulations,  directly  to  those  who  are  injured  ?  From  the  standpoint  of  social  economy, 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  175 

employers  pay  nothing  or  too  little  in  many  cases  and  too  much  in  some  others.  Legal 
technicalities  defeat  worthy  claims,  and  juries,  when  they  get  an  opportunity,  allow 
excessive  amounts  in  special  cases.  The  amount  paid  ought  to  be  a  matter  of  equitable 
adjustment  with  little  or  no  expense  to  either  party.  The  first  step  toward  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  correct  system  of  life  insurance  and  pension  funds  should  be  to  abolish 
actions  against  railroad  companies  for  personal  injuries  to  employes. 

Let  a  fund  be  created  under  the  supervision  of  the  insurance  department  of  the 
State.  Require  the  management  of  each  railroad  company  to  pay  into  such  fund  a  fixed 
percentage  of  the  wages  paid  to  each  employe  in  its  service,  such  percentage  to  be  fixed 
from  time  to  time  by  the  railroad  commissioners.  The  assessments  should  be  paid 
directly  to  some  officer  of  the  State  or  to  a  board  created  under  legal  authority,  by 
the  companies  interested.  Let  that  fund  be  large  enough  to  pay  compensatory, 
monthly  pensions  to  every  employe  injured  in  the  service  of  a  railroad,  and  to  the 
dependent  relatives  of  those  killed.  Let  the  State  recover  for  the  benefit  of  the  pension 
fund,  penalties  for  gross  negligence  producing  injuries  or  death,  and  similar  penalties 
by  way  of  deduction  from  benefits,  against  employes  for  gross  carelessness,  contributing 
to  injuries.  These  penalties,  coupled  with  suitable  requirements  of  safety  appliances 
and  conditions,  to  be  enforced  with  the  sole  object  of  lessening  accidents  and  injuries 
in  the  operation  of  railroads.  Depositories  for  this  fund  could  be  established  by  the 
insurance  or  railroad  commissioners,  under  requirements  and  safeguards  guaranteeing 
its  absolute  safety  and  material  increase  from  the  income  of  the  surplus  that  should  be 
carried  over  from  year  to  year  to  meet  long  time  pensions  for  the  permanently  disabled 
or  heirs  of  deceased  members,  or  it  might  be  controlled  and  invested  by  the  State  as 
the  permanent  school  funds  are  now  managed.  The  amount  necessary  to  compensate 
the  results  of  accidents  should  be  paid  wholly  by  the  railroads  as  a  consideration  of 
their  release  from  all  other  liability  to  their  employes.  Liability  for  damage  to  others 
than  employes  should  remain  as  now  until  such  time  as  our  people  generally  are 
brought  within  the  protection  of  some  general  insurance  system.  For  sick  and  old  age 
insurance  the  employe  should  be  required  to  pay  a  fixed  percentage  of  wages  monthly 
into  a  special  or  the  general  insurance  fund.  This  would  be  for  the  special  protection 
of  those  making  payments  and  their  dependents,  with  equitable  provisions  for  changing 
from  one  employment  ta  another,  with  preserved  rights  and  the  withdrawal  of  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  amount  paid,  on  gaining  a  competence,  or,  for  other  allowed  causes, 
leaving  the  protected  class. 

Commencing  with  the  railroads,  let  the  State  do  for  the  wage-workers  what  it  has 
done,  what  the  general  government  has  done,  for  shippers,  for  property,  in  the  regula- 
tion and  supervision  of  State  and  inter-State  traffic — pay  attention  to  the  death  of  an 
engineer,  or  fireman,  or  brakeman,  equal  to  that  paid  to  a  discrimination  of  a  few 
dollars  in  a  freight  bill. 

Commence  with  the  railroads — the  State  has  already  asserted  its  right  to  dictate  to 
them  and  to  supervise  their  operation.  It  has  the  machinery  necessary  to  carry  the 
system  into  effect  already  provided  and  in  operation.  The  railroad  commissioners  could 
look  after  the  details  of  fixing  the  amount  of  assessments  to  be  paid  by  each  company, 
and  the  amount  of  damage  or  pensions  to  be  paid  injured  employes.  The  insurance 
department  could  look  after  the  funds,  see  to  their  care  and  absolute  safety,  and  the 
'investment  of  the  surplus.  Any  system  would  be  more  or  less  experimental,  but  all 
matters  could  be  adjusted  by  experience  from  time  to  time.  The  supervision  and  assis- 
tance of  the  State  would  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  expense  of  transacting  the  large 
business  of  the  system. 

The  association  would  extend  itself.  The  supervising  authority  could  fix  the  terms, 
based  upon  the  experience  of  each  industry,  upon  which  the  employes  in  any  trade  or 
industry  could  be  brought  within  its  protection.  It  would  only  be  necessary  to  change 
the  employers'  liability  laws,  making  each  responsible  for  injuries  to  persons,  without 
regard  to  the  laws  as  to  fellow-servants,  or  to  other  causes  not  connected  with  the  volun- 
tary acts  of  the  employe,  to  make  it  to  the  interest  of  every  employer  of  labor  to  seek 
admission  to  the  general  insurance  system.  It  would  be  cheaper  than  paying  a  prem- 
ium to  liability  insurance  companies,  which  collect  premiums  100  per  cent  larger 
than  all  the  losses  they  pay;  cheaper  for  all,  by  reason  of  the  large  general  average 
as  applied  to  all  accidents,  than  paying  their  own  probable  liability  even  under  the 
present  law.  Those  engaged  in  dangerous  employment  would  join  the  association  to 
lessen  their  liability  in  less  dangerous  employments,  because  the  percentage  of  pay- 
ments would  be  small.  The  greater  benefits  to  their  employes,  their  greater  satis- 
faction and  contentment,  would  make  it  the  part  of  wisdom  and  self-interest  to  join 
the  association. 


176  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Such  a  system  would  equalize  the  cost  of  production.  Each  employer  in  the  same 
industry  would  pay  the  same  percentage  according  to  amount  of  production  for  liabil- 
ity for  injuries  to  persons.  The  liberal  employer  and  the  industrial  Shylock  would, 
both  stand  on  the  same  footing  as  to  cost  of  labor.  Nor  would  such  a  system  destroy 
the  usefulness  of  beneficial  trades  unions.  They  will  still  have  their  proper  work  to  do. 
The  State  which  will  first  take  up  this  matter  of  securing  under  wise  provisions  insur- 
ance against  accidents  and  sickness  the  wage- workers  within  its  limits,  will  be  doing  a 
greater  work,  building  a  more  worthy  monument  than  has  been  erected  to  philanthropic 
Christian  government  since  the  great  Lincoln  emancipated  a  race  and  removed  the  last 
shackle  of  legal  slavery  from  the  limbs  of  human  labor. 

Rev.  Joseph  L.  Andreis,  pastor  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Baltimore,  Md.> 
read  an  essay  on  "  Italian  Immigration  and  Colonization,"  in  which  he  urged 
his  ideas  as  follows: 

The  problems  specified  in  the  programme  as  coming  before  this  Congress  for  con- 
sideration and  solution  are  most  important,  but  not  essentially  local,  for  they  are  the 
subject  of  actual,  deep  study  for  economists  and  churchmen  in  Europe  as  well  as  here. 
The  one  which  towerb  above  all  others  in  importance — being  new  to  past  history,  affect- 
ing this  country  only,  and  calling  for  prompt  and  unequivocal  solution — is  that  of  immi- 
gration. With  the  large  number  of  new  immigrants  pouring  almost  weekly  into  these 
United  States,  there  is  an  immense  wave  of  stormy  elements  coming  along  with  hem,  com- 
posed of  heterogeneous  tongues,  manners,  habits,  national  prejudices,  errors  of  mind, 
malice  of  heart,  indifference  to  religion,  and  infidelity.  A  large  number  of  these  immigrants 
are  Catholics.  Hence  the  church  in  America  must  meet  them  as  they  are,  take  care  of 
them,  and  labor  to  make  them  what  they  should  be.  Among  them  are  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Italians.  The  writer  of  this  essay  on  "  Italian  Immigration  and  Coloniza- 
tion" has  considered  it  from  its  social,  moral,  and  religious  standpoints,  and  taken  the 
liberty  of  suggesting  the  means  of  effecting  the  amelioration  of  Italian  immigrants, 
socially,  morally,  and  religiously. 

As  effects  are  accounted  for  by  their  relative  causes,  so  the  Italian  immigration  to 
the  United  States  is  explained  by  the  causes  of  emigration.  What  can  they  be?  A 
craving  to  see  and  enjoy  this  immense  Western  hemisphere,  discovered  by  the  Italian 
Christopher  Columbus,  and  named  after  another  Italian,  Americus  Vespucci?  No;  for 
the  Italians  are  accustomed  to  national — nay,  world-wide  glories.  Italy,  itself,  is  too 
charming  a  country  to  be  exchanged  for  any  other,  even  this  America  of  liberty  and 
plenty — Italy,  the  garden  of  Europe.  The  Italians  know  this,  and  are  loth  to  leave  it. 
But  why  have  they  emigrated,  and  stiJl  do  emigrate,  in  such  great  numbers?  Is  not 
Italy's  soil  fertile  and  rich  in  all  sorts  of  produce?  So  it  is,  but  with  all  that,  the  large 
masses  of  Italians  suffer  from  great  distress  and  poverty. "  What  is  the  cause  of  it? 
"  Inimicus  homo  hoc  fecit  ' — "  An  enemy  has  done  this." 

In  their  great  sagacity,  the  sovereign  pontiffs,  Gregory  XVI.  and  Pious  IX.  sounded 
the  alarm  of  warning  to  the  Italians,  and  did  all  in  their  power  to  thwart  his  coming. 
Time  has  fully  justified  the  warnings  of  the  aforesaid  pontiffs,  and  particularly  proved 
that  the  enemy  was,  and  is,  the  cosmopolitan  sect  of  Freemasonry;  for,  spurning  the 
liberal  concessions  made  to  his  people  by  Pious  IX.  it  aimed  at  undermining  the  prin- 
ciple of  authority,  un-Christianizing  the  masses,  and  reducing  them  to  poverty  by  its 
own  aggrandizement  and  enrichment.  In  fact,  no  sooner  did  it  begin  to  wield  power 
than  the  enemy,  with  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  suppressed  the  religious  orders,  devoured 
their  estates,  together  with  the  patrimonies  of  the  poor;  and  when  all  that  great  wealth 
was  gone,  began  to  feed  himself  upon  the  people  through  the  levying  of  enormous 
taxes.  These  are  so  exorbitant  that  the  small-scale  farmers  are  unable  to  pay  them, 
and,  in  consequence,  are  by  the  ruthless  law  expropriated  of  their  lands  by  the  inexo- 
rable tax-gatherer.  Meantime,  the  cost  of  house-rent  and  the  necessaries  of  life  have 
increased  and  the  wages  of  mechanics  decreased. 

Not  content  with  having  robbed  the  people  of  means  of  subsistence,  the  enemy  for- 
cibly takes  all  the  able-bodied  young  men  and  enrolls  them  in  his  immense  army. 
Crushed  by  forced  poverty,  and  dismayed  by  the  threatening  danger  of  losing  their 
lives  or  limbs  in  a  more  or  less  proximate  European  war.  they  turn  their  eyes  westward 
and,  with  heavy  hearts,  resolve  to  come  to  our  shores  in  quest  of  what  they  have  a  right 
to  in  their  mother  country,  but  which  is  denied  them. 

To  urge  the  timid  to  consummate  their  resolve  to  emigrate,  Italian  sharpers,  both 
here  and  in  Italy,  are  engaged  in  the  profligate  business  of  making  false  representations 
to  them  of  the  abundance  of  work  to  be  found  in  this  country,  the  easy  way  of  securing 
employment  and  earning  high  wages.  These  sharpers,  or  padroni,  commence  with 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES, 


177 


robbing  them  of  their  little  savings,  through  the  ostensible  formality  of  a  contract  by 
which  they  promise  to  take  them  to  the  place  of  work  and  secure  employment  for  them. 
Through  the  medium  of  bankers  located  in  the  principal  seaport  cities  of  this  country, 
the  padroni  or  -their  agents  advance  the  money  to  those  laborers  who  have  none  to  pay 
their  passage,  with  the  proviso  of  being  reimbursed  and  receiving  a  heavy  percentage 
from  their  earnings  after  having  arrived  and  been  put  to  work. 

The  results  of  these  infamous  transactions  has  been  that  thousands  of  poor  Italians 
have  been  cajoled  to  emigrate  hither  to  work  for  months  and  months  without  any  com- 
pensation, except  scanty  meals  and  bad  lodging.  Finding  thousands  duped  and 
oppressed,  and  unable  to  obtain  redress,  many  have  lost  their  health  and  died  broken- 
hearted; while  a  large  number  of  others,  penniless,  ragged,  and  fasting,  have  tramped 
hundreds  of  miles  on  foot  to  reach  the  steamer  and  work  their  way  back  to  their  native 
country.  Great  as  the  evil  of  the  slave  traffic  in  Africa  is,  the  injustice  and  cruelty 
inflicted  upon  the  Italian  immigrants  in  this  country  at  the  hands  of  padroni  and 
bankers  associated  with  them  is  by  far  a  greater  evil,  which  this  Congress  should 
endeavor  to  remove.  To  this  end  two  means  are  hereby  respectfully  suggested:  One  is 
to  forcibly  represent  the  aforesaid  great  grievance  to  our  national  government  and  urge 
it  to  take  proper  action  in  regard  to  it;  the  other  is  to  appeal  to  either  our  Most  Holy 
Father,  or  to  the  Central  Catholic  Union  in  Rome  for  the  adoption  of  such  methods 
as  will,  without  failure,  convey  the  much-needed  warnings  to  all  Italians  who  contem- 
plate emigration. 

The  census  bulletins  published  by  the  United  States  Government  through  the 
Department  of  the  Interior,  Washington,  give  the  following  table  of  Italian  immigration 
to  this  country: 

Increase  from  1850  to  1860 6,783 

Increase  from  1860  to  1870 6,639 

Increase  from  1870  to  1880 27.073 

Increase  from  1880  to  1890 138,350 


Total 178,845 

In  1890 62,969 

In  1891 69,297 

In  1892 30,086 

April  30,  1893 26,422 


Total 188,774 

Italian  immigrants  love  to  work,  and,  as  a  rule,  are  law-abiding.  This  is  proved  by 
the  statistics  of  prisoners  and  paupers  published  February  9, 1893,  by  the  Census  Bureau 
at  Washington.  The  official  report  shows  that  out  of  the  total  number  of  55,296  foreign- 
born  paupers  in  the  alms-houses  of  the  United  States,  290  only  are  Italians,  and  out  of 
the  total  number  of  31,861  foreign-born  prisoners  tout  1,124  are  Italians.  A  large  per- 
centage of  the  latter  owe  their  penalty  to  having  taken  the  law  into  their  own  hands 
by  punishing  unprovoked  insults,  or  resisting  inhuman  treatment  from  their  employ- 
ers, or  trying  to  obtain  by  violence  the  hard-earned  wages  they  were  denied. 

A  serious  charge  is  often  made  against  a  portion  of  Italians  in  our  large  cities.  It 
is  that  they  live  huddled  up  in  slums  and  tenement-houses.  The  charge  is  substan- 
tially correct,  but  its  worst  features  can  be  amended.  The  complained -of  places  are 
only  for  transient  immigrants,  until  employment  can  be  found.  The  causes  of  their 
selecting  objectionable  quarters  are:  First,  because  they  can  be  rented  cheaply;  second, 
because  they  find  in  them  people  akin  to  their  own  tongue,  manners,  and  habits.  In 
order  to  do  away  with  the  best  part  of  the  nuisance  arisi  g  from  the  aforesaid  slums 
and  tenement-houses,  two  things  are  necessary:  One,  to  have  a  large  number  of  small 
houses  at  low  rent,  and  the  other  to  prevail  on  the  civil  authorities  to  refuse  the  license 
to  open  a  saloon  in  them — nay,  even  in  proximity  to  them. 

Though  Italians  are  generally  temperate,  still  the  saloon  at  their  door  is  an  open 
avenue  to  immoralities  of  various  sorts,  especially  where  the  access  to  the  home  is  by 
the  saloon  entrance. 

To  form  the  right  estimate  of  the  morality  of  the  Italian  colony  it  is  necessary  to  be 
well  acquainted  with  the  moral  atmosphere  existing  in  Italy.  In  her  is  found  a  dual- 
ism, namely,  two  factors  :  one  for  good,  the  other  for  evil.  The  former  consists  in  the 
fact  that  nearly  every  inch  of  Italian  soil  is  saturated  with  martyrs'  blood,  or  made  fa- 
mous by  the  lives  of  great  saints ;  that  from  the  beginning  of  Christianity  Italy  has 
been  blessed  in  having  in  her  very  heart  the  chair  of  St.  Peter — the  beacon  of  divine 
light  tc  •tv><*  whole  world — the  center  of  unity  for  all  churches.  By  being  born  and 


178  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

reared  in  Italy  the  Italians  must  naturally  be  Christians,  and  therefore  good.  They 
would  undoubtedly  be  so  were  it  not  for  the  other  factor,  namely,  the  rampant  Free- 
masonry, which  for  the  past  forty-five  years  has  been  hard  at  work  to  un-Christianize 
the  nation.  When  we  take  into  account  all  the  agencies  used  to  poison  the  minds  and 
corrupt  the  hearts  of  the  people,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  a  large  portion  of  Italian 
immigrants  show  indifference  in  the  practice  of  religion.  They  are  Catholic  at  heart; 
but,  to  avoid  ridicule,  they  have  habitually  desisted  from  the  exterior  profession  of  their 
faith. 

Realizing  that  in  this  country  they  are  laboring  under  various  disadvantages,  such 
as  the  total  absence  of  their  native  customs  on  the  one  hand  and  the  existence  of  new 
ones  on  the  other,  the  use  of  a  language  they  do  not  know  and  apprehend  to  be  too 
difficult  to  learn,  the  finding  of  Protestant  churches,  the  sight  of  many  people  profess- 
ing no  faith,  the  poor  Italian  immigrants  feel  out  of  their  sphere — a  fact  which  shows 
that  this  North  America  is  the  least  suitable  land  for  them. 

The  old  aphorism,  "  Like  parent,  like  child,"  applied  to  the  children  of  Italian 
immigrants,  is  only  partially  correct,  whether  they  be  considered  under  the  social  or 
moral  standpoint.  Considered  socially,  they  soon  learn  the  English  language — breathe 
the  American  spirit — and  acquire  American  manners.  In  consequence,  they  yearn  to 
raise  themselves  above  their  parents'  standing,  and  a  good  many  even  Americanize 
their  surnames  so  as  to  pass  for  genuine  Americans,  with  the  view  to  paving  their  way 
to  success.  It  is  clear  from  this  that  their  minds  and  hearts  are  centered  in  this  coun- 
try, and  that  they  never  dream  of  leaving  it  for  Italy.  But,  alas!  Not  much  good  can 
be  said  of  all  of  them  as  to  their  moral  condition. 

Nearly  one-half  of  all  the  children  are  allowed  to  grow  up  ignorant  of  religion,  or 
do  not  profess  it  at  all.  The  consequence  of  this  is  that  a  good  many  turn  Protestants, 
or  marry  before  Protestant  preachers,  and  rear  their  offspring  either  in  none  or  other 
religion  than  Catholic.  We  have  then  in  this  country  about  half  a  million  of  Italians, 
some  of  whom  are  ignorant  of  the  Christian  doctrine;  most  of  them  do  not  live  up  to 
it,  and  nearly  one-half  of  their  children  are  permitted,  by  either  ignorant  or  neglectful 
parents,  to  grow  up  to  manhood  and  womanhood  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  truths  and 
precepts  of  that  divine  faith  which  was  and  is  infused  into  their  souls  through  the 
sacrament  of  baptism. 

Meanwhile  the  various  agencies  of  the  powers  of  darkness  are  active  in  preventing 
their  intellect  from  seeing  the  true  light  and  their  will  from  complying  with  the  divine 
law.  Such  being  their  abnormal  and  frightful  condition,  the  question  suggests  itself: 
What  is  to  be  done  ?  They  are  all  Catholic,  and,  while  in  these  United  States,  form  a 
portion  of  the  sheepfold  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  be  guarded  against  the  wolves  by  the 
divinely-appointed  shepherds,  fed  upon  the  pastures  of  Christian  instruction  and  wor- 
ship, and  watered  with  the  sacraments.  They  are  Catholic,  and  hence  members  of  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ,  the  church. 

Therefore,  the  American  Catholic  laity  must  regard  them  as  such;  the  American 
priesthood  must  love  and  care  for  them  as  such;  the  American  Episcopate  must  see  to 
their  spiritual  welfare  just  as  much,  nay,  even  more  than  all  the  other  members  of  the 
Catholic  church  living  in  this  country.  Since,  then,  the  fact  is  that  these  Italian 
Catholics,  both  adult  and  young,  are  here,  the  question  is :  How  is  religion  to  be 
brought  to  them  ?  The  episcopate  in  these  United  States  is  fully  equal  to  devising  the 
means  to  attain  that  object. 

If  religion  is  to  reach  the  people,  it  must  be  through  the  medium  of  the  language 
spoken  by  them.  Now,  the  majority  of  adult  Italian  immigrants  speak  Italian  only; 
that  language  must  be  the  medium,  therefore,  whereby  religion  is  to  be  conveyed  to 
them.  Who  are  the  laborers  to  be  ?  They  ought  to  be  priests  affiliated  to  the  same 
religious  order,  such  as  the  Salesians,  whose  founder  was  the  late  saintly  Don  Bosco,  of 
universally  cheriblied  memory.  By  having  the  Salesians  in  the  principal  cities  of  this 
country  we  would  secure  most  zealous  missionaries  for  the  Italians,  a  college  with 
efficient  proffessors  to  impart  all  the  desired  branches,  excellent  educators  of  young 
men  and  great  factors  for  developing  ecclesiastical  vocations. 

But  the  objection  may  be  here  advanced:  How  are  these  religious  to  teach 
Christian  doctrine  if  this  is  to  be  taught  in  the  English  language,  which  is  spoken 
by  the  children  of  Italian  immigrants?  The  answer  is  this:  For  a  while  lay  teachers 
would  have  to  give  religious  instruction.  The  English-speaking  laity  should  be  called 
upon  and  made  use  of  in  this  great  work  of  Christian  charity,  not  only  as  teachers  of 
catechism,  but  also  as  animators  of  Christian  piety  with  the  grown  people. 

Among  the  laity  of  every  parish  there  are  sufficient  intelligent  and  practical 
Catholics.  Their  power  for  good  should  no  longer  be  allowed  to  remain  inoperative. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  179 

All  admit  that  "  exampla  trahunt,"  but  we  must  also  admit  that  a  good  word  said  well, 
and  in  season,  is  often  what  makes  surrender  to  the  already  felt  force  of  good  example. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  insist  upon,  the  efficiency  of  properly  organized  conferences  of 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul  for  the  above  mentioned  object,  as  through  them  we  would  see 
the  realizaton  of  the  "  fortier "  and  "  sauveur "  of  the  servants  who,  complying  with 
their  Master's  bidding,  went  out  into  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city  and  brought 
into  the  supper-room  the  poor  and  the  feeble,  and  the  blind  and  the  lame.  Even  if 
children  of  Italian  immigrants  went  to  no  school,  or  all  went  to  public  schools,  they 
can  all  be  reached  through  the  exertion  of  the  priest,  especially  if  ordered  by  the  good 
Catholic  laity,  and,  above  all,  by  the  members  of  the  Conference  of  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul. 

The  Italians  have  always  been  taught  to  look  up  to  priests  as  the  divinely  com- 
missioned teachers  of  religion,  and  believe  that  Christ's  injunction,  ''Go  and  teach  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you,"  was  not  made  to  the  people  for  the  priests, 
but  to  the  priests  for  the  people.  But  what  is  the  situation  of  the  Italians  now  in  this 
country?  Their  teachers  of  religion  are  not  to  be  found,  for  more  than  half  of  them 
are  "like  sheep  that  have  no  shepherd."  Are  they  to  remain  so?  The  Lord  forbids  it. 
Can  we,  while  the  principles  of  perversion  are  daily  doing  their  deadly  work,  be 
justified  in  delaying  the  provision  of  the  priests  that  are  laborers  in  the  sense  of  the 

§ospel?  Application  for  them  should  be  made  at  once,  for  there  is  great  danger  in 
elaying  it.  This  is  all  the  more  true  because  the  number  of  Italian  immigrants  is 
increasing  every  week  by  hundreds. 

The  day  when,  with  oneness  of  spirit  and  direction  (as  the  Salesians),  the  priests 
will  be  brought  here  in  sufficient  numbers  to  take  charge  of  the  Italians  scattered 
about  our  cities  and  country-places,  with  the  American  laity  to  lend  them  assistance, 
both  adults  and  their  children  will  receive  the  necessary  dispensation  of  religion.  By 
the  attaining  of  this  longed-for  result  those  whom  God  has  placed  to  rule  His  church 
in  this  country,  and  the  Catholic  laymen  aiding  them,  will  have  successfully  solved  the 
difficult  problem  of  the  religious  amelioration  of  the  Italian  immigrants,  and  will  have 
thereby  rendered  a  signal  service  to  our  great  commonwealth,  by  helping  it  to  solve  its 
vexed  problem  of  immigration  in  general,  socially,  morally  and  economically.  In  pur- 
suance of  the  constitution  of  our  Republic,  the  civil  powers  welcome  all  the  well-mean- 
ing comers  to  our  shores,  favor  their  temporal  prosperity  and  protect  their  lives,  rights 
and  property.  The  Church  of  Christ  cannot  be  less  generous  in  the  spiritual  order. 
She  must  follow  her  Divine  Founder,  who  came  upon  earth  to  "  seek  and  save  that  which 
was  lost;"  therefore,  she  must  in  this  country  welcome  all  Catholic  immigrants,  provide 
for  their  spiritual  wants  and  care  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 

In  giving  expression  to  the  foregoing  statements  and  considerations,  the  writer  of 
this  essay  feels  that  he  is  only  voicing  the  sentiments  of  this  vast  assembly,  and  that  all 
the  members  composing  it  will  be  of  one  mind  and  heart  in  reckoning  among  the  laurels 
achieved  through  their  combined  efforts,  that  of  securing  the  religious  amelioration  of 
the  Italians  who  are  enjoying  with  us  the  fruitful  land  discovered  by  their  co-national 
Christopher  Columbus,  for  the  true  freedom  and  prosperity  of  man,  and  for  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  glory  of  God! 

This  Congress  with  its  deliberations  will  pass  to  history;  posterity  will  know  of  its 
worth,  as  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit,  and  pronounce  its  judgment,.  This  judgment 
will  be  Catholic! 

"Pauperism;  The  Cause  and  the  Remedy,"  was  the  subject  of  the  paper 
prepared  and  read  by  M.  J.  Elder,  of  New  Orleans,  La.  Folllowing  are  the 
contents  of  the  paper: 

Without  having  read  any  of  the  other  papers  on  this  subject;  without  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  contents  of  a  single  one  of  them,  I  nevertheless  feel  morally  certain  of  six 
salient  points  wherein  we  all  agree. 

We  agree  in  naming,  as  five  leading  causes  of  pauperism:  First,  intemperance; 
second,  idleness;  third,  sickness;  fourth,  general  incompetence;  and  fifth,  lack  of  work. 
A  sixth  point  on  which,  without  previous  arrangement,  we  all  perfectly  agree,  is  that 
this  evil  of  pauperism  is  too  vast,  too  limitless,  to  be  tinkered  with;  that  dole  of  alms 
will  never  remedy  it,  and  that  all  existing  measures  have  proved  inadequate. 

But  outside  these  six  points,  I  fear  we  differ  radically,  for,  after  referring  to  those 
five  causes  of  pauperism,  I  must  go  on  to  explain  that  I  regard  them,  potent  though 
they  be,  as  mere  effects  of  another  cause — a  great,  remote,  and  terrible  cause,  whose 
ceaseless  operating  will  continue  to  produce  inevitable  pauperism,  despite  our  most 
etrenuous  efforts  against  the  five  immediate  causes  which  we  so  plainly  see.  There- 


igo  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

fore,  right  here  we  separate,  and  going  our  widely  divergent  ways,  I  am  left  alone  to 
travel  unaccompanied  this  woeful  line  of  the  remote  and  real,  and  primal  cause  of  pau- 
perism. 

But  I  am  not  without  great  support  from  current  literature,  from  the  secular  press, 
and  from  the  Protestant  periodicals.  Quoting  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  references  I 
have  at  hand,  I  give  the  following:  The  Illustrated  American  of  July  loth,  this  year, 
says —  > 

"  Our  census  of  1890  shows  a  decrease  in  455  agricultural  counties  in  Now  England, 
New  York,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Tennessee,  Michigan,  and  other  States. 
The  tendency  to  abandon  the  tields  and  to  flock  to  the  city  is  marked"  and  significant. 
It  is  foolish  to  believe  the  exodus  due  to  the  opening  up  of  Western  lands.  The  real 
cause  is  that  the  sturdy  farmer  lad,  educated  in  the  public  schools,  leaves  the  hard, 
physical  labors  of  the  soil  to  seek  lighter  work  and  greater  prosperity  in  the  cities. 
There  is  danger  in  this." 

Joseph  Kirkland,  writing  of  the  Chicago  poor,  says:  "The  overwhelming  tendency  of 
modern  life  is  toward  cities.  Everything  done  to  alleviate  the  condition  of  the  poor  in 
great  cities  works  in  the  direction  of  bringing  more  into  them;  and  no  argument  or  per- 
suasion prevails  to  get  them  out  again.  : :  *  *  They  would  rather  starve  in  a  crowd 
than  grow  fat  in  quietude,  especially  if  the  ' crowd '  is  sprinkled  with  aromatic  'char- 
ity.' " — [From  Scribner's  Magazine,  July,  1892. 

General  Booth,  in  his  "  Darkest  England,"  says:  "  The  deterioration  of  population 
in  large  towns  is  one  of  the  most  undisputed  facts  of  social  economics.  The  country  is 
the  breeding  ground  of  healthy  citizens.  But  for  the  constant  influx  of  countrydom, 
cockneydom  would  long  ere  this  have  perished.  But,  unfortunately,  the  country  is 
being  depopulated.  The  towns  are  being  gorged  with  undigested  and  indigestible 
masses  of  labor.  The  race  from  the  country  to  the  city  has  been  the  cause  of  much  of 
the  distress  we  have  to  battle  with." 

The  Earl  of  Roseberry  says:  "I  am  always  haunted  by  the  awfulness  of  London; 
by  the  great  appalling  effect  of  these  millions.  Sixty  years  ago  Cobbett  called  it  a  wen. 
If  it  was  a  wen  then,  what  is  it  now?  A  tumor,  an  elephantiasis,  sucking  into  its 
gorged  system  half  the  life  and  the  blood  and  the  bone  of  the  rural  districts." 

Paolo  Mantegazsa,  in  his  Testa,  says:  "Did  not  the  country  send  to  our  cities  a 
continuous  tribute  of  robust  members,  they  would  be  depopulated  in  less  than  a  cent- 
ury. How  few  are  able  to  say:  'My  grandfather  was  born  in  this,  my  city.'  Xo  one- 
is  able  to  say  it  of  his  own  great-grandfather.  The  cities  are  machines  that  destroy 
and  consume  what  the  fields  produce;  are  hot-houses  where  men  and  women  produce- 
precious  flowers  and  fruit,  but  at  loss  of  life;  are  great  millstones  where  all  the  human 
energies  raise  themselves  to  the  heat  of  a  continuous  excitement." 

Thus  the  consensus  of  opinion,  gathered  from  most  competent  sources,  gives  this  as 
the  greatest  cause  of  pauperism. 

My  own  opinion,  however,  though  similar,  is  modified.  1  believe  the  great  cause  of 
pauperism  to  be  indeed  the  urban  tendency,  but  only  when  coupled  with  all  lack  of 
rural  tendency.  For  I  claim  that  the  urban  tendency  is  not  necessarily  evil,  but  that 
the  lack  of  a  rural  tendency  is  necessarily  and  wholly  evil. 

The  country  is  a  nation's  lungs.  The  city  is  its  heart.  It  is  well  that  the  fresh 
blood  flow  from  the  lungs  to  the  heart.  But  it  is  ill,  indeed,  for  the  heart  to  return  no 
blood  to  the  lungs.  This  is  the  trouble  from  which  our  nation  is  suffering. 

The  blood  from  our  country  lungs  flows  into  the  heart  of  the  city  fast  enough — 
too  fast,  perhaps;  but  there  it  stays,  and  congests,  and  stagnates,  and  we  suffer  from 
elephantiasis,  from  fatty  degeneration  of  the  heart,  and  from  a  thousand  other  ills,  and 
no  amount  of  doctoring  will  cure  us,  unless  it  promote  the  free  flow  of  blood  again,  and 
its  due  return  to  our  country  lungs.  My  explanation  of  this  deplorable  condition  is  as 
follows: 

The  chief  reason  that  rural  populations  are  pouring  too  rapidly  into  towns  is 
because  rural  interests  the  world  over  are  (and  have  been  for  generations)  neglected. 
Indifference  and  even  injustice  are  shown  to  the  farm  and  the  farmer  by  education,  by 
government,  by  legislation,  by  the  press,  and  even  by  religion,  aye,  by  charity  itself. 
This  explanation  will  develop  later  on. 

The  second  phase  of  the  trouble — the  lack  of  rural  tendency — is  also  because  of  the- 
injustice  and  contempt  shown  the  farmer  and,  further,  because  individuality  is  a 
necessary  element  for  success  in  rural  life,  and  individuality  is  exactly  that  element 
which  urban  life  destroys.  It  is  in  the  very  nature  of  things  that  it  depresses  energy 
and  individuality. 

See  how  small  and  stunted  are  the  trees  that  have  been  planted  too  close  together. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  COXGRESSES.  i8r 

Then  look  at  the  vigorous  growth,  the  spreading  branches,  the  noble  height  of  the 
tree  that  stands  alone  on  a  plain.  The  typical  urban  has  a  horror  of  rural  life,  a  dread 
disgust  of  it.  He  will  tell  you  this  is  because"  country  life  is  too  lonesome,  too  uninter- 
esting, too  slow;  country  work  doesn't  pay,"  etc. 

But  the  real  reason — all  unsuspected  though  it  be  by  him — lies  in  his  own  instinct. 
His  instinct  tells  him  he  is  too  weak  to  cope  with  the  invigorating  vicissitudes  of  rural 
life;  tells  him  he  is  too  small  mentally  and  physically  to  battle  with  the  large 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  rural  success.  Gregariousness  has  stunted  him.  His  posterity 
will  be  more  and  more  stunted,  until  they  reach  the  dwarfed  and  helpless  level  of 
pauperism. 

Now  for  the  remedy.  (Rather  singular  to  speak  of  "  hopelessness  "  in  one  breath 
and  of  "remedy  "in  the  next;  but  explanation  will  come  in  due  time.)  The  causes 
themselves  suggest  the  remedy.  True,  we  can  do  little  toward  getting  justice  for  the 
farmer  from  government  or  legislation,  from  public  education  or  the  press.  But  we 
can  do  a  great  deal  toward  getting  justice  and  attention  from  the  Catholic  press  and  the 
Catholic  pulpit,  from  Catholic  education,  and,  strongest  of  all,  Catholic  charity. 

At  the  outset  we  must  acknowledge  specifically  that  the  efforts  of  all  these  have 
availed  but  little;  nay,  that  in  many,  many  cases,  they  but  promote  the  very  evils 
they  aim  to  abolish.  Let  us  establish  soup  houses  without  number,  night 
refuges  plentiful;  self-improvement  clubs  for  young  working  women;  mutual 
benefit  societies  for  young  men;  insurance  companies  on  solid  basis;  Keeley 
institutes;  asylums  numerous,  vast,  splendidly  equipped;  hospitals  handsomely 
endowed;  schools  on  modern  plans,  even  industrial  and  polytechnic  schools;  free 
kindergartens;  day  creches  for  poor  mothers;  gratuitous  loan  funds;  fresh  air  funds; 
labor  unions,  and  no  end  of  homes  (!),  protectorates,  reformatories,etc.  Let  us  keep 
these  numberless  charities  in  full  swing,  and  still  will  pauperism  and  distress  go  on 
almost  unabated.  Why?  Because  we  do  not  lay  the  ax  to  the  root.  Nay,  we  actually 
fertilize  that  root.  Our  charities  encourage  the  undesirable  traits  of  dependence  and 
and  gregariousness — traits  that  inevitably  lead  along  the  downward  grade  to  pauperism. 

And  so  we  must  change  our  methods.  *  *  *  *  It  seems  almost  superfluous  to 
instance  the  object  lessons  of  the  World's  Fair.  They  are  so  plain,  so  clear.  Can  any- 
one who  runs  fail  to  read  the  object  lessons  of  the  the  Irish  village?  There  is  th& 
sort  of  charity  we  should  emulate.  Those  philanthropists  did  not  lose  their  time  and 
money  trying  to  remedy  city  pauperism.  They  sought  to  cure  country  poverty,  and 
they  succeeded.  There  is  the  vital  difference  between  the  poverty  of  the  city  and  that 
of  the  country.  City  poverty  is  constitutional;  country  poverty  but  accidental.  City 
poverty  is  chronic;  country  poverty  acute.  The  former  incurable,  the  latter  easily  pre- 
ventable. 

The  philanthropist  of  the  Irish  village  taught  butter-making  and  other  rural  in- 
dustries, with  such  success  that  the  formerly  poverty-stricken  neighborhood  is  now  be- 
come quite  prosperous.  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  one  urban  district  raised  from  pauperism 
to  prosperity  by  any  amount  of  charities. 

Another  object  lesson  is  in  the  Louisiana  exhibit.  Look  at  our  peasant  women  at 
their  weaving.  Look  at  evidences  of  their  Acadian  home-love  and  content  in  the  home- 
made looms,  home-made  chairs,  tables,  lamp-stands,  prie-dieus,  etc.  Throughout  all 
our  rural  settlements  of  Catholic  Acadians  in  Louisiana  there  is  no  chronic  pauperism. 
And  yet,  bear  it  well  in  mind,  these  people  have  not  enjoyed  the  advantages  (!)  of  free 
kindergartens,  nor  polytechnic  schools,  nor  free  libraries,  nor  free  clinics,  nor  free-lunch 
houses,  nor  free  anything.  Only  one  in  fifteen  knows  how  to  read  and  write.  And,, 
nevertheless,  Rev.  Father  W.  J.Kennely,  S.  J.,  rector,  who  resided  among  them  for  years, 
says  of  these  same  illiterate  "  Cajians:" 

"  The  Father's  work  in  Grand  Coteau  and  its  environs  has  not  been  in  vain.  It  is. 
what  I  would  call  a  model  parish.  I  can  say  the  same  of  the  other  parishes,  and  I 
may  add  of  the  whole  country.  The  faith  is  alive;  religion  is  respected  and  generally 
practiced;  the  priests  are  looked  up  to  and  obeyed.  The  people  may  be  thriftless,  but 
they  are  not  ungrateful,  they  are  not  given  to  drunkenness  and  other  crimes.  They 
support  their  priests  and  pay  their  taxes  when  they  can." 

Now,  how  many  city  pastors  can  speak  this  of  the  poor  of  their  parishes?  Think  of 
the  hoodlums  and  toughs,  the  sports  and  ward  politicians,  the  drunkards  and  loafers, 
who  abound  in  Catholic  urban  parishes  among  the  poorer  districts,  and  see  if  any  pas- 
tor can  say  of  them:  "The  faith  is  alive;  religion  generally  practiced;  priests  looked  up 
to  and  obeyed.  The  people  are  not  given  to  drunkenness,"  etc.  Our  rural  "  Cajians  " 
are  given  the  same  reputation,  but  with  more  enthusiasm,  by  Catherine  Cole,  a  Prot- 
estant; George  W.  Cable,  a  bitter  anti-Catholic,  and  by  many  other  writers  for  Protest- 


1 82  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

ant  literature.  They  are  described  as  frugal,  content,  virtuous,  sober,  famous  for  hos- 
pitality, gentleness,  neighborliness,  superb  health,  and  large  families.  They  are  a  stand- 
ing testimony  of  what  rural  life  can  do  for  our  Catholic  poor.  Similar  testimony  is 
given  by  travelers  regarding  Catholic  peasantry  everywhere,  Europe,  Ireland,  Canada, 
Central  America  and  South  America. 

Now,  let  our  philanthropists  study  this  idea  in  connection  with  the  five  immediate 
causes  of  pauperism. 

1.  Intemperance.    All  authorities  agree  in  declaring  that  drunkenness  does   not 
prevail  among  Catholic  rurals  to  anything  like  the  same  extent  as  among  urbans.    This 
is  especially  true  of  grape-raising  and  wine-making  countries.    Indeed,  were  I  asked  to 
name  that   practical  measure  most  efficacious  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  I  would 
vehemently  exclaim,  "  Vineyards  !  " 

And  yet,  of  all  the  total  abstinence  societies  and  other  temperance  workers,  whether 
Protestant  or  Catholic,  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  one  that  gives  any  attention  to  that  most 
practical  and  promising  of  remedies.  Here  in  Louisiana  alone  our  experimental  station 
has  demonstrated  that  120  varieties  of  grapes  can  be  successfully  raised.  And  yet  I  can 
pretty  safely  estimate  that  there  are  not  a  half-dozen  vineyards  managed  by  Catholics 
in  this  entire  State.  Here  is  a  method  whereby  hundreds  of  Catholic  young  men  and 
young  women,  hundreds  of  Catholic  families,  could  be  earning  an  honest  livelihood, 
doing  effective  service  in  the  temperance  cause,  benefitting  themselves  and  their 
posterity,  and  using  a  most  efficacious  means  of  preventing  pauperism.  Still  our  chari- 
table societies  do  not  lift  a  finger  in  this  direction. 

2.  Idleness.    This,  too,  is  a  vice  demonstrated  to  be  far  less  prevalent  among  the 
rural  poor  than  among  the  urban  poor.    Religion  having  a  firmer  hold  upon  Catholic 
peasantry  than  upon  our  city  poor,  idleness  and  kindred  vices  are  more  easily  combated 
among  the  former  than  among  the  latter.     Take  France  for  instance.     Authorities 
state  that  among  the  city  paupers,  an   appalling    proportion  is  utterly  vicious   and 
incorrigible;  whereas,  the  peasantry   retain  much  of  their  old  time  faith  and  virtue. 
Why  such  facts  are  not  acted  upon  by  our  charitable  organizations  is  a  mystery  I 
can  not  penetrate.     I  delight  to  recall  that  when  the  great  Ozanam  had  organized  the 
conference  of  St.  Vincentde  Paul,  the  very  first  charity  he  performed  under  its  auspices 
was  to  separate    from  a  drunken  father  the  mother  and   children,  and  send  them 
"  happy  as  larks,"  the  chronicle  says,  back  to  their  peasant  home  in  Brittany. 

Also  I  delight  to  instance  the  penal  settlement  of  Cayenne  in  French  Guiana.  "  So 
far  as  reformation  of  criminals  is  concerned,  the  benevolent  results  of  this  colonial 
experiment  are  said  to  have  surpassed  all  expectations.  *  *  *  A  great  majority  of 
the  female  prisoners  are  given  small  farms,  as  a  reward  for  good  conduct  during 
imprisonment.  They  marry  other  ex-convicts,  and  generally  prove  exemplary  wives  and 
mothers." 

3.  Ill-health.    It  is  needless  to  dwell  on  this.    Everybody  knows  that  the  "  farmer 
lad  "  and  "  the  country  girl  "  are  terms  for  sturdy  strength  and  blooming  health.    And 
every  philanthropist  knows  that  the  ill-health  of  the  city  poor  is  one  of  the  most  dis- 
heartening phases  of  poverty.     But  all  this  knowledge  seems  to  be  a  dead  letter.    We 
keep  on  providing  big  hospitals  and  infirmaries,  free  clinics  and  dispensaries,  homes  for 
Durables  and  incurables;  and  not  one  man  in  a  thousand  ever  gives  or  wills  a  dollar 
toward  the  country  cure;  nay,  not  the  country  cure,  but  better  far,  the  country  preven- 
tion.    No  wonder  pauperism  continues  to  be  the  running  sore  it  is. 

4.  General  incompetency.    To  me  this  sad  heritage  of  the  city  poor  seems  even 
worse  than  the  preceding  ones.    From  long  dwelling  in  devitalized  atmosphere,  from 
long  laboring  at  deadening  work,  from  long-continued  gregariousness,  the  urban  poor  so 
lose  their  grit  and  individuality  as  to  become  helplessly  machine-like  and  stupid.    This 
is  what  makes  me  qualify  pauperism  as  hopeless.    We  might  as  well  seek  to  raise  the 
dead  from  their  graves  as  to  raise  paupers  from  their  pauperism.    No,  we  cannot  cure 
pauperism  any  more  than  we  can  cure  death.     But  we  can,  and  most  positively  should, 
prevent  it.    Hear  what  Charles  J.  O'Malley  says  in  this  connection: 

"  Would  it  interest  you  to  learn,  I  wonder,  that  I  live  in  the  midst  of  a  wide,  open 
country  on  a  large  farm,  and  have  few  associates.  *  *  *  This  is  the  great  agricul- 
tural county  of  Kentucky,  is  fully  two  thirds  Catholic,  and  here  the  members  of  our 
faith  are  remarkable  for  their  enterprise,  sobriety,  and  industry.  We  are  the  largest 
landholders  and  every  way  superior  to  the  common,  inert  idlers  found  in  Southern 
cities." 

There  is  the  living  testimony  of  a  living  writer?  No  pauperism,  no  hopeless  incom- 
petency, but  instead  "  enterprise,  sobriety,  industry." 

5.  Lack  of  work.    This  to  me  is  the  astonishing  phase.     Looking   both   at  the 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  183 

boundless  possibilities  of  our  agricultural  regions,  and  at  the  extensive  and  sincere 
efforts  of  our  charitable  organizations,  I  am  amazed  that  the  latter  do  not  find  in  the 
former  a  solution  of  this  part  of  the  problem.  Objectors  will  say  this  is  all  very  fine  on 
paper,  but  it  wonrt  work  elsewhere.  True.  I  acknowledge  it.  There  is  Ruskin,  for 
instance.  How  complete  was  the  failure  of  his  rustic  paradise !  There  is  General  Booth. 
He  has  not  succeeded.  There  was  the  Brook  Farm  experiment,  and  many  others  similar 
to  it.  All  failures.  And  still  I  reiterate  any  arguments. 

Why  ?  Because  I  believe  and  know  that  that  which,  outside  the  Catholic  Church, 
is  impossible,  becomes,  within  her  pale,  the  possible. 

Whenever  a  great  need  cries  out  for  relief  it  is  the  Catholic  Church  which  answers, 
All  other  powers  have  proved  unequal  to  the  terrible  need  of  remedying,  or,  rather,  pre- 
venting, pauperism.  Now,  the  time  is  ripe  for  the  superhuman  power  of  the  Catholic 
Church  to  assert  itself  once  more.  And  if  no  lay  charity  be  organized  among  us  whose 
members  will  actually  and  literally  take  the  lead  in  this  rural  movement,  then  I  am 
persuaded  that  a  new  order  will  arise  in  the  church  whose  consecrated  sons  and  daugh- 
ters shall  be  pledged  to  spend  themselves  in  life-long  effort  toward  checking  this  urban 
tendency  and  promoting  a  rural  tendency.  In  my  ecstatic  rejoicing  over  the  mere  pros- 
pect of  such  an  era,  I  feel  like  saying :  "  When  will  be  the  beginning  of  the  millen- 
nium ?  " 

Those  heaven-guided  souls,  instead  of  concentrating  all  their  efforts  on  rural  inter- 
ests, will  devote  them  solely  to  rural  interests,  especially  in  education.  Whereas 
now,  alas,  is  there  one  educated  Catholic  young  man  in  a  thousand  who  can  run  a  farm, 
or  manage  a  plantation,  or  start  a  vineyard,  or  boss  a  ranch,  or  do  anything  that  is  virile, 
strong,  productive,  and  becoming  a  manful  Catholic  ?  Is  there  one  in  ten  thousand  who 
can  offer  country  work  and  country  wages  to  the  workless  and  wageless  thousands  of 
our  cities  ? 

Only  one  more  catechetical  venture  and  I  will  end.  What  are  we  doing  for  our 
country  poor  ?  Nothing.  What  are  we  doing  for  the  city  poor  ?  Everything.  What 
is  the  natural  and  inevitable  consequence  ?  The  answer  to  this  query  I  leave  to  those 
who  are  capable  of  putting  together  two  thoughts  and  of  arriving  thereby  at  a  third. 

Elizabeth  A.  Cronyn,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  read  the  following  paper  on 
"  Alumnae  Associations  in  Convent  Schools:'' 

Alumnas  associations  in  Catholic  schools  are  novelties.  The  first  one  was  organ- 
ized twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago  in  the  Grey  Nuns'  Academy  of  the  Holy  Angels, 
Buffalo.  Its  formation  was  suggested,  remotely,  by  a  wish  to  emulate  the  usefulness  of 
similar  societies  in  Catholic  colleges  for  men,  and  stimulated  by  local  needs  as  well  as 
by  the  example  of  achievement  in  graduates'  associations  attached  to  local  secular 
schools.  It  was,  however,  from  its  inception  more  comprehensive  in  scope  than  either 
of  these.  Shortly  after  a  like  association  was  formed  at  Nazareth  Convent,  Rochester, 
under  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  and  within  three  years  the  movement  has  extended,  it 
is  said,  to  many  of  the  older  academies. 

As  understood  by  those  who  have  followed  the  progress  of  one,  the  purpose  of  an 
alumnae  association  in  a  convent  school  is  both  educational  and  social.  As  an  educa- 
tional force  its  object  is,  first,  to  band  together  graduates  of  the  school  for  more 
advanced  study  and  for  general  self-improvement  along  the  lines  of  their  previous 
training.  Earlier  these  growing  minds  are  taught  to  realize  something  of  their  possi- 
bilities, habits  of  study  are  formed,  taste  is  cultivated,  and  character  developed;  but 
our  average  graduate,  who  is  very  young  when  she  leaves  the  security  of  convent  halls, 
can  scarcely  have  more  than  peered  into  that  book  of  knowledge  which  educators  say 
must  be  so  thoroughly  conned — a  book  at  times  so  diversely  interpreted  to  Catholic  and 
non-Catholic  readers.  Commentators  do  not  agree,  but  meanwhile  it  is  important  that 
the  law  and  the  prophets  of  what  is  called  secular  as  well  as  of  sacred  learning  be 
expounded  with  safety  to  those  who  are  seeking  it.  Daily  observation  shows  us  that 
young  women,  no  less  than  young  men,  need  to  be  fortified  against  the  assaults  of  a 
prevailing  and  most  pernicious  literature  and  of  so-called  science — science  "  run  wild, 
like  a  planet  broken  loose  from  its  celestial  system."  "  The  punishment  of  licentious 
writers,"  says  the  Abbe  Roux,  "  Is  that  no  one  will  read  them  or  confess  to  having  read 
them."  Alas!  that  is  no  longer  true. 

In  convent,  far  more  than  in  other  private  schools,  young  girls  of  widely  differing 
fortunes  find  themselves  classmates.  School  days  ended,  they  go  their  several  ways, 
but  whether  in  the  world  of  fashion  or  at  a  teacher's  desk,  in  domestic  or  professional 
life,  the  talk  of  and  Ibve,  more  or  less  sincere,  of  education,  of  culture,  seem  part  of  the 
very  atmosphere  they  breathe.  All  sorts  of  theories  and  every  species  of  "  fad  "  have 


184  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES . 

tl.eir  apostles.  Lecturers  in  hall  and  drawing-room — text-books  in  the  schools—if  not 
aggressively  hostile  to  the  church,  are  effectively  so  by  their  persistent  ignoring  of  what 
it  has  done  and  is  doing  in  all  departments  of  education.  Young  Catholics  must  study 
history  with,  and  receive  a  standard  of  beauty  and  truth  in  literature  from,  their  own 
qualified  teachers,  or  they  are  going  to  take  both  from  the  lips  and  pens  of  the  incapable 
and  misleading.  If  they  think  they  cannot  find  at  home  the  pleasure  and  profit  they 
are  seeking,  they  will  go  abroad  for  them.  A  realization  of  these  facts  originated  and 
developed  our  reading-circle  movement. 

The  alumnae  association  is  a  reading  circle — and  something  more.  At  its  weekly 
fortnightly,  or  monthly  meetings  a  plan  of  study  is  followed.  Original  papers  are  pre- 
pared or  readings  given  bearing  upon  the  subject  under  consideration.  Books  of  refer- 
ence are  indicated  on  a  printed  study  card,  and  are  almost  exclusively  by  Catholic 
authors,  for  the  reason  that  in  such  an  association  everything  is  to  be  studied  from  the 
Catholic  point  of  view.  The  other  side  is  sufficiently  in  evidence  always  and  every 
•where.  When  means  permit,  an  alumnae  association  provides  itself  with  a  code  of  post- 
graduate lectures,  or  detached  lectures  upon  various  subjects  determined  by  the  year's 
study  or  by  special  circumstances. 

When  the  convent  has  a  suitable  hall,  and  these  lectures  can  be  enjoyed  also  by  the 
community  and  advanced  classes,  another  phase  of  such  an  .association's  usefulness  is 
presented.  Regular  meetings  are  held  always  at  the  convent.  Officers  are  elected 
annually;  but  of  one  which  I  have  in  mind  the  president,  happily,  is  never  changed. 

Self-improvement,  as  it  may  be  striven  for  in  an  alumnae  association,  is  by  no  means 
limited  to  intellectual  culture.  There  is  something  for  the  heart  to  do,  and  it  is  natural 
to  suppose  that  a  society  whose  members  are  all  well  known  to  one  another  may  be  an 
excellent  medium  for  the  distribution  of  activities. 

For  example,  a  certain  one  furnished  the  nucleus  of  what  has  become  a  most 
flourishing  tabernacle  society.  It  has  also  committees  which  labor  for  the  diffusion  of 
good  literature,  and,  in  particular,  provide  wholesome  reading  for  penal  institutions 
within  reach.  Others  help  the  nuns  in  their  prison  and  hospital  work.  Others,  again, 
busy  themselves  in  behalf  of  the  mission  of  Mary  Immaculate  and  for  the  Indian 
Missions,  here.  These  works  do  not  cripple  or  supplant,  but  supplement  parish  sodalities 
and  charitable  societies.  Thus,  it  will  be  seen,  an  alumnae  association  affords  several 
channels  through  which  its  members'  energies  are  directed,  according  to  their  indi- 
vidual sympathies  and  capacity. 

Its  second  object  as  an  educational  force  is  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  school  of 
which  it  is  part.  This  can  be  done  in  many  ways.  It  is  not  common  to  find  our  con- 
vent schools  blessed  with  over-abundant  means.  As  in  most  Catholic  institutions, 
their  growth  to  that  much  of  prosperity  marked  outwardly  by  fine  buildings,  and  well- 
equipped  classrooms  has  been  slow  and  only  possible — under  Providence — to  the  utter 
self-abnegation  and  marvelous  executive  ability  of  those  who  manage  them. 

If  I  tell  you  how  one  body  of  alumnae  has  contrived  to  measurably  hasten  that 
growth  in  the  case  of  its  own  alma  matter,  it  may  suggest  to  others  greater  possibilities 
in  similar  directions,  when  community  rules  permit,  and  the  good  nuns  think  it  expe- 
dient to  accept  such  assistance. 

The  association  mentioned  arranges  to  give  its  lectures  and  a  certain  number  of 
musical  recitals  every  year  in  the  convent  hall,  always  during  school  session  and  imme- 
diately after  class  hours.  'Thus  teachers  and  pupils  are  free  to  profit  by  them.  Aside 
fiom  their  educational  advantage  to  all  immediately  concerned,  these  literary  and  artis- 
tic gatherings  serve  to  popularize  the  school,  raise  it  in  the  estimation  even  of  its 
patrons,  and  attract  many  who  otherwise  would  be  at  no  pains  to  enter  or  inquire  into 
tne  workings  of  Catholic  institutions.  Lectures  have  been  delivered  before  this  school 
and  its  alumnae  association  by  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  distinguished  Catholics  in 
America.  The  musicals  being  given  rather  for  instruction  than  diversion,  programmes 
are  kept  to  the  highest  standard,  and  are  usually  interpreted  by  professional  musicians. 
The  school  itself  is  forced  to  no  outlay  for  these,  as  all  expenses  are  borne  by  the 
association.  An  annual  membership  fee,  occasional  self-imposed  taxes,  voluntary  con- 
tributions, and  a  few  tickets  sold  to  outsiders,  friends  of  members,  are  the  sources  of 
revenue.  This  association  also  adds  a  number  of  books  every  year  to  the  school  library, 
offers  annually  two  prizes,  and  in  various  ways  seeks  to  improve,  if  may  be,  and  to 
multiply  the  resources  of  its  academy.  What  one  can,  many  may  do,  secure  that  in  so 
noting  they  minister  to  noblest  needs,  and  repay  a  small  part  of  the  devotion  which 
Catholic  educators  have  lavished  upon  the  youth  of  our  country.  An  alumnae  associa- 
tion should  be  a  corporate  act  of  gratitude.  Who  can  be  aware  of  this  century's  activi- 
ties— healing  what  in  the  name  of  education  is  claimed  for  women,  and  seeing  what  in 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  185 

the  name  of  enlightenment  is  often  done  by  women — and  not  thank  God  for  that  deep- 
laid,  broad-built,  tried  system  of  Catholic  training  which  crushes  no  individuality, 
represses  no  legitimate  aspiration,  and  sets  no  narrow  bounds  to  "  woman's  sphere,"  but 
holds  the  sex  ever  lovingly  attached  to  the  truth  that  its  most  respected,  best  rewarded, 
most  arduous,  most  womanly,  most  heavenly  work  is  in  the  home !  What  Catholic 
daughter  having  any  experience  of  life  is  not  grateful  to  the  parental  wisdom  which 
gave  her  the  blessings  of  a  convent  education,  and  having  a  heart  is  not  anxious  to 
widen  the  circle  of  that  uplifting  influence? 

As  already  stated,  the  pupils  of  a  convent  school  are  more  variously  conditioned 
than  those  of  any  other,  this  holding  true  in  the  graduates'  society  as  in  the  class-room, 
though  as  years  roll  on  positions  may  be  reversed.  Whatever  their  domestic  environ- 
ment at  school  all  have  had  about  the  same  advantages.  There  sit  side  by  side  in 
perfect  equality,  affection,  and  amiable  rivalry  the  heiress  of  a  millionaire  and  the 
young  girl  whose  parents  at  great  sacrifices  have  done  their  utmost  in  giving  her  a 
convent  education.  One  looks  forward  to  foreign  travel,  pleasure,  perhaps  a  brilliant 
marriage,  as  the  sequel  of  graduation;  the  other  says  with  Viola — 

I  am  all  the  daughters  of  my  father's  house 
And  all  the  brothers  too 

and  when  school  days  are  ended  must  take  upon  herself  the  duties  of  breadwinner. 
They  both  kneel  at  the  same  altar.  Shall  the  accident  of  wealth  keep  them  utter 
strangers  to  each  other  in  after-life? 

In  a  company  of  twelve  graduates  four  find  themselves,  by  virtue  of  inheritance,  in 
the  ranks  of  the  so-called  "  privileged  classes,"  four  are  at  home  in  that  happy  middle 
state  for  which  Ozaman  prayed,  and  four  go  out  into  the  busy,  selfish  world  to  earn 
their  bread  as  best  they  may.  Naturally,  their  respective  duties — which  we  assume 
they  perform  cheerfully  and  well,  whether  poor,  rich,  or  "  comfortable " — forbid 
frequent  intercourse.  Who  sees  much  of  her  friends  in  this  crowded,  careworn  age? 
The  parish  sodality,  or  charitable  society,  does  not  always  bring  them  together,  even 
occasionally,  since  their  parishes  may  lie  at  the  extremes  of  a  great  city.  ...  Is 
there  not,  then,  some  ground  to  which  a  community  of  tastes  and  some  special  endeavor 
may  draw  them?  Can  they  not  enjoy  together  a  book,  a  lecture,  music,  art  as  when 
they  were  school  girls — and  be  the  better  for  it? 

Have  not  those  who  retain  their  love  of  all  beautiful  things,  with  little  means  to 
gratify  it,  something  to  say  to  their  fortune-blessed  associates?  And  have  these  not 
something  to  do  for  the  less  favored  ones?  Where  can  it  better  be  said  and  done  than 
in  the  well-ordered  work  of  an  alumnae  association.  There  can  arise  no  suspicion  of 
offensive  patronage  on  the  one  hand  or  fear  of  wounded  self-respect  on  the  other.  All 
are  friends;  all  contribute  alike  to  a  common  fund;  it  is  an  intellectual  mutual  benefit 
society;  all  know  they  are  aiding  the  cause  of  Christian  education;  all  are  under  the 
leadership  of  some  dear  nun  who  has  been  friend  and  teacher  to  them— and,  it  may  be  to 
their  mothers  for  long  years. 

The  rich  woman  here  has  her  opportunity  of  quietly  making  it  possible  for  the  asso- 
ciation to  hear  some  noted  lecturer  or  great  artist,  and  meet  men  and  women  whose 
names  and  work  are  world-famous.  We  are  all  hero  worshipers  and  like  to  come  face 
to  face  with  our  heroes. 

Why  should  not  the  ideal  conditions  of  an  alumnae  association  extend  themselves? 
Women  legislate  for  that  small  bit  of  society  which  is  called  par-excellence  society — that 
little  world  that  men  speak  of  as  "the  great  world."  Their  will  is  law  therein.  Shall 
we  not  see  the  mistress  of  a  magnificent  home,  the  leader  of  a  salon,  ruled  by  the  prin- 
ciples that  govern  our  entirely  possible  and  wholly  desirable  alumnae  association— and 
inviting  her  guests — not  for  what  they  have  or  wear,  nor  for  the  quarter  they  live  in. 
but  for  what  they  are?  Then  should  we  behold  an  ideal  aristocracy — an  aristocracy  of 
faith  and  brains!  Or,  rather,  let  us  say  a  democracy  of  faith  and  intellect.  And  "de- 
mocracy in  a  right  sense,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "is  Catholicity." 

Do  I  claim  that  our  alumnae  associations  in  convent  schools  are  going  to  change 
the  face  of  the  earth?  No,  but  they  can  be  a  powerful  factor  in  the  adjusting  of  many 
social  difficulties  which  now  exist. 

Walter  George  Smith,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  spoke  on  "Civil  Government 
and  the  Catholic  Citizen."  He  said: 

Although  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  in 
numbers,  in  wealth,  and  in  influence,  hat  extended  a  knowledge  of  its  moral  and  politi- 
cal influence  far  wider  and  deeper  than  a  few  generations  ago  seemed  possible,  the 
thought  must  have  come  home  repeatedly  to  every  thinking  member  of  its  fold  that 


1 86  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

on  certain  vital  points  a  large  element  in  the  community  still  look  upon  it  as  an  organ- 
ization to  be  distrusted,  no  matter  how  pure  may  be  the  character,  how  useful  the  lives 
of  its  members.  How  often  does  the  Catholic  layman,  whose  daily  life  is  passed  among 
friends,  whose  training  from  childhood  has  been  such  as  to  keep  from  them  a  true 
knowledge  of  what  Catholicism  means,  finds  himsalf  called  upon  to  meet  and  perhaps 
struggle  with  a  feeling  expressed  in  language  or  in  manner  that  places  him  outside  of 
the  mass  of  the  community  that  looks  upon  him  as  governed  by  a  code  of  morality,  per- 
sonal and  political,  different  from  his  neighbor's,  and  irreconcilable  with  a  true  alle- 
giance to  the  State.  The  reason  of  this  phenomenon  is  not  hard  to  trace.  For  gener- 
ations the  English-speaking  world  has  been  taught,  directly  and  indirectly,  by  literature 
and  by  tradition,  by  precept  and  by  assumption,  that  the  theology  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  and  the  tendencies  resulting  from  it  are  contrary  to  the  political  and  social  ideals 
most  generally  accepted  among  civilized  people.  The  present  age  is  marked,  perhaps, 
by  a  greater  and  more  extended  refinement  than  any  that  has  preceded  it,  since  the 
records  of  history  have  been  preserved,  and  with  softening  of  manners  has  come  a 
softening  of  prejudices,  so  that  we  do  not  have  to  complain  often  of  unkind  or  bigoted 
utterances  in  opposition  of  our  faith.  Nay!  We  are  very  of  ten  praised  for  the  general 
morality  that  prevails  among  our  co-religionists;  but  certain  it  is  that  in  the  minds  of 
a  very  large  proportion  of  the  American  people  the  fact  that  a  man  is  a  Catholic  marks 
him  in  some  sense  as  peculiar,  while  if  he  were  known  as  a  member  of  any  one  of  the 
non-Catholic  Christian  denominations,  his  religious  views  would  not  for  a  moment 
arrest  attention. 

The  consequence  of  such  a  condition  is  to  put  upon  every  Catholic  a  responsibility, 
proportioned  to  the  position  he  holds  in  the  community,  of  defining,  always  by  the 
practical  habit  of  his  life,  and  sometimes  by  the  verbal  exposition  of  his  views,  the 
dogma  of  the  religious  mother  whose  son  he  is.  I  do  not  understand  that  it  is  a  Cath- 
olic's duty  always  and  under  all  circumstances  to  attempt  by  argument  to  win  pros- 
elytes to  his  faith,  but  that  he  should  show  so  far  as  in  him  lies  the  guiding  influence 
of  his  life  to  be  in  accordance  with  true  reason,  and,  therefore,  not  opposed  to  what  the 
common  assent  of  all  men  shows  to  be  right,  would  seem  to  be  apparent. 

I  have  made  these  observations  preliminary  to  a  brief  study  of  the  duty  of  the 
Catholic  citizen  in  relation  to  the  State. 

It  is  on  this  point,  if  we  may  accept  their  expressions  as  sincere,  that  the  only  real 
alarm  is  felt  by  those  who  are  earnestly  struggling  against  the  extension  of  the  power 
of  the  church,  whether  in  Europe  or  America.  Could  they  be  satisfied  that  the  devel- 
opment of  Catholic  thought  would  have  no  effect  upon  political  government,  or  would 
have  no  effect  contrary  to  that  which  their  own  teaching  inculcates,  there  would  be  no 
attacks,  open  or  covert,  upon  the  venerable  church  of  St.  Peter  by  any  save  those  who 
find  in  the  unrestrained  gratification  of  every  tendency  of  human  nature,  the  ideal  to- 
wards which  human  progress  should  tend. 

Can  we  pay,  then,  in  a  broad  sense,  that  the  Catholic  Church  does  not  desire  to 
have  any  influence  upon  the  State?  That  she  looks  upon  it  with  indifference,  careless 
as  to  its  methods,  and  blind  to  its  imperfections?  Should  we  answer  thus,  we  should 
be  forthwith  confronted  by  many  an  historical  incident  from  the  days  when  the  venera- 
ble pontiff  met  the  barbarian  conqueror  at  Mantua  and  by  his  intercession  saved  Italy 
from  invasion,  or  at  the  gates  of  Rome  mitigated  the  horrors  of  pillage  through  the 
centuries  to  our  own  times,  when  the  illustrious  occupant  of  the  Vatican  utters  his 
protest  against  the  spoliation  of  the  papal  dominions.  No,  the  church  does  desire 
to  influence  human  government;  it  does  watch  empires,  kingdoms,  republics,  or  what- 
ever be  the  form  such  corporations  may  take,  with  anxious  eyes,  but  the  influence  she 
seeks  to  exert  is  through  the  individual  members  of  the  government,  requiring  of  them 
to  administer  their  trusts  in  accordance  with  the  eternal  rules  of  right  and  justice  for 
the  benefit  of  the  community  whose  interests  they  are  called  upon  to  protect.  In  oppo- 
sition to  t  e  theory  of  modern  political  writers,  who  have  contended  that  government 
had  its  origin  in  sources  purely  human,  and  is  founded  on  compact  originally  entered  into 
between  the  governors  and  the  governed .  Catholic  theologians  have  held  that  such  com- 
pacts were  not  voluntarily  entered  into  by  the  people  themselves,  but  were  imposed  by  the 
law  of  nature,  which  means  that  they  came  from  God.  This  doctrine  bears  the  neces- 
sary consequence  of  denying  State  absolution.  As  is  pointed  out  by  Brownson 
(American  Republic,  p.  79)  the  ancient  Republics  recognized  rights  of  the  State  and 
rights  of  the  citizen,  "but  no  rights  of  man,  held  independently  of  society  and  not 
derived  from  God  through  the  State.  The  recognition  of  these  rights  by  modern 
society  is  due  to  Christianity;"  and  he  proceeds  to  illustrate  by  reference  to  the  fact 
that  the  Roman  Empire  was  converted  to  Christianity  in  defiance  of  State  authority, 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  187 

and  this  event  "infused  into  modern  society  the  doctrine  that  every  individual,  even 
the  lowest  and  meanest,  has  rights  which  the  State  neither  confers  nor  can  abro- 
gate" (Ibid,  p.  80).  These  are  rights  which  the  Creator  has  given  to  all  endowed  with 
reason  and  free  will,  and  all  acts  of  the  State  which  contravene  them  are  violences  and 
not  laws,  as  St.  Augustin  has  pointed  out  (Ibid,  p.  89).  But  in  the  proper  sphere  of 
action  the  State,  whatever  be  its  form,  is  an  institution  derived  from  God,  through  the 
force  of  natural  law,  and  is  entitled  to  the  allegiance  of  its  citizens,  through  whom  its 
power  is  conferred,  and  to  whom  it  is  accountable  for  any  abuse. 

"  The  church  and  the  State,  as  corporations  or  external  governing  bodies,  are 
indeed  separate  in  their  spheres,  and  the  church  does  not  absorb  the  State,  nor  does 
the  State  the  church,  but  both  are  from  God,  and  both  work  to  the  same  ends,  and 
when  each  is  rightly  understood  there  is  no  antithesis  or  antagonism  between  them. 
Men  serve  God  in  serving  the  State  as  directly  as  in  serving  the  church.  He  who  dies 
on  the  battlefield  fighting  for  his  country  ranks  with  him  who  dies  at  the  stake  for  his 
faith.  Civic  virtues  are  themselves  religious  virtues,  or  at  least  virtues  without  which 
there  are  no  religious  virtues,  since  no  man  who  loves  not  his  brother  does  or  can  love 
God."  (Ibid.  pp.  127-128.) 

The  State,  then,  does  not  proceed  from  the  church,  nor  the  church  from  the 
State.  The  State  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  law  of  nature  imposed  by  God, 
requiring  for  their  very  existence  that  all  men  shall  live  in  communities  of  some  sort 
and  find  its  rights  to  be  in  "  the  just  consent  of  the  governed."  When  it  imposes 
regulations  contrary  to  the  natural  law  it  is  acting  outside  of  its  sphere,  but  within  its 
sphere  it  is  entitled  to  the  obedience  of  all  its  inhabitants.  The  church  has  proceeded 
directly  from  God,  was  founded  by  Himself;  it  takes  cognizance  of  and  approves  of  the 
existence  of  the  State  as  it  approves  of  all  institutions  founded  upon  the  will  of  its 
Divine  Head.  But  as  to  the  form  of  government  the  church  has  no  dogma.  In  the 
language  of  Balmes,  "  the  Roman  Pontiff  acknowledges  equally  as  his  son  the  Catholic 
seated  upon  the  bench  of  an  American  assembly  and  the  most  humble  subject  of  the 
most  powerful  monarch.  The  Catholic  religion  is  too  prudent  to  descend  upon  any 
such  ground.  Emanating  from  heaven  itself,  she  diffuses  herself,  like  the  light  of 
the  sun  over  all  things  and  enlightens  and  strengthens  all,  and  is  never  obscured 
or  tarnished.  Her  object  is  to  conduct  man  to  heaven  by  furnishing  him  in  hi» 
passage  with  great  assistance  and  consolation  on  earth.  She  ceases  not  to  point  out 
to  him  eternal  truths;  she  gives  him  in  all  his  affairs  salutary  counsels,  but  the  moment 
we  come  to  mere  details  she  has  no  obligations  to  impose,  no  duty  to  enjoin.  She 
impresses  upon  his  mind  her  sacred  maxims  of  morality,  admonishing  him  never  to 
depart  from  them.  Like  a  tender  mother  speaking  to  her  son.  she  says  to  him:  "Pro- 
vided you  depart  not  from  my  instructions,  do  what  you  consider  most  prudent  (Protest- 
antism and  Catholicity  Compound,  p.  357.) 

As  has  been  said  by  Cardinal  Gibbons:  "  Our  Holy  Father,  Leo.  XIII.,  in  his  lumi- 
nous encyclical  on  the  constitution  of  Christian  states  declares  that  the  church  is  not 
committed  to  any  particular  form  of  civil  government — she  adapts  herself  to  all.  She 
leaves  all  with  the  sacred  leaven  of  the  gospel  *  *  *  in  the  congenial  atmosphere 
of  liberty;  she  blossoms  as  the  rose."  (Quoted  by  F.  Hacker — "  The  Church  and  the 
Age,"  p.  101.) 

Such  being  the  doctrine  of  the  church  upon  civil  government,  why  should  there  be 
any  doubt  or  distrust  of  American  Catholics  in  the  minds  of  their  fellow-citizens?  So 
long  as  the  theory  of  our  republican  constitution  is  carried  into  practical  operation 
there  can  be  no  clashing  between  the  duties  owed  by  the  Catholic  citizen  to  his  Church 
and  to  his  State.  The  cry  that  he  is  bound  by  allegiance  to  a  foreign  government 
because  he  recognizes  the  Pope  as  the  visible  head  of  his  church  is  unfair  and  confus- 
ing. Whatever  be  the  practice  (and  the  records  of  American  Catholics  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  civic  life  will  at  least  bear  comparison  with  those  of  other  religionists),  his 
theory  in  no  wise  differs  from  that  of  men  who,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  have  felt  it 
right  to  recognize  that  there  exists  a  law  transcending  any  that  may  emanate  from 
human  government.  It  is  the  same  theory  which  (as  has  been  said)  gave  Christianity  to 
the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  assertion  of  which  did  much  to  awaken  the  conscience  of 
this  modern  Republic  to  the  evils  of  African  slavery.  And  when  it  is  understood,  this 
theory  will  be  opposed  by  none  save  those  philosophers  who  find  in  the  theories  which 
had  their  fruition  in  the  French  revolution,  and  have  been  developed  by  constant  logi- 
cal processes  into  the  wild  isms  of  certain  of  the  socialists  and  anarchists  of  to-day. 

If  I  am  right  in  this  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  the  church  (and  it  needs  only  to 
examine  the  luminous  writings  of  its  ablest  champions  and  the  authoritative  definitions 
of  its  Pontiff  to  show  its  correctness  in  theory,  while  the  appeal  to  history,  if  requiring 


1 88  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

more  discrimination,  is  hardly  less  convincing),  no  Catholic  need  be  confused  in  his 
efforts  to  perform  his  duty  to  the  State.  The  present  age,  as  far  as  we  can  know,  pre- 
sents problems  for  solution  more  difficult  than  any  that  have  preceded  it,  more  difficult 
because  history  affords  no  precedents  by  which  men  may  act  upon  them.  Evils  of 
social  life  have  become  so  obvious  and  so  dangerous  that  the  best  thought  of  all  people 
is  concentrated  upon  their  consideration.  Men  of  undoubted  sincerity  and  of  heroic 
•courage,  deceived  by  their  own  ardor  and  generous  impulses  and  without  guidance  from 
spiritual  authority,  have  not  hesitated  to  advocate  theories  of  relief  that  involve  the 
•complete  revolution  of  that  order  which  has  been  accepted  as  second  only  to  revelation. 
While  the  church  teaches  and  has  taught  that  the  right  of  private  ownership  of  prop- 
erty, while  not  directly  of  divine  ordinance,  is  yet  essential  to  the  well-ordered  happiness 
of  mankind,  the  so-called  philosophers  of  the  revolution  advocate  its  unconditional 
abolition;  while  the  church  maintains  the  doctrines  of  personal  liberty  and  individual- 
ism, the  tendency  of  the  revolution  is  to  absorb  the  individual  in  the  State.  The  rev- 
olution bases  its  arguments  upon  the  assumption  of  a  social  contract  and  the  perfect 
.ability,  if  not  the  perfection  of  human  nature  per  si;  the  church  looks  upon  govern- 
ment as  a  mediate  ordinance  of  God,  arising  from  the  constitution  of  man,  and  human 
nature  as  imperfect,  tainted  with  sin.  The  revolution  insists  that  the  popular  will,  and 
the  popular  alone,  is  the  supreme  fount  of  justice." 

The  church  maintains  "  that  justice  is  anterior  to  all  experience,  wholly  independ- 
ent of  the  volition  of  any  man  or  number  of  men,  eternal,  immutable,  absolutely  binding 
upon  the  race,  as  upon  the  totality  of  existence."  (Lily,  p.  53).  A  century  of  revolution. 
How  widely  these  lines  diverge,  it  requires  no  imagination  to  picture.  The  doctrines 
of  the  revolution,  while  professing  to  advocate  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity,  have 
resulted,  wherever  they  have  obtained  sway,  in  tyranny,  in  class  legislation,  and  bitter 
strife;  and  developed  as  they  have  been  by  many,  have  led  and  are  leading  to  a  subver- 
sion of  social  order  that  directs  the  human  races  back  to  barbarism.  What  then  is  the 
duty  of  the  Catholic  citizen  in  all  countries,  but  especially  in  these  United  States,  where 
the  obligations  of  a  free  government  intensify  his  responsibility  ?  Is  he  to  shut  his  eyes 
to  the  admittedly  existing  evils  ?  Or  is  he  to  turn  them  doggedly  backward  to  the  ages 
of  faith,  and  warming  his  imagination  by  the  contemplation  of  the  glorious  relics  and 
traditions  of  days  long  gone,  when  the  church  was  recognized  by  all  civilized  peoples  as 
the  mother  of  progress  and  truth,  refuse  to  recognize  the  facts  of  every-day  existence. 
To  do  this  is  to  grant  the  truth  of  the  sneer  of  the  atheist  and  agnostic  that  the  church 
is  the  opponent  of  progress,  and  can  live  only  in  this  peculiar  athmosphere  of  medieval- 
ism. No,  there  must  be  a  sturdy  recognition  of  the  dangers  of  modern  society — dangers 
that  have  arisen  because  men  have  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  subjection  to  the  law  under 
which  they  were  born  ;  and  the  remedy  must  be  sought  in  unceasing  efforts  to  re-estab- 
lish among  men  the  true  standard  of  living.  Can  any  men  doubt  that  if  the  rich  felt 
universally  with  a  conviction,  deep  and  sincere,  the  teaching  of  the  church  that  they 
were  but  stewards  of  the  fortunes  God  has  given  them,  they  would  no  longer  be  looked 
upon  as  a  class  separated  by  a  wide  barrier  from  their  poorer  brethren  ?  Can  any 
man  doubt  that  if  there  pervaded  all  ranks  of  employers  the  feeling  that  their  work- 
men should  share  in  proportion  their  prosperity,  there  would  be  fewer  strikes  and  dis- 
agreements, and  the  spectre  of  conflict  unceasing  between  capitalist  and  laborer  would 
fade  from  our  horizon.  Did  the  laborer  in  his  sufferings  look  beyond  this  life  to  the 
glories  of  immortality,  could  he  cherish  in  his  heart  hatred  and  envy  of  this  employer? 

Here  is  the  disease  in  our  social  conditions.  The  teachings  of  Christian  morality  in 
large  portions  of  the  community  have  been  undermined,  and  in  their  stead  there  is 
naught  but  the  tendencies  of  our  fallen  nature  to  appeal  to  as  the  standard  of  right.  Of 
what  avail  are  theories  the  most  beautiful,  plans  of  political  or  economical  government 
the  most  ingenious,  based  upon  a  false  assumption  of  the  intrinsic  excellence  of  our 
natures.  The  pagan  civilization  was  saved  from  ruin  by  Christianity.  Christianity  has 
taught  mankind  that  in  lessons  of  self-control  and  unselfishness  of  the  individual  alone 
can  the  miseries  of  life  be  lightened,  and  to  Christianity  must  men  turn  in  these  mod- 
ern days  when  dangers  not  less  serious  than  those  that  encompassed  the  ancient  world 
press  upon  them.  The  church  in  all  ages  has  been  the  most  democratic  of  all  organiza- 
tions; the  church  alone  has  taught  the  true  theory  of  the  fraternity  and  equality  of  all 
men  before  God,  and  to  her  precepts  must  mankind  look  for  the  foundation  of  their  meas- 
ures of  relief  from  present  dangers.  Under  her  aegis  tyranny,  whether  of  the  individual 
or  of  the  class,  whether  of  the  plutocrat  or  of  the  proletariat;  can  not  exist.  As  in  days 
of  old  she  resisted  the  wrath  of  despotic  kings  or  checked  the  cruelty  of  powerful 
nobles,  so  in  these  modern  days  she  interposes  her  commands  between  the  antagonistic 
classes  into  which  society  has  been  so  rapidly  drifting.  She  teaches  that  all  men  are 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  189 

children  of  a  common  father,  and  that  the  command  to  love  one  another  must  be  the 
keynote  of  their  conduct  toward  each  other.  This  is  all.  Let  royalist,  aristocrat,  or 
democrat  plead  for  the  excellence  of  his  plan  of  human  government.  She  looks  not  at 
the  details,  but  at  the  principles  that  underlie  them,  and  she  tests  them  all  by  the 
standard  of  her  founder's  law. 

To  be  true  to  the  teaching  of  his  church  and  false  to  the  republic  is  impossible  for 
the  American  Catholic,  and  in  the  spread  of  the  morality,  political  and  economical,  of 
which  he  is  the  exponent,  lies  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  modern  life. 

Rev.  Dr.  William  Barry,  of  Dorchester, England,  wrote  upon  the  "Duties 
of  Capital"  as  follows: 

In  discussing  this  great  and  momentous  issue,  which  threatens  in  the  modern  world 
to  absorb  every  other,  a  Catholic  assembly  must  take  its  stand  upon  Catholic  and  Chris- 
tian principles.  Now  Pope  Leo  XIII.  (whom  God  preserve)  has  told  us  in  the  plainest 
language  that  it  is  labor  which  has  created  wealth,  and  hence  that  capital,  which  is 
merely  wealth  stored  up,  is  due  to  labor  for  its  production,  preservation,  and  increase. 
He  argues  again  and  again  that  the  fruits  of  toil  should  in  justice  belong  to  the  toiler; 
that  morality  and  not  mere  expediency  ought  to  be  the  rule  of  the  market,  and  that  men 
have  no  warrant  for  ceasing  to  be  Christians  because  they  are  handling  goods  on  the 
largest  scale  or  dealing  with  stocks  and  shares  even  in  Wall  Street. 

But  he  goes  on  to  say  that  when  he  looks  out  over  the  world,  he  sees  the  old  Mam- 
mon of  unrighteousness  flourishing  under  new  names.  Usury,  which  was  held  by  the 
church  of  the  middle  ages  to  be  a  crime  against  God  and  man,  is  by  no  means  extinct; 
on  the  contrary,  it  has  widened  its  borders  and  multiplied  its  victories.  The  system 
which  in  our  text  books  of  political  economy  is  termed  capitalism  has,  according  to  the 
Pope,  "  thrown  into  the  hands  of  a  few  the  control  of  labor  and  of  the  world-commerce, 
so  that  a  small  number  of  opulent  and  amazingly  rich  individuals  have  laid  a  yoke 
almost  equal  to  that  of  slavery  upon  the  infinite  multitude  of  the  proletarians."  That  is 
to  say,  of  workmen  who  possess  no  capital. 

These  things  are  sadly  exemplified  in  the  monarchies  of  Europe,  but  experience 
proves  that  their  baleful  influence  has  made  itself  felt  in  the  United  States  also.  The 
disastrous  consequences  of  capitalism  without  check  or  limit  do  not  follow  upon  any 
one  form  of  government.  They  are  an  immense  evil  which  is  growing  while  we  speak. 
And  if  on  the  American  continent  man  is  destined  to  begin  a  happier  century  than  the 
nineteenth,  it  will  only  come  to  pass  when  for  the  injustice  and  misery  of  the  present 
confused  and  desolating  system  there  is  brought  in  a  code  of  business  morals  to  which 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  can  give  His  blessing. 

The  end  or  purpose  of  wealth  is  not  simply  the  production  of  more  wealth  nor  is  it 
the  selfish  enjoyment  even  of  those  who  produce  it.  Man  is  a  moral  and  religious  being, 
and  the  industries  which  exhaust  so  large  a  part  of  his  time,  thought,  and  labor,  should 
be  carried  out  under  the  law  which  is  supreme  in  conscience.  To  make,  or  increase,  or 
distribute  wealth  is  a  social  function.  It  is  so  because  man  was  intended  to  live  in 
society,  because  society  does  in  fact  acknowledge  and  secure  his  individual  rights,  and 
because  no  one  of  his  single,  unaided  efforts  could  store  up  the  accumulated  resources 
to  which  these  "  few  rich  people"  are  indebted  for  their  leisure  and  luxury.  It  is  not 
the  "  silver  king,"  who  has  dug  out  his  own  mine;  neither  is  it  the  "  railroad  king,"  by 
whose  hands  or  intellect  the  railroad  has  been  created.  When  we  allow  the  utmost  to 
any  one  man  as  worker,  manufacturer,  superintendent,  or  all  three  together,  it  should 
still  be  clear  to  us  that  the  social  element  in  what  he  produces  can  never  be  done  away. 
He  enters  into  the  labors  of  his  fellow-men,  and  they  have  accordingly  their  claims  upon 
him,  which  both  justice  and  charity  forbid  him  to  pass  over  without  recompense.  If, 
then,  capital,  by  which  I  mean  private  property  yielding  a  revenue,  is  to  exist  in  a 
Christian  commonwealth,  it  must  fulfill  its  duties  to  the  public.  For  it  is  a  trust  given 
to  the  individual  upon  condition  of  his  exercising  the  social  function  which  corre- 
sponds to  it  as  a  Christian  ought.  And  where  custom  has  failed  to  enforce  this  view  of 
things,  law  has  every  right  to  interfere.  Those  who  are  suffered  by  the  enactments  of 
the  State  to  control  the  means  of  production  and  distribution  must  be  looked  upon  as  in 
a  true  sense  ministers  of  the  State;  subject  to  its  oversight;  answerable  for  their 
dealings  with  what  they  never  did  and  never  could  create  by  their  own  exertion;  and 
not,  as  many  suppose,  irresponsible,  absolute,  and  utterly  independent  "owners "of  all 
the  land,  water,  mines,  minerals,  and  machinery  which  by  legal  process  they  may  have 
acquired. 

Leo  XIII.  defines  it  to  be  a  sin  against  justice  when  one  man  appropriates,  whether 
in  the  shape  of  profit,  or  of  tax,  or  of  interest,  the  fruits  of  another  man's  industry  with- 


190  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

out  rendering  him  an  equal  return.  He  does  not  say  that  the  return  must  be  directly 
economical.  But  certainly  he  does  mean  that  there  ought  to  be  an  adequate  return  of 
some  sort.  The  rich  man,  therefore,  whose  riches  are  nothing  else  than  the  surplus 
fruits  of  his  fellows'  toil,  is  bound,  first,  to  render  a  just  human  wage  to  the  toiler,  and 
second,  so  to  employ  this  "  wealth  "  which  has  been  put  into  his  hands  as,  on  the  whole, 
to  make  the  condition  of  those  who  toil  more  advantageous  to  them  than  if  private 
capital  did  not  exist. 

In  other  words,  private  capital  is  an  expedient,  like  constitutional  government  or 
manhood  suffrage,  by  which  the  great  ends  of  society  are  meant  to  be  furthered.  If  it 
does  this,  it  is  justified;  if  it  does  not,  how  can  it  endure?  The  resources  of  civiliza- 
tion are  earned  by  one  set  of  men,  and  disposed  of  by  another.  I  will  not  call  that  an 
iniquitous  arrangement.  But  it  stands  to  reason  that  those  who  distribute  are  bound 
to  do  so  for  the  good  of  the  social  organization  which  they  do,  in  fact,  govern.  The 
ministering  class  of  capitalists,  supposing  they  minister,  deserve  fair  wages.  But  those 
wages  are  most  unfair  which  can  not  be  paid  except  at  the  cost  of  a  permanent  nucleus 
of  misery  and  demoralization,  such  as  the  capitals  of  Europe  have  long  contained 
within  them,  and  some  of  the  American  cities  may  now  see  growing  up  ii  their  midst 

Therefore,  as  "  the  end  of  all  commerce  "  is  not  "  individual  gain,"  so  it  is  righteous- 
ness, and  not  anarchic  revolution,  which  insists  on  teaching  capitalists  their  duties 
toward  the  organism  which  supports  them.  Let  us  reckon  up  some  of  these  duties. 

/  Negatively,  capitalists  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  workingmen's  right  to 
combine  in  trades  unions;  and  hence  they  cannot  fairly  require  their  workmen  to  give 
up  belonging  to  such  associations,  nor  can  they  make  it  the  condition  of  a  just  con- 
tract. 

Again  they  have  no  right  to  take  advantage  of  the  distress  of  human  beings  by 
beating  down  the  just  price  of  labor;  to  do  so  is  usury  and  has  been  condemned  times 
out  of  number  by  the  Catholic  authorities. 

Nor  must  they  lay  upon  their  workmen  inhuman  tasks,  whether  as  regards  the 
length,  quality  or  conditions  of  labor.  And  the  whole  legislation  of  factory  acts,  inspec- 
tion and  the  protection  of  women  and  children  is  in  its  idea  as  truly  economic  as  it  is 
Christian,  and  capitalists  ought  not  to  complain  of  it.  Further,  the  lowest  fair  wage  is 
one  which,  although  varying  according  to  country,  sex  and  time  of  life,  will  enable  the 
worker  to  fulfill  the  ordinary  duties  of  humanity,  to  keep  God's  law  and  to  provide 
against  sickness  and  old  age. 

It  is  the  bounden  duty  of  capitalists  to  allow  their  workpeople  the  Sunday  rest. 

Corporations  are  as  much  under  these  obligations  and  bound  to  fulfill  them  as 
individuals. 

Workpeople  can  not  justly  contract  themselves  out  of  these  and  similar  rights. 
And  every  agreement  to  disregard  them  is  so  far  null  and  void. 

Again,  it  is  elementary  good  sense,  as  well  as  law,  that  lying,  cheating,  misrepresen- 
tation, when  they  enter  into  the  substance  of  a  contract,  make  it  of  no  effect.  And  that 
a  thief  can  not  prescribe  or  plead  lapse  of  time  as  legalizing  his  theft.  And  that  he  who 
has  stolen,  whether  from  the  public  or  from  private  citizens,  is  bound  to  restore.  And 
that  the  greater  the  robbery  the  greater  the  sin.  And  that  even  a  State  is  capable  of 
robbing  its  citizens  collectively,  as  when  it  surrenders  without  a  proper  equivalent 
rights  of  way,  or  public  lands,  or  the  common  right  of  market — and,  in  general,  when  it 
creates  or  suffers  to  grow  up  unchecked  monopolies  which  take  an  undue  share  of  the 
products  of  labor,  and  which  violate  the  economic  freedom  of  others.  To  make  thieves 
restore  their  ill-gotten  goods,  to  put  down  "  rings  and  corners,"  to  keep  intact  the  right 
of  "eminent  domain,"  to  safeguard  the  health,  morals,  and  religious  freedom  of  its  citi- 
zens, are  duties  incumbent  on  the  State,  especially  when  the  majority  of  the  people 
seem  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  private  capitalists.  Nor  can  it  be  objected  that  these  things 
constitute  an  "  intolerable  interference  with  the  rights  of  property,"  for  property  never 
has  any  right  to  do  wrong.  And,  on  the  whole,  weighing  impartially  the  evidence 
which  has  accumulated  from  all  sides  regarding  modern  commerce  and  business.  I 
would  suggest  as  a  meditation  for  many  capitalists  these  words  of  St.  Paul:  "  Let  him 
that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather  let  him  labor,  working  with  his  hands  the  thing 
which  is  good,  that  he  may  have  to  give  to  him  that  needeth  " 

All  this  means,  then,  the  imperative  necessity  of  a  constitution  for  capital.  Religion 
furnishes  the  ideal,  morality  the  grounds,  and  law  and  custom  the  methods  upon  which 
this  mighty  task  is  to  be  achieved.  To  make  democracy  a  real  thing  is  all  one 
with  limiting,  defining,  and  Christianizing  the  powers  of  those  who  wield  at  present 
according  to  their  good  pleasure  the  material  resources  gathered  by  the  thought,  labor  and 
perseverance  of  millions  upon  millions.  Individual  ownership,  when  divorced  from  its 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


191 


social  functions,  is  the  parent  of  all  those  barbarians  who  have  now  become  a  menace 
to  civilization  from  within.  No  spasmodic  attempts  at  private  benevolence,  no  drib- 
lets of  "  ransom "  doled  out  from  superfluous  millions,  no  universities  called 
after  reigning  monopolists,  will  do  the  work  which  society  has  neglected.  The  organ- 
ization of  industry  means  the  supremacy  of  the  Christian  law  in  store,  factory,  market, 
and  exchange.  When  individuals  make  their  large  bequests  in  the  shape  of  libraries, 
picture-galleries,  parks,  or  music-halls,  they  confess  that  indefinite  accumulation  of 
wealth  in  private  hands  requires  some  public  apology. 

Now,  all  we  who  have  accepted  the  principle  of  democratic  institutions  believe 
that  an  absolute  monarch  is  in  politics  a  mistake,  an  anachronism,  a  lapse  into  a  less 
civilized  past  which  we  are  glad  we  have  left  behind.  In  like  manner,  and  by  reasoning 
no  less  demonstrative,  it  may  be  shown  that  an  absolute  monarch  in  economics  is 
nothing  less  than  the  survival  of  tyranny  under  a  new  form.  Democracy  and 
unlimited  capitalism  are  simply  irreconcilable;  they  will  ever  be  enemies,  one  of  the 
other.  When  the  American  continent  is  fully  peopled,  the  handful  who  are  enormously 
rich  will  of  necessity  create  and  perpetuate  a  multitude  of  proletarians  sunk  into 
degrading  and  shameful  poverty — serfs  with  manhood  suffrage — with  an  acknowledged 
right  to  vote  and  a  more  doubtful  right  to  eat.  If  capitalists  do  not  become  servants 
of  the  commonwealth  they  will  be  its  masters. 

What,  then,  should  the  people  do  in  this  day  of  their  political  supremacy  ?  Two 
things,  I  answer.  They  should  insist,  by  custom  and  legislation,  on  making  the  con- 
tract between  capitalist  and  workingman  a  just  human  bargain,  on  the  lines  so  plainly 
drawn  out  by  Leo  XIII.  in  his  encyclical. 

And  they  should  defend,  by  every  fair  means  at  their  disposal,  the  rights  of  public 
property,  which  is,  in  fact,  their  property,  not  permitting  it  to  be  sold,  or  squandered,  or 
stolen  away,  under  pretense  that  the  individual  who  is  going  to  get  rich  by  appro- 
priating it  has  acquired  a  legal  claim  upon  that  which  in  such  absolute  fashion  never 
could  legally  be  made  over  to  him. 

If  all  this  amounts  to  no  less  than  reforming  your  legislatures,  then,  in  God's  name, 
set  about  reforming  them,  root  and  branch.  And  if  a  mandate  to  your  executive  is 
required,  shall  it  never  be  forthcoming?  Is  not  the  responsibility  of  a  free  citizen 
something  which  he  neither  can  nor  ought  to  give  to  another?  Your  political  freedom 
should  bring  with  it  economic  justice.  There  is  little  meaning  else  in  that  declaration 
of  independence  which  is  written  upon  American  hearts. 

At  all  events,  let  not  those  who  uphold  democracy  imagine  that  capitalism  without 
religious  or  moral  obligations  to  society  at  large  is  but  the  proper  expression  of  its  prin- 
ciples, or  that  State  interference  with  it  is  against  the  constitution.  Just  because  all 
citizens  have  an  inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  it  is 
undemocratic,  un-American  and  un-Christian,  that  a  few  should  be  millionaires  without 
duties,  and  that  the  millions  should  become  a  proletariat  deprived  of  decent  leisure, 
home  affections,  Sunday  rest,  and  the  possibility  of  serving  God  religiously;  or  be 
doomed,  in  spite  of  their  utmost  efforts,  to  see  old  age  coming  upon  them  with  no  refuge 
but  charity  or  the  workhouse. 

Our  hope  is  that  the  Christian  democracy  of  America  will,  by  peaceful  and  appro- 
priate legislation,  put  an  end  to  these  things  which  have  lasted  too  long.  It  seems  to 
me,  in  an  especial  way,  the  duty  of  Christian  teachers,  be  they  laymen  or  ecclesiastics,  to 
hasten  that  wished-for  consummation,  and  to  show  that  the  gospel  in  which  they 
believe  is  indeed  a  law  of  liberty,  the  condition  of  the  highest  form  of  government  and 
as  fraternal  as  it  is  just. 

Dr.  Charles  A.  Wingerter,  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  read  an  interesting 
paper  on  "Public  and  Private  Charities."  He  said: 

It  is  fitting  that  a  Catholic  Congress  should  take  up  the  consideration  of  the 
great  problem  of  practical  charity,  for  charity  is  the  heart  of  the  new  dispensation 
whose  hold  upon  the  world  of  men  a  Catholic  Congress  is  designed  to  strengthen.  It  is 
especially  fitting  that  this  problem  should  be  of  interest  to  an  American  Catholic 
Congress,  for  poverty  tends  to  be  especially  dangerous  in  a  republic,  and  inequality  in 
social  condition,  in  the  possession  of  power,  in  the  distribution  of  wealth,  though, 
perhaps,  it  will  ever  exist,  is  most  out  of  place  in  a  land  like  ours,  whose  greatest  boast 
before  the  nations  is  that  it  would  have  all  men  equals.  It  is  meet  and  just,  then, 
that  we,  as  American  Catholics,  face  fairly  and  squarely  this  question  of  public  and 
private  charities,  and  how  they  shall  be  made  more  beneficial  arid  effective. 

There  should  be  no  need  of  enforcing  upon  Catholics  the  duty  of  charity.  Time 
was  when  it  was  a  new  doctrine  that  we  are  bound  to  love  and  work  good  to  all  men, 


192 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


even  to  our  enemies.  That  time  is  past.  The  blessed  doctrine  of  the  Saviour  is  now  a 
platitude,  a  commonplace.  The  danger  is  that  familiarity  with  it  may  lead  us  to  indif- 
ference. It  is  therefore  wise  that  on  occasions  like  this  we  should  remind  ourselves  of 
the  doctrine  and  duty  of  charity;  that  we  should  put  ourselves  anew  into  right  adjust- 
ment with  it,  and  make  right  adjustment  between  it  and  the  tendency  surrounding  us. 

It  is  common  knowledge  that  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  century  is  a 
fine  impatience  to  be  doing  good.  Altruism  is  the  shibboleth  of  the  hour.  Philantro- 
phy  is  the  banner  of  the  times.  What  the  Germans  well  name  the  "Zeitgeist,"  the  spirit 
of  the  age,  may  be  described  as  a  two-fold  desire:  First,  the  desire  to  systemize  all 
things  which  is  embodied  in  the  modern  scientific  spirit;  and  secondly,  that  material  good 
things  shall  be  distributed  among  all  men.  Of  this  latter  desire  are  born  communism 
and  socialism,  under  whatever  mask  they  hide.  Add  to  these  two  desires  but  one  thing, 
the  spirit  of  the  church,  which  is  identical  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  her  spouse,  and  there 
will  be  evolved  therefrom  a  motive  power  and  a  means  of  surely  making  public  and  pri- 
vate charities  more  effective  and  beneficial. 

The  spirit  of  the  church  must  come  first,  however.  An  edifice  cannot  outstand  its 
foundations.  Charity  and  philanthropy,  if  they  are  to  be  lasting,  must  not  be  reared 
on  the  shifting  sands  of  a  false  philosophy.  Man  is  a  creature  of  motives.  His  con- 
duct will  not  outlive  the  motives  that  inspire  it.  Before  all  else,  then,  he  must  have  a 
great  and  lasting  motive  for  his  charity.  There  has  been  evolved  during  the  century  a 
philosophy,  called  by  its  followers  a  religion,  which  inspires  much  of  the  philanthropy  of 
the  day,  though  the  philanthropists  themselves  do  not  always  perceive  it.  This  philo- 
sophy, the  positivism  of  Comte,  teaches  the  worship  of  humanity  and  can  urge  charity 
to  the  poor  for  no  higher  motive  than  this,  that  poverty  is  directly  degrading  to  the 
poor  and  thus  indirectly  degrading  to  humanity.  Therefore  poverty  must  be  abo- 
lished. Positivism  is  a  husk  of  glamour  round  a  heart  of  weakness.  Humanity  in  the 
abstract  is  too  vague  a  deity  for  human  hearts  to  worship,  and  philanthropy  done  in  so 
unreal  a  spirit  and  for  so  untangible  an  end  is  surely  doomed  to  death.  A  new  life, 
which  is  the  old  life  of  the  ages  of  faith,  must  be  infused  into  modern  philanthropy  if  it 
is  to  be  saved  from  going  down  to  death  with  dying  positivism.  Therefore  the  necessity 
of  crying  aloud  from  the  housetops  to  all  the  passers-by  the  sweet  doctrines  of  Christian 
charity.  Therefore  the  fitness  that  from  this  Congress  should  go  forth  an  earnest 
reminder  of  those  doctrines  and  the  duties  flowing  from  them. 

The  poor  are  God's  chosen  ones — beati  pauperes.  Nay,  they  are  His  representa- 
tives. He  was  one  of  them  when  on  earth,  and  He  left  as  one  of  our  precious  legacies 
the  assurance  that  what  we  do  for  the  least  of  them  is  done  even  to  Himself.  Such  is 
the  first  great  truth  that  serves  as  a  part  of  the  corner-stone  of  Christian  charity.  The 
second  is  no  less  known  to  us,  for  the  New  Testament  but  rehearses  the  truth  of  the 
old  dispensation  when  it  bids  us  be  ever  mindful  that  we  are  only  stewards  set  over 
part  of  the  riches  of  this  world.  "  The  silver  is  Mine  and  the  gold  is  Mine,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts."  We  are  but  the  almoners  of  His  bounty,  and  shall  be  called  to  give 
an  account  of  our  stewardship.  Thus  far  all  is  clear  enough.  God  demands  from  us 
part  at  least  of  the  increase  of  the  substance  He  has  given  us.  He  has  left  us  His 
representatives  on  earth  to  receive  it — His  poor  and  the  Ministers  of  His  Gospel.  Now, 
how  can  we  make  this  duty  tangible?  Surely  we  have  not  been  left  without  a  standard 
to  gauge  our  faithfulness  to  the  duty  of  returning  to  God  His  portion. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  practical  charity  work  will  have  been 
overcome  when  we  have  all  learned  to  set  aside  a  definite  portion  of  our  income  for  tha 
poor.  The  amount  given  in  charity  is  too  often  measured  by  the  transient  feelings  and 
circumstances  of  the  hour  when  call  is  made  upon  us;  and  we  too  often  allow  the  poor 
to  suffer  because  of  the  follies  and  extravagances  which  have  eaten  up  the  portion  that 
should  be  reserved  for  the  luxury  of  charity.  What  we  waste  foolishly  must  not  be 
made  amends  for  from  the  portion  of  God  and  His  poor,  but  from  our  own  portion. 

But,  it  will  be  asked,  how  much  does  God  demand  from  us?  At  least  one-tenth. 
Some  will  not  conceive  their  duty  so  narrowly  and  will  be  generous,  giving  more  than 
one-tenth,  but  the  sad  truth  is  that  many  give  less  and  some  nothing.  The  whole 
Christian  world  does  not  give  to  God  more  than  one- third  of  the  one-tenth  due.  If  any 
among  us  find  ourselves  startled,  as  some  of  us  may,  at  the  thought  of  parting  with 
one-tenth  of  our  incomes,  thinking  it  too  much,  be  assured  we  have  not  really  believed 
the  teaching  of  God's  church  during  the  vanished  centuries  and  to-day,  for  that  teaching 
is  plain  beyond  all  dispute.  We  must  not  allow  the  luxuries  which  we  love  to  win  us 
from  the  mindfulness  of  the  dangers  and  responsibilities  of  wealth;  to  seduce  us  from 
our  duty  on  the  specious  plea  that  "charity  begins  at  home."  Direct  duty  to  God  is 
before  all  else,  and  even  before  ourselves  and  families  may  profit  from  our  income  God's 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIA*  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  ^ 

part  must  be  laid  aside  and  kept  sacredly  for  Him.  And  if  there  be  any  here  who  are  so 
weak  in  faith  as  not  to  trust  God  in  this  matter  without  His  express  promise  that  they 
shall  not  lose  by  obeying  Him,  even  they  must  not  think  to  escape.  The  Omnipotent 
has  given  His  word  that  the  paradoxical  shall  become  truth.  "  Some  distribute  their 
own  goods  and  grow  richer;  others  take  away  what  is  not  their  own  and  are  always  in 
want."  Pro  xi.,  24.  "  Honor  the  Lord  with  thy  substance  and  with  the  first  of  all  thy 
fruits,  and  thy  barns  shall  be  filled  with  abundance  and  thy  presses  shall  run  over  with 
wine."  Pro.  iii.,  9-10.  It  is  even  to  our  worldly,  material  interest  to  fulfil  the  law  in 
this  matter.  If  we  take  God  into  partnership  with  us  in  our  worldly  business  (I  speak 
in  all  respect  and  humanly) He  has  promised  that  He  will  prosper  us.  "Try  Me  in  this," 
saith  the  Lord.  If  we  obey  His  ordinance  and  tithe  our  income  for  the  propagation  of 
the  faith  and  the  relief  of  His  poor,  He  will  open  for  us  the  flood-gates  of  heaven  and 
pour  us  forth  a  blessing  even  to  abundance.  Observe  how  expressly  He  promises  mate- 
rial blessings,  wealth,  and  honor,  and  power,  and  prosperity,  so  that  all  nations  shall 
call  us  blessed.  And  we  know  that  the  God  of  Truth  can  not  become  a  liar  and  a 
breaker  of  promises.  And  by  way  of  parenthesis,  I  should  say  that  I  believe  one  of 
the  secrets  of  the  proverbial  great  material  prosperity  of  the  Jewish  people  throughout 
the  world  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  nearly  all,  either  through  custom  or  conviction, 
tithe  their  incomes  for  the  benefit  of  their  poor  even  to  this  day. 

The  German  mind  is  eminently  a  scientific  mind,  and  to  the  Germans  we  owe  a  sys- 
tem of  charity  work  which  is  theoretically  perfect,  and  if  it  be  not  absolutely  without 
all  flaw  in  practice,  the  reason  is  that  the  faults  of  our  frail  human  nature  enter  into 
every  work  done  by  human  agents,  I  wish  to  call  your  earnest  attention  to  this  sys- 
tem, for  it  is  the  best  answer  of  which  I  know  to  the  question  that  forms  the  title  of 
this  paper.  How  shall  public  and  private  charities  be  made  more  effective  and  benefi- 
cial? Let  us  first,  however,  duly  emphasize  the  truth  that  there  should  be  method  in 
our  giving.  The  necessity  for  organized  charity  is  especially  evident  in  the  towns  and 
the  cities.  In  hamlets  and  villages,  where  every  man  and  hie  real  wants  and  deserts 
are  known  of  his  neighbors,  the  spirit  of  neighborly  helpfulness  suffices  to  bring  relief 
to  the  distress  of  the  worthy  poor.  There  is  here  little  danger  of  hurtful  giving.  But 
where,  as  in  larger  centers  of  population,  the  helped  are  always  to  some  extent 
strangers  to  the  helpers,"  and  where  the  needy,  who  still  retain  some  part  of  their  self- 
dependence,  must  be  sought  out  if  they  are  to  be  helped,  gifts  are  often  bestowed  on 
the  unworthy,  while  deserving  unfortunates  are  left  in  distress.  The  newspapers  have 
too  often  recorded  the  story  of  a  starving  family  found  too  late.  And  perhaps  over  the 
way  the  thriftless  and  the  lazy,  who  do  not  shrink  from  making  full  parade  of  their 
wants,  and  by  long  practice  are  become  adepts  in  the  parading,  are  riotously  abusing 
the  charity  that  would  have  relieved  the  worthy  victims  of  poverty  and  saved  them  to 
life  and  to  life's  hopes  and  efforts. 

This  is  no  fancy  picture  I  am  suggesting.  Such  miscarriages  are  as  common  as 
they  are  shameful,  and  are  due  to  a  lack  of  organized  charity,  They  are  to  be  laid  at 
the  door  of  indiscriminate  giving.  Indiscriminate  giving  is  hurtful  whenever  it  puts  a 
premium  on  deception;  and  it  does  no  good  when  it  serves  as  a  cloak  to  hide  the  fact 
that  the  givers  give  less  than  their  share.  Most  often  these  results  are  its  only  fruit. 

As  I  have  already  said,  Germany  has  offered,  in  what  is  now  universally  known  as 
the  Elberfeld  system  of  charity  organization,  a  model  that  we  would  do  well  to  follow, 
for  it  seems  as  nearly  perfect  a  practical  system  as  human  brains  can  devise,  I  sincerely 
regret  that  a  hurried  outline  of  this  plan  is  all  that  I  can  venture  upon  here  if  I  would 
not  have  you  turn  from  me  as  from  a  guest  who  has  outstayed  his  welcome. 

First  of  all,  it  is  an  outdoor  system,  in  centra-distinction  to  the  poorhouse  system. 
Our  present  method  of  public  charity  is  an  inherited  tradition  that  finds  full  force  in 
the  Englisn  poor  law.  Our  public  charity  may  be  described  very  briefly;  we  pay  our 
taxes  and  support  a  poorhouse  and  then  rid  ourselves  of  any  further  responsibility  in 
the  matter.  The  self-acting  poorhouse  test  is  our  ultimatum.  If  a  person  is  not  willing 
to  go  to  the  city  or  county  poorhouse  we  assume  that  he  does  not  need  or  deserve  public 
help.  It  needs  no  second  thought  to  see  how  false  a  test  this  is,  as  we  apply  it.  Could 
we  not  more  truthfully  say:  A  man  who,  rather  than  vegetate  in  an  almshouse,  pre- 
fers to  stay  in  the  struggle  of  life  and  to  make  another  effort  to  overcome  defeat  is  the 
man  most  deserving  of  aid?  The  soul  of  the  German  system  is  a  desire  to  help  the 
laggards  in  the  march  of  life  to  a  more  effectual  struggle.  Where  the  English  system 
lets  him  who  has  fallen  by  the  wayside  lie  to  rot  in  soul  and  body,  the  German  system 
offers  him  a  helping  hand. 

One  of  our  most  earnest  strivers  in  the  cause  of  practical  scientific  charity  work 
has  described  so  well  the  difference  between  the  English  and  the  German  methods  that 
I  make  bold  to  quote  his  words.  Professor  F.  G.  Peabody  says: 


I94  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

"  These  two  systems  start  from  opposite  points  of  view  and  proceed  on  opposite 
principles.  The  English  test  of  poverty  is  the  willingness  of  the  pauper  to  go  to  the 
poorhouse;  the  German  test  is  that  of  personal  and  continual  investigation  of  each  case. 
The  English  plan,  roughly  speaking,  is  for  the  town  to  do  as  little  for  the  poor  outside 
of  its  institutions  as  is  safe  for  the  community;  the  German  plan  is  to  do  as  much  as  is 
safe.  English  citizens  are  accustomed  to  let  the  poor  law  ruin  itself;  German  citizens 
are  trained  to  be  its  agents.  Thus  the  one  plan,  completely  carried  out,  would  be 
wholly  official  and  mechanical;  the  other  would  be  wholly  personal  and  human.  The 
one  is  defensive  of  the  community;  the  other  is  educative  of  the  community.  The  one 
opposes  outdoor  relief;  the  other  consists  almost  wholly  of  outdoor  relief.  The  one 
frees  citizens  at  large  from  obligation  to  the  poor,  except  through  taxation;  the  other 
calls  on  citizens  at  large  to  serve  the  poor  as  a  part  of  their  duty  to  society.  We  stand 
for  the  present  between  these  two  principles.  On  one  hand  the  official  work  of  our 
cities  is  done  for  the  most  part  under  the  English  tradition.  On  the  other  hand,  our 
private  charity  is  guided  more  and  more  by  the  Elberfeld  model.  Which  way  are  we 
likely  to  move?  Which  tradition  is  likely  to  prevail?  " 

I  have  spoken  of  the  German  system  as  new,  meaning  that  it  is  new  to  America. 
It  is  not  new  in  the  sense  of  being  an  untried  theory.  It  was  introduced  in  Elberfeld  in 
1853,  since  which  time  it  has  won  its  way  by  sheer  force  of  worth  and  effective  practica- 
bility, until  it  is  to-day  actively  in  operation  in  more  than  thirty-five  German  towns  and 
cities,  such  as  Barmen  (1862),  Bremen  (1878),  Dresden  (1880),  Leipzig  (1881),  Frankfurt 
(1883),  Berlin  (1884),  Stuttgart  (1886),  Hamburg  (1891).  The  main  features  of  the  Elber- 
feld system  which  distinguish  it  from  private  charity  work  in  this  country  most 
approaching  it  in  spirit  and  method  are  two:  First,  the  distribution  of  work  by  spaces 
instead  of  cases;  and  secondly,  the  institution  of  a  thoroughly  maintained  charity  clear- 
ing-house or  central  office.  This  central  office  is,  moreover,  like  a  bridge  uniting  public 
and  private  work,  enabling  them  to  be  mutually  helpful,  saving  for  each  a  vast  deal  of 
labor  and  time  and  money. 

Now  to  explain  a  little  in  detail.  An  ample  corps  of  the  best  members  of  the  com- 
munity are  selected  by  the  public  authorities  to  act  as  visitors.  In  Germany  the  munic- 
ipal system  is  universally  compulsory,  but  to  read  the  list  of  the  visitors  is  to  find 
names  which  make  the  list  a  roll  of  honor.  The  whole  city  is  divided  into  small  squares, 
a  certain  number  of  which  are  aggregated  into  a  ward  conference.  To  each  of  these 
squares  is  detailed  a  visitor,  generally  one  living  in  the  near  neighborhood.  It  is  his  duty 
to  know  if  there  are  any  families  within  his  district  absolutely  in  need  of  immediate 
relief,  and  he  is  empowered  to  furnish  such  temporary  relief  until  his  ward  confer- 
ence, which  meets  every  week,  shall  take  the  matter  up.  Whenever  more  than  five 
families  needing  help  are  found  in  any  square,  it  is  redivided  and  a  new  worker  put 
on.  These  visitors  report  to  the  ward  conference,  which  relieves  temporary  wants  and 
in  turn  refers  important  questions  to  the  central  committee.  This  central  committee 
represents  the  different  interests  involved  in  charity  work,  is  elected  for  short  terms 
and  is  responsible  to  the  people.  At  its  head  is  a  responsible,  directing  superintendent 
who,  like  the  president  of  a  bank  or  railroad,  holds  his  position  for  a  long  service — in 
fact  during  efficiency,  and  is  thus  enabled  to  work  effectively  and  skillfully  as  manager 
of  the  central  office  or  clearing-house,  where  the  records  of  all  cases  of  need  and  help 
are  kept.  An  instance  will  show  how  admirably  public  and  private  charities,  by  means 
of  this  central  office,  are  enabled  to  work  in  harmony  and  to  mutual  advantage,  and 
with  economy  of  work  and  means. 

A  case  of  temporary  need  arises  and  is  reported  to  a  private  society,  which  relieves 
temporarily  but  invariably  reports  to  the  central  office.  Here  the  history  of  the  case  is 
promptly  referred  to.  The  records  permit  immediate  answers  to  the  following  ques- 
tions: What  is  the  petitioner's  reputation  on  the  record?  Has  he  received  help  from 
the  city?  From  any  other  relief  society?  From  any  local  benefit  society?  From  any 
trades  union?  Are  there  any  convictions  or  bad  reports  against  him  in  the  police 
offices?  Has  he  answered  truthfully  the  questions  of  the  visitor?  The  answers  to  these 
and  such  like  questions  enable  the  private  society  to  decide  if  the  case  be  appropriate 
to  its  sphere.  If  so  the  case  is  accepted;  if  not  it  is  referred  back  to  the  central  office 
and  from  there  to  the  proper  channel  of  relief.  Thus  the  assignment  of  cases  to  the 
appropriate  charity  becomes  easy;  the  duplication  of  relief  to  designing  impostors  is 
made  practically  impossible  and  the  labor  of  investigation  is  done  once  for  all. 

Such  is  the  system  in  outline.  Now  let  us  rehearse  briefly  some  of  the  more  salient 
advantages  that  commend  it.  Best  of  all,  it  makes  thorough  work  possible.  We  all 
know  that  with  the  present  method  of  assigning  workers  to  cases  instead  of  to  small 
districts  it  often  happens  that  cases  just  as  necessitous  on  the  same  street  are  over- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 


'95 


looked.  The  same  unfortunate  thing  occurs  where  visitors  have  a  large  district  to  over- 
see—a whole  ward,  for  instance.  Nor  is  this  surprising.  Thorough  work  is  practically 
impossible  with  our  present  methods.  We  must  have  a  new  method  if  we  are  t  >  work 
effectively.  There  might  be  suggested  to  your  minds  as  an  objection  to  the  German 
method  that  difficulty  in  finding  visitors  enough  would  render  it  impracticable.  This 
objection  disappears  with  a  second  thought.  The  present  difficulty  to  find  charity 
workers  arises  from  the  magnitude  and  indefinite  character  of  the  work.  Any  one  who 
has  had  any  experience  in  charity  work  will  confirm  me  on  this  point.  Men  will  say: 
"  See  here,  I  don't  care  to  undertake  the  work  you  propose  because  it  may  grow  to  such 
proportions  that  my  time  and  business  will  not  permit  me  to  attend  to  it  ]  roperly.  I 
am  willing  to  help,  but  what  I  do  must  be  definite.  I  will  give  a  specified  sum  of  money 
every  week  or  month,  because  I  know  then  to  what  I  am  binding  myself." 

Suppose,  however,  that  we  should  say  to  such  men:  "  Will  you,  under  printed 
instructions,  take  upon  yourself  to  supervise  Market  Street  from  Twenty -Fifth  to 
Twenty-Sixth  streets  on  condition  that  if  you  find  more  than  four  families  needing 
continuous  help  your  district  will  be  subdivided?  "  Few  would  be  found  to  refuse  and 
there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  finding  visitors  for  all  the  small  squares.  Many  men 
who  are  now  willing,  perhaps  anxious,  to  take  up  practical  poor  relief  are  deterred  by 
present  methods,  and  would  enlist  themselves  in  the  ranks  of  helpers  when  the  work  is 
specified  and  definitely  fixed  by  rule. 

With  the  new  system,  as  has  been  said,  the  labor  of  investigation  is  done  once  for 
all.  This  point  is  important,  because  the  unworthy  poor,  knowing  that  they  are  sure 
of  temporary  relief  during  investigation,  shrewdly  use  this  knowledge  where  there  is  no 
clearing-house  such  as  I  am  describing.  They  apply  in  turn  to  all  the  charitable 
associations  and,  since  under  present  methods  the  investigation  in  each  case  is  to  be 
repeated,  they  are  encouraged  to  postpone  all  effort  at  self-help  until  they  have  made 
the  tour  of  all  the  relief  societies.  Where  the  Elberfeld  system  is  in  practice  no 
encouragement  is  given  to  those  who  make  a  profession  01  abusing  charity. 

In  this  system,  then,  we  have  not  only  organized  and  personal  work  but  uplifting 
and  educative  work,  inasmuch  as  it  encourages  self-help,  self-respect,  self-dependence. 
In  every  appeal  for  help  the  reputation  of  the  petitioner  and  the  condition  of  his 
home  must  be  described  by  the  visitor,  it  is  to  the  advantage  of  the  applicant  to 
be  described  as  moral,  upright,  neat,  and  thrifty.  He  is  not  tempted  to  make  his 
personal  condition  and  surrounding  filthy  and  degraded.  Rather  is  he  encouraged  to 
be  clean  in  character,  person,  and  home,  for  he  thus  increases  his  chances  of  sub- 
stantial help.  If  charity  is  to  be  truly  effective  it  must  restore,  where  need  be,  and  at 
all  events  preserve  physical,  moral,  and  mental  health  and  vigor  among  the  needy. 
To  take  to  them  money  or  food  or  fuel  is  not  enough.  We  must  take  to  them  knowl- 
edge and  a  stronger  will;  we  must  infuse  into  them  a  life  which  is  so  virile  and  robust 
as  to  throw  off  poverty  as  a  healthy  body  throws  off  disease;  nay,  rather  a  life  which 
impels  and  helps  them  to  raise  themselves  out  of  the  atmosphere  and  surroundings 
which  poverty  needs  to  thrive  in.  To  borrow  an  illustrative  example  from  the  science 
of  medicine,  the  wise  physician  would  not  be  content  to  administer  anti-malarial 
medicines  to  the  dwellers  in  a  swamp.  He  would  also  encourage  them  to  rise  up  from 
their  miasmatic  surroundings  and  find  higher  ground,  to  flee  from  the  cause  of  their 
distemper.  In  like  manner,  we  must  not  be  content  simply  to  tide  the  poor  over  a 
week  of  hunger  if  they  will  be  as  hungry  in  a  week  to  come.  To  be  satisfied  simply 
with  giving  relief  to  present  distress  is,  in  many  cases,  simply  to  make  assured  the 
recurrence  of  such  distress.  We  must  take  to  the  needy  strength  to  make  efforts  in 
their  own  behalf.  We  must  fortify  them  for  a  more  effectual  struggle. 

But  I  must  end,  though  I  have  been  able  to  give  only  the  roughest  outline  of  this 
admirable  German  system  and  its  main  developments.  I  would  like  especially  to  speak 
of  the  tramp-colonies  and  the  child-colonies.  The  aim  of  these  colonies  is  but  a  partic- 
ular application  of  the  general  principle  of  the  German  system — that  is,  thorough  char- 
ity work — the  carrying  of  individual  cases  to  recovery.  The  tramp-colonies  serve  as 
breathing  spots  for  the  struggling  traveler  on  life's  journey,  and  the  child-colonies  strive 
to  save  the  children.  When,  as  unfortunately  happens  sometimes,  men  and  women  have 
pursued  evil  courses  so  long  that  they  can  no  longer  be  roused  to  hate  the  causes  of 
poverty,  which  are  discouragement,  vice,  and  unfitting  surroundings,  the  one  thing 
urgent  is  to  save  the  children.  But,  these  features  are  refinements  of  the  system  and 
therefore  forbidden  a  place  in  such  a  limited  paper  as  this,  which  must  now  come  to  an 
end.  I  will  be  more  than  content  if,  by  calling  your  attention  to  the  system,  I  can 
bring  you  to  interest  yourselves  in  a  study  of  it.  Admiration  will  do  the  rest. 


196  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

Now  to  rehearse  briefly  the  ideas  which  I  would  that  we  could  all  carry  borne 
with  us  to  serve  as  seeds  of  earnest  practical  efforts  to  make  public  and  private  char- 
ities both  effective  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  beneficial  to  ourselves  as  well  as  to 
them. 

1.  All  charity  work  must  be  done  along  the  line  of  moral  considerations  if  it  is  to 
be  lasting,  and  therefore  we  must  strengthen  the  moral  forces.    We  have  a  duty  to 
the  poor  and  should  appreciate  it  fully.    We  have  not  appreciated  it  fully  if  we  have 
not  realized  the  grounds  on  which  that  duty  rests.    We  have  not  appreciated  it  fully 
unless  we  recognize  its  tangibleness,  unless  we  learn  to  remember  always  that  a  certain 
portion  of  our  income  is  owed  as  a  debt  of  honor  to  the  Master  and  to  the  poor,  His 
pensioners. 

2.  After  these  two  lessons  have  been  well  learned  and  put  into  practice,  there 
must  be  personal  sacrifice  of  time  and  service  to  the  cause  of  our  less  fortunate 
brethren. 

3.  Our  work  must  be  organized,  discriminating,  with  no  waste  of  time  or  labor  or 
money. 

4.  It  must  be  humane,  done  in  the  spirit  of  fraternal  sympathy.   A  Good  Samaritan 
is  wanted  and  not  a  charity  machine. 

5.  It  must  be  educative,  elevating  the  helpers  and  the  helped. 

6.  It  must  be  continuous.    Every  individual  case  must  be  carried  to  recovery. 
We  must  keep  fast  hold  of  our  stumbling  brother's  hand  until  we  have  helped  him  to 
the  ground  where  he  can  advance  alone.    In  a  word,  our  charity  must  be  thorough  and 
it  will  be  effective. 

I  have  almost  done.  My  spirit  sinks  within  me  when  I  think  how  jejune  and 
hurried  and  unsatisfactory  is  all  that  I  have  written,  and  how  overwhelmingly  vast, 
how  almost  inexhaustible  is  the  subject  that  inspires  the  treatise.  I  can  only  hope  that 
my  effort  has  not  been  altogether  vain.  My  pen  and  lips  are  young  and  inexperienced, 
but  my  heart  is  full.  If  I  can  but  persuade  you  to  take  with  you  as  my  charity  offering 
one  tithe  of  the  earnestness  with  which  I  put  these  few  thoughts  before  you,  your  own 
Christian  nobleness  of  heart  and  love  of  duty  will  enable  you  to  far  outstrip  in  deeds 
the  thoughts  suggested  in  this  paper.  Let  each  one  of  us  go  home  resolved  that  charity 
shall  no  longer  be  the  vague,  unknowable  angel  she  has  been  in  the  past.  Let  us 
realize  that  if  hitherto  she  has  walked  lame  and  halting  it  is  because  we  have  by  our 
indifference  thrown  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  she  has  so  eagerly  but  hopelessly  pur- 
sued; because  we  have  mockingly  bid  her  God-speed  on  her  bright  errand  of  mercy,  and 
yet  have  taken  her  hand  only  to  serve  as  a  drag-chain  to  hinder  her  advance,  if  indeed 
we  have  even  offered  to  her  that  semblance  of  help.  Henceforth  all  shall  be  different. 
Henceforth  we  shall  know  charity  for  what  she  is — the  fairest  handmaid  of  religion. 
When  we  leave  this  hall  let  every  man  go  resolved  to  do  something  tangible  and  prac- 
tical for  the  cause  of  charity  before  the  next  Congress  meets.  Consider  a  moment  how 
much  will  have  been  done  for  the  cause  of  rational  charity  work  if,  as  a  result  of  this 
meeting,  every  man  here  present  resolves  here  and  now  sacredly  to  put  apart  for  the 
betterment  of  the  poor  that  portion  of  his  income  which  belongs  to  them  by  right;  and 
if  in  only  one  out  of  every  ten  of  the  cities  represented  here  there  shall  have  been  estab- 
lished, by  the  time  of  the  next  Congress,  a  charity  clearing-house  or  a  system  of  work- 
ing that  will  cover  the  ground,  making  it  impossible  for  those  cities  to  be  shamed  by 
some  suddenly  discovered  case  of  harrowing  and  long-standing  distress.  And,  however 
humbly  a  man  may  have  done  his  part  in  feeding  the  hungry,  in  giving  drink  to  the 
thirsty,  in  clothing  the  naked,  in  healing  the  sick,  and  in  consoling  the  sorrowing,  if 
only  he  has  done  it  earnestly,  on  the  Book  of  Life  will  be  written  of  him  as  is  written  of 
his  Elder  Brother,  Christ,  pertransivit  benefaciendo — "  He  went  on  His  way  doing 
good."  And  when  time  and  life  have  worried  him  like  a  spent  hound,  and  he  is  laid  to 
rest,  he  liveth  still,  for  "  to  live  in  hearts  we  leave  behind  is  not  to  die." 

Thomas  F.  Ring-,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  in  his  paper  "Public  and  Private 
Charities;  How  Can  They  Be  Made  More  Effective  and  Beneficial — a  Cath- 
olic Layman's  Experience,"  said  in  substance: 

It  was  my  fortune  to  have  been  introduced  by  a  good  priest  to  the  Society  of  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul,  in  Boston,  in  1863.  I  have  remained  in  its  ranks  up  to  the  present  time. 
In  this  best  of  training  schools  for  a  layman,  I  have  seen  much  of  charity  as  dispensed 
by  Catholic  and  Protestant  organizations.  When  the  opportunity  of  taking  part  in 
public  charities  presented  itself  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  as  a  citizen  to  do  my  share  for 
the  good  of  the  unfortunate  of  all  classes  in  the  community,  and  gave  nice  years  of 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  197 

unpaid  service  to  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor,  as  the  contribution  of  one  whose  modest 
financial  means  have  never  permitted  him  to  do  much  good  except  through  personal 
services. 

An  excellent  opportunity  to  visit  and  closely  study  the  various  public  institutions  of 
the  city  of  Boston,  was  given  me  last  year.  In  this  series  of  visits,  I  had  in  mind  two 
objects,  first,  the  public  good,  and,  second,  the  interests  of  the  Catholic  inmates.  The 
immediate  cause  that  gave  this  chance  of  seeing  the  inside  workings  of  the  public  insti- 
tutions was  the  frequent  complaints  appearing  in  the  newspapers  regarding  the  manage- 
ment of  the  different  houses  by  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Institutions. 

Outbreaks  in  the  prisons,  magnified  into  riots;  reports  of  overcrowding  in  the 
lunatic  asylum,  and  lack  of  proper  care  or  sufficient  attendance;  neglect  and  disorder 
in  the  almshouse;  the  entire  lack  of  any  serious  attempt  to  improve  the  boys  sent  for 
reformation;  a  confusion  and  absence  of  any  valuable  results  from  the  method  of  car- 
rying on  the  truant  school.  A  well-qualified  lawyer,  two  physicians  of  high  local 
repute,  one  business  man,  a  lady  who  has  been  years  secretary  of  a  State  board,  another 
lady  member  of  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor,  and  one  excellent  woman,  a  quiet  but  effi- 
cient worker  in  Catholic  charities,  made  up  the  committee  to  visit  the  institutes. 
When  the  final  report  of  the  committee  was  made  public  the  whole  press  of  the  city 
declared  the  document  to  be  one  of  lasting  value,  and,  coming  from  a  source  that 
could  not  be  accused  of  having  any  political  bias,  was  entitled  to  receive  the  confidence 
of  the  people.  The  calm,  temperate  tone  of  the  document,  the  plain  intent  to  be  per- 
fectly fair  while  being  perfectly  fearless,  giving  the  commissioners  full  credit  for  all 
the  good  points  revealed  by  the  inquiry,  still  pointing  the  way  to  many  improvements 
in  the  general  methods  in  management,  certainly  gave  great  weight  to  the  recommenda- 
tions of  the  committee. 

What  was  the  immediate  result?  The  appropriation  of  $327,000  for  the  purchase  of 
land  and  the  erection  of  a  first-class  modern  hospital  for  the  insane.  Four  hundred  new 
cells  for  the  House  of  Industry.  The  closing  of  the  truant  school  on  the  island  when 
the  new  parental  school,  authorized  to  be  built,  shall  be  completed.  Within  a  few 
months  an  incident  led  to  the  passing  of  a  city  ordinance  authorizing  the  mayor  to 
appoint  a  visiting  committee  of  five,  two  of  whom  to  be  women,  to  inspect  the  public 
institutions  and  to  report  at  the  end  of  the  year,  or  at  any  time,  to  the  mayor  as  to  the 
condition  of  the  institutions  and  their  recommendations  in  relation  to  the  same.  The 
committee,  during  their  term  last  year,  visited  many  of  the  lunatic  asylums,  prisons, 
and  almshouses  in  the  State,  and  consulted  with  officials  and  individuals  who  had 
knowledge  of  the  broad  question  of  the  care  of  the  defective,  delinquent,  and  dependent 
classes,  as  they  are  termed.  In  the  course  of  this  widened  search  careful  note  was 
taken  of  the  number  of  Catholic  inmates  by  the  two  Catholic  members  of  the  com- 
mittee. 

Beginning  with  the  city  institutions,  we  found  that  three-quarters  of  all  the  poor 
and  the  prisoners  were  of  the  Catholic  faith.  In  the  Reformatory  for  Boys  and  the 
Boys'  Truant  School  the  proportion  holds  practically  the  same.  In  the  State  institu- 
tions one-half  of  the  children  are  Catholics.  The  city  institutions  are  attended  by  priests 
and  every  reasonable  opportunity  is  given  by  the  commissioners  to  the  inmates  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  religious  ministrations.  The  policy  of  the  city  and  State  is  to  retain 
children  within  the  institutions  for  only  the  shortest  term,  then  to  place  them  at  board 
in  families  at  the  public  cost,  or  to  bind  them  out  to  learn  some  trade  or  calling  until 
eighteen  years  of  age,  without  payment  of  board.  Here,  then,  in  our  commonwealth 
were  2,000  Catholic  children,  nearly  all  in  Protestant  families,  or  likely  to  be  in  them 
within  a  year.  The  Catholics  usually  have  so  many  of  their  own  to  care  for  that  one 
must  generally  look  elsewhere  for  the  childless  home  waiting  for  the  homeless  child. 
Here  is  a  fearful  annual  loss  to  the  church.  Is  it  only  in  Massachusetts  such  a  loss  can 
be  found? 

The  policy  of  the  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Society  in  Boston,  in  the  domain  of  private 
charities,  has  been  to  join  hands  at  once  with  our  Protestant  fellow-citizens  in  any  work 
where  it  felt  it  could  be  of  any  use  to  Catholic  poor  children.  "Don't  meddle  with  the 
faith  of  the  Catholic  child  and  we  will  go  any  length  with  you  "  is  what  we  have  said 
from  the  start.  We  have  found  our  Protestant  fellow-citizens,  as  a  rule,  well  disposed, 
and,  without  surrendering  our  Catholic  faith,  we  can  work  side  by  side  with  them  for 
the  good  of  the  community  of  which  we  are  a  part.  Our  danger  does  not  lie  so  much  in 
the  antagonism  of  our  Protestant  neighbors  as  in  the  apathy  of  our  Catholic  selves. 
Now,  I  will  venture  to  say,  no  Catholic  child  in  Boston  need  drift  out  of  Catholic  hands 
if  the  facts  can  be  placed  in  our  possession  in  time.  Protestant  societies  inform  us  of 
Catholic  children  ;  we  turn  over  all  Protestant  children  to  Protestant  societies.  We  are 
in  the  field  to  protect  our  own  and  have  our  hands  full. 


198  WOULD' S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

If  I  were  asked  to  say  in  one  word  how  the  public  and  private  charities  of  the 
country  can  be  made  more  beneficial  and  useful,  I  should  select  the  word  "co-opera- 
tion." Co-operation,  frankly  and  cordially,  with  all  our  fellow-citizens  for  the  common 
good  of  the  community.  A  Catholic  citizen  is  bound,  under  command  of  God,  to  yield 
faithful  obedience  to  lawfully  constituted  civil  authority.  When  the  State  arrogates  to 
itself  the  power  that  belongs  to  heaven  and  attempts  to  seat  itself  in  the  throne  of  God, 
He  is  justified  in  repudiating  the  usurped  authority.  The  care  of  the  sick,  the  demented, 
the  destitute  child,  and  feeble  age,  is  part  of  the  duty  of  the  whole  community,  and  every 
citizen  who  can  help  should  not  at  need,  refuse  or  withhold  his  aid.  In  addition  to 
his  duty  as  a  good  citizen  he  has  another  duty  as  a  Catholic:  To  watch  with  tender 
care  over  the  poor  who  are  of  the  household  of  the  faith;  to  work  hand  in  hand  with  all 
who  labor  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  good  of  the  little  ones  of  Christ;  to  give  him- 
self, which  is  worth  more  than  mere  giving  of  money.  Let  him  hold  constantly  in 
his  mind  the  warning  of  St.  James,  ''Faith  without  works  is  dead."  Let  his  faith  be  a 
living  faith,  full  of  good  works  for  his  country,  full  of  good  works  for  God. 

SIXTH  DAY. 

On  Saturday,  September  pthjthe  proceedings  of  this  memorable  gathering 
cavne  to  an  end,  with  the  most  fervid  enthusiasm,  in  the  presence  of  a  vast 
concourse  of  the  clergy  and  laity.  Following  are  the  adopted 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  CONGRESS. 

The  Columbian  Catholic  Congress  of  the  United  States,  assembled  in  Chicago,  in 
the  year  of  grace,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-three,  with  feelings  of  pro- 
found gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  the  manifold  blessings  which  have  been  vouch- 
safed to  the  Church  in  the  United  States  and  to  the  whole  American  people,  and  which 
blessings  in  the  material  order  have  found  their  compendious  expression  in  the  marvel- 
OUH  Exposition  of  the  World's  Fair  held  to  commemorate  the  four  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  the  discovery  of  this  continent  by  the  great  Catholic  navigator,  Christopher 
Columbus,  conforming  to  the  custom  of  such  occasions  adopt  the  following  resolutions: 

1.  We  reaffirm  the  resolutions  of  the  Catholic  Congress  held  in  Baltimore,  Nov.  11 
and  12,  A.  D.  1889. 

2.  We  declare  our  devoted  loyalty  and  unaltered  attachment  to  our  Holy  Father, 
Pope  Leo  XIII.,  and  we  thank  him  for   sending  us  a  special  representative,  and  we 
enthusiastically  hail  his  Apostolic  Delegate  as  the  hostage  of  his  love  for  America  and  a 
pledge  of  his  paternal  solicitude  for  our  country  and  its  institutions.    It  is  the  sense  of 
this*;  Congress  that  the  Vicar  of  Christ  must  enjoy  absolute  independence  and  autonomy 
in  Ihe  exercise  of  that  sublime  mission,  to  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  he  has  been 
called  as  the  head  of  the  Church  for  the  welfare  of  religion  and  humanity. 

3.  We  congratulate  our  Hierarchy  on  the  wondrous  growth  and  development  of 
the  Church  throughout  the  United  States,  the  results,  under  God,  of  the  united  wisdom 
and  unselfish  devotion  of  those  true  shepherds  of  the  Christian  flock,  and  we  pledge  to 
our  bishops  and  priests  our  unfaltering  devotion  and  fidelity. 

4.  While  the  signs  of  the  times  are  hopeful  and  encouraging,  and  material  prosper- 
ity is  more  widely  diffused  than  in  any  previous  age,  we  should  be  willfully  blind  should 
we  fail  to  recognize  the  existence  of  dangers  to  the  Church  and  to  society  requiring  a 
most  earnest  consideration.    Among  the  most  obvious  of  these  dangers  is  the  growing 
discontent  among  those  who  earn  their  living  by  manual  labor.    A  spirit  of  antagonism 
has  been  steadily  growing  between  the  employer  and  the  employed  that  has  led  in  many 
instances  to  deplorable  results. 

The  remedies  suggested  vary  from  the  extreme  of  anarchical  revolution  to  different 
types  of  state  socialism.  These  remedies,  by  whatever  names  they  may  be  called,  with 
whatever  zeal  and  sincerity  they  are  urged,  must  fail  wherever  they  clash  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  truth  and  justice.  We  accept  as  the  sense  of  this  Congress,  and  urge  upon  the 
consideration  of  all  men,  whatever  be  their  religious  views  or  worldly  occupations,  the 
Encyclical  of  our  Holy  Father  Leo  XIII.,  on  the  "  Condition  of  Labor,"  dated  May  15, 
A.  D.  1891.  In  the  spirit  of  his  luminous  exposition  of  this  subject,  we  declare  that  no 
remedies  can  meet  with  our  approval  save  those  which  recognize  the  right  of  private 
ownership  of  property  and  human  liberty.  Capital  can  not  do  without  labor,  nor  labor 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES,  199 

without  capital.  Through  the  recognition  of  this  interdependence  and  under  the  Chris- 
tian law  of  love  and  by  mutual  forbearance  and  agreement  must  come  the  relief,  for 
which  all  good  men  should  earnestly  strive. 

5.  We  strongly  indorse  the  principles  of  conciliation  and  arbitration  as  an  appro- 
priate remedy  fur  the  settlement  of  disagreements  between  employer  and  employed,  to 
the  end  that  strikes  and  lockouts  may  be  avoided;  and  we  recommend  the  appointment 
by  this  Congress  of  a  committee  to  consider  and  devise  some  suitable  method  of  carry- 
ing into  operation  a  system  of  arbitration. 

6.  We  suggest  to  our  clergy  and  laity  as  a  means  of  applying  the  true  principles  of 
Christian  morality  to  the  social  problems  that  have  now  attained  such  importance  the 
formation  of  societies,  or  the  use  of  already  existing  societies  of  Catholic  men,  for  the 
diffusion  of  sound  literature  and  the  education  of  their  minds  on  economic  subjects, 
thus  counteracting  the  pernicious  efforts  of  erroneous  teachings;  and  we  especially 
recommend  the  letters  of  our  Holy  Father,  particularly  those  on  "  Political  Power," 
"  Human  Liberty,"  and  "  The  Christian  Constitution  of  the  State."    The  condition  of 
great  numbers  of  our  Catholic  working  girls  and  women  in  large  towns  and  cities  is 
such  as  to  expose  them  to  serious  temptations  and  dangers,  and  we  urge,  as  a  meritori- 
ous work  of  charity  as  well  as  of  justice,  the  formation  of  Catholic  societies  for  their 
assistance,  encouragement,  and  protection.     We  advocate  also  the  continued  extension 
of  Catholic  life  insurance,  beneficial,  and  fraternal  societies.    The  work  that  such  asso- 
ciations have  already  accomplished  warrants  the  belief  that  they  are  founded  upon  true 
principles. 

7.  One  of  the  great  causes  of  misery  and  immorality  is  the  indiscriminate  massing 
of  people  in  cities  and  large  towns  and  their  consequent  crowding  into  tenement  houses, 
where  the  children  are,  from  their  infancy,  exposed  to  every  bad  example  and  corrupt- 
ing influence.     This  evil  has  drawn  the  attention  of  legislators  in  foreign  countries. 
We  believe  it  wise  charity  to  help  the  poor  to  help  themselves,  and  therefore  advise  the 
adoption  of  appropriate  measures  to  encourage  and  assist  families  to  settle  in  agricult- 
ural districts.     As  indicated  by  the  Holy  Father,  the  true  policy  is  to  induce  as  many 
as  possible  to  become  owners  of  the  land. 

8.  In  discharging  the  great  duty  of  Christian  charity  the  Catholic  laity  can  and 
should  do  much  by  personal  service  to  supplement  the  admirable  work  of  the  religious 
orders  devoted  to  charity,  and  we  urge  them  to  join  or  otherwise  encourage  the  confer- 
ences of  the  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  and  kindred  organizations  for  rendering  systematic 
aid  to  the  needy.    And  we  would  recall  to  the  minds  of  all  people  the  time-honored 
Catholic  practice  of  setting  apart  from  their  incomes  a  proportionate  sum  for  charity. 

9.  An  obvious  evil  to  which  may  be  traced  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  sorrows 
that,  afflict  the  people  is  the  vice  of  intemperance.    While  we  believe  that  the  individual 
sho  ild  be  guided  in  this  matter  by  the  dictates  of  right  conscience,  we  cannot  too 
strongly  commend  every  legitimate  effort  to  impress  upon  our  fellowmen  the  dangers 
arising  not  only  from  the  abuse,  but  too  often  from  the  use,  of  intoxicating  drink.    To 
this  end  we  approve  and  most  heartily  commend  the  temperance  and  total  abstinence 
societies  already  formed  in  many  parishes,  and  we  advise  their  multiplication  and  exten- 
sion.   We  favor  the  enactment  of  appropriate  legislation  to  restrict  and  regulate  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  emphasizing  the  admonition  of  the  last  Plenary  Council 
of  Baltimore,  we  urge  Catholics  everywhere  to  get  out  and  keep  out  of  the  saloon 
business. 

10.  To  the  members  of  our  secular  clergy,  religious  orders,  and  laity  who  are  devoting 
their  lives  to  the  noble  work  of  educating  the  Indian  and  negro  races,  we  extend  pur 
hearty  sympathy  and  offer  our  co-operation.    We  congratulate  them  on  the  consoling 
success  thus  far  attending  their  labors,  and  wish  them  Godspeed. 

11.  As  the  preservation  of  our  national  existence,  the  constitution  under  which  we 
live,  and  all  our  rights  and  liberties  as  citizens  depend  upon  the  intelligence,  virtue,  and 
morality  of  our  people,  we  must  continue  to  use  our  best  efforts  to  increase  and  strengthen 
our  parochial  schools  and  Catholic  colleges,  and  to  bring  all  our  educational  institutions 
to  the  highest  standard  of  excellence.    It  is  the  sense  of  this  Congress,  therefore,  that 
Catholic  education  should  be  steadfastly  upheld,  according  to  the  decrees  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Baltimore  and  the  decisions  of  the  Holy  See  thereon.    In  the  elevating  and 
directing  influence  of  Christian  higher  education  in  particular  we  recognize  the  most 
potent  agency  for  the  wise  solution  of  the  great  social  problems  now  facing  mankind. 
We  recognize  the  signal  wisdom  of  our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII.,  and  of  the  American 
hierarchy  in  founding  an  institution  of  highest  Christian  learning  in  our  national  capi- 
tal.   And  with  confidence  in  their  wisdom  so  to  direct  it  that  it  shall  be  fully  adequate 
to  the  needs  of  our  age  and  our  country,  we  cordially  pledge  to  them  our  active 


200  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

co-operation  in  making  it  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  of  the  Amer- 
ican Republic.  We  appeal  to  our  fellow-citizens  of  all  religious  denominations  to  teach 
the  rising  generation  to  love,  honor,  and  fear  our  common  Creator,  and  to  instill  into  their 
hearts  sound  principles  of  morality,  without  which  our  glorious  political  liberty  can  not 
continue.  Profoundly  appreciating  the  love  for  education  shown  by  the  Sovereign  Pon- 
tiff and  our  bishops,  we  repeat  what  has  been  said  in  this  Congress — that  "  it  is  only  the 
school  bell  and  the  church  bell  which  can  prolong  the  echo  of  the  liberty  bell." 

12.  We  desire  to  encourage  the  Catholic  Summer  School  of  America,  recently 
established  on  Lake  Champlain,as  a  means  of  promoting  education  on  university  exten- 
sion lines,  and  we  also  commend  the  forming  of  Catholic  reading  circles  as  an  aid  to 
the  summer  school,  and  an  adjunct  to  higher  education  in  general. 

13.  We  recognize  in  the  Catholic  Truth  Society  of  America  one  of  the  results  of 
the  first  American  Catholic  Congress  of  Baltimore,  and,  believing  it  to  be  admirably 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  times,  we  earnestly  recommend  it  to  the  Catholic  laity  as 
offering  them  an  excellent  means  of  co-operating  with  Holy  Church  in  her  glorious  work 
of  disseminating  Catholic  truth. 

14.  As  immoral  literature  is  one  of  the  chief  agencies  in  this  country  and  in  Europe 
for  the  ruin  of  faith  and  morality,  we  recommend  a  union  of  Catholics  and  non-Catho- 
lics for  the  suppression  of  this  evil,  whether  in  the  form  of  bad  books,  sensational 
newspapers,  or  obscene  pictorial  representations. 

15.  We  have  no  sympathy  with  any  effort  made  to  secularize  the  Sunday.    We 
urge  upon  our  fellow-citizens  to  join  in  every  effort  to  preserve  that  day  as  sacred,  in 
accordance  with  the  precepts  and  traditions  of  the  Church. 

16.  We  heartily  approve  of  the  principle  of  arbitration  in  the  settlement  of  the 
international  disputes.     We  rejoice  in  the  happy  results  that  have  already  attended  the 
application  of  this  ancient  principle  of  our  holy  mother,  the  Church,  and  we  earnestly 
hope  that  it  may  be  extended  and  that  thereby  the  evils  of  war  between  nations  may  be 
gradually  lessened  and  finally  prevented. 

Finally,  as  true  and  loyal  citizens,  we  declare  our  love  and  veneration  for  our  glori- 
ous Republic,  and  we  emphatically  deny  that  any  antagonism  can  exist  between  our 
duty  to  our  Church  and  our  duty  to  the  state.  In  the  language  of  the  Apostolic  Dele- 
gate, let  our  watchword  be,  "Forward!  in  one  hand  the  Gospel  of  Christ  and  in  the 
other  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States."  Let  us  keep  on  in  the  path  of  virtue  and 
religion,  that  the  blessings  of  our  national  liberties,  born  of  the  stern  energy  and  moral- 
ity of  our  forefathers,  may  be  preserved  for  all  time  as  a  sacred  heritage. 

On  rising  to  deliver  the  closing  address,  Cardinal  Gibbons  was  received 
with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.  He  saluted  the  chairman,  archbishops,  and  pre- 
lates on  the  platform,  and  said: 

THE  CARDINAL'S  CLOSING  ADDRESS. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  Owing  to  the  condition  of  my  health,  which  is  not  very 
strong  to-day,  and  the  brief  notice  that  I  received  to  address  you  this  morning,  my 
remarks  will  be  necessarily  very  short,  but  I  assure  you  they  will  come  from  the  depth 
of  my  heart.  When  I  had  the  honor  to  address  you  on  last  Monday  morning,  at  the 
opening  of  this  Catholic  Congress,  I  expressed  the  fond  anticipation  that  the  prayer  of 
hope  that  was  offered  up  then  would  be  crowned  to-day  by  a  thanksgiving  full  of  grati- 
tude to  God  and  of  joy  and  jubilation.  My  fondest  anticipations  have  been  more  than 
realized.  This  Congress  has  been  a  great  success.  The  eyes  of  the  civilized  world,  as 
you  all  know,  have  been  directed  during  those  days  toward  what  is  called  the  White 
City  of  Chicago,  and  I  may  also  add  that  the  ears  of  the  Catholic  world  have  been 
attentive  to  the  voice  that  has  proceeded  from  this  hall  of  Congress;  and  the  voice  that 
came  forth  from  this  hall  has  uttered  no  uncertain  sound.  There  has  been  no  confusion, 
no  conflict,  no  dissension;  but  there  has  been  peace  and  concord  and  unanimity  from 
beginning  to  end. 

The  voice  of  the  Congress  has  succeeded  in  dissipating  prejudices  and  in  removing 
many  misunderstandings  in  regard  to  the  teachings  and  practices  of  the  Church  of 
God.  First  of  all,  as  was  right  to  do,  the  voice  issuing  from  this  hall  has  proclaimed 
the  necessity  of  honoring  and  glorifying  God.  It  has  been  a  voice  in  behalf  of  God  and 
of  religion.  Next  to  religion  our  love  for  our  country  should  be  predominant,  and  there- 
fore we  have  recently  heard  a  resolution  offered  and  adopted  attesting  the  love  and 
affection  which  we  have  for  our  country  and  for  our  political  institutions.  This  Con- 
gress has  also  proclaimed  the  necessity  of  good  government,  and  it  has  told  us  that  there 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES.  20 1 

can  oe  no  good  government  without  law  and  order,  that  there  can  be  no  law  without 
authority,  there  can  be  no  authority  without  justice,  there  can  be  no  justice  without 
religion,  there  can  be  no  religion  without  God. 

I  need  not  say  that  the  voice  of  this  Congress  has  also  gone  forth  in  vindication  of 
the  rights  of  labor  and  also  of  its  obligations.  We  have  spoken  in  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  the  cause  of  the  toiling  masses,  and  we  have  been  told  that  every  honest  labor  in 
this  country  is  honorable.  Ever  since  Jesus  Christ,  our  Savior,  worked  in  a  carpenter 
shop  at  Nazareth  he  has  shed  a  halo  around  the  workshop,  and  he  has  made  labor 
honorable. 

This  Congress  has  also  spoken  both  during  its  sessions  and  by  its  resolutions  in  the 
cause  of  Christian  education.  It  has  spoken  of  the  importance  and  the  great  necessity 
of  Catholic  education.  At  the  same  time  let  it  not  be  understood  that  whilst  we  are 
advocating  Catholic  education  we  are  oppposed  to  secular  education.  The  whole  history 
of  the  Church  speaks  the  contrary.  There  can  be  no  conflict  between  secular  and 
religious  knowledge.  Religious  and  secular  knowledge,  like  Mary  and  Martha,  are 
sisters,  because  they  are  the  children  of  the  same  God.  Secular  knowledge,  like  Martha, 
is  busy  about  the  things  of  this  world,  while  religious  knowledge,  like  Mary,  is  found 
kneeling  at  the  feet  of  her  Lord. 

But  above  all,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  voice  of  this  Congress  has  spoken  out 
clearly  and  fully  in  vindication  of  the  holy  Catholic  Church;  it  has  removed  many 
prejudices  and  misunderstandings.  This  Congress  helped  to  tear  off  the  mask  that  the 
enemies  of  the  Church  would  put  upon  her  fair  visage.  This  Congress  has  torn  those 
repulsive  garments  with  which  her  enemies  would  clothe  her,  and  has  presented  her  to 
us  in  •&!!  her  heavenly  beauty,  bright  as  the  sun,  fair  as  the  moon,  with  the  beauty  of 
heaven  shining  upon  her  countenance.  This  Congress  has  well  shown  that  the  Catholic 
Church,  properly  understood,  is  the  light  of  the  world  and  the  refuge  of  suffering 
humanity.  You  have  a  white  city  here.  The  white  city  of  Chicago  has  seen  passing 
through  it  men  from  various  countries,  many  of  whom  are  assembled  here  now.  But 
may  I  not  say  the  Catholic  Church  is  pre-eminently  the  White  City?  She  has  within 
her  streets  men  of  all  nations  and  tribes  and  peoples  and  tongues,  and  we  who  are 
assembled  here  together  to-day  may  exclaim  in  the  language  of  Holy  Writ:  "Thou  hast 
redeemed  us,  O  Lord  God,  to  go  out  to  every  tribe  and  nation  and  people  and  tongue." 
Yes,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  Congress  will  result  in  bringing  more  love  and  admira- 
tion to  the  Church.  Men  will  look  at  her  now  and  admire  her,  and  admiring  her  they 
will  love  her,  and  loving  her  they  will  embrace  her.  With  the  blessing  of  God,  many 
who  were  before  strangers  to  our  Faith  will  come  forward  and  embrace  her  in  the  view 
of  the  light  that  has  been  shed  upon  her  here.  In  the  language  of  Augustine,  they  will 
say:  "Too  late  have  I  known  thee,  O  beauty,  ever  ancient  and  ever  new,  too  late  have  I 
loved  thee." 

And  now,  though  I  have  been  somewhat  anticipated,  I  deem  it  a  sacred  duty  to 
invite  you  to  join  with  me  in  offering  the  thanks  of  this  congress  and  of  this  vast  assembly 
to  all  who  have  participated  in  making  it  so  grand  a  success.  First  of  all  let  us  give  our 
thanks,  after  God,  to  our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII,  who,  in  his  letter  addressed  to  me 
recently,  manifested,  as  he  has  on  many  previous  occasions,  his  love  for  our  religious 
institutions  and  his  admiration  and  love  for  the  political  institutions  of  America.  I  beg 
also  to  ask  you  to  return  thanks  to  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  Chicago,  who  has 
done  so  much  to  make  this  Congress  successful  and  who  was  always  ready,  when  called 
upon,  to  give  his  counsel  and  advice  to  the  secretary  of  the  Congress.  I  beg  also  in  a 
special  manner  to  return  thanks  in  your  name  to  the  distinguished  chairman,  Judge 
O'Brien.  He  has  shown  you  in  the  Congress  his  judicial  wisdom — I  will  not  say  his 
judicial  firmness,  because  firmness  was  hardly  required  here.  The  conspicuous  position 
which  he  occupies  in  the  great  City  of  New  York,  and  the  reputation  which  he  has  well 
merited  for  judicial  wisdom  and  knowledge  have  been  more  than  sustained  by  his  conduct 
in  the  City  of  Chicago.  May  I  also  beg  leave  to  return  thanks  to  the  gentlemen  and  to 
the  ladies  who  have  prepared  with  so  much  care  and  ability  the  papers  that  were  read 
before  the  Congress.  Those  papers  have  not  only  reflected  credit  on  themselves,  but 
honor  to  the  Church  of  God.  They  deserve  our  thanks. 

And  last,  though  not  least,  I  beg  leave  to  thank  one  man  in  particular,  without 
whose  labors  this  Congress  would  not  have  been  a  success.  I  refer  to  one  who  has 
labored  in  season  and  out  of  season  in  organizing  the  Congress,  who  has  done,  I  might 
say,  the  greatest  share  in  bringing  it  to  a  successful  issue.  I  refer  to  W.  J.  Onahan, 
secretary  of  the  committee  on  organization.  In  conclusion  I  humbly  propose  that,  after 
thanking  from  our  hearts  our  Holy  Father  for  the  encouragement  he  has  given  us, 
this  vast  audience  manifest  its  appreciation  of  what  has  been  done  by  pouring  forth  its 


202  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

thanks  to  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  of  Chicago,  to  the  distinguished  chairman 
and  secretary,  and  that  you  will  express  your  appreciation  by  a  rising  vote. 

In  addition  to  the  general  resolutions  given  above,  the  Congress  adopted 
the  following  special  Peace  Memorial,  which  was  sent  to  the  rulers  of  all 
nations.  The  memorial  was  printed  in  twenty-five  different  languages,  and 
was  an  invitation  to  the  rulers  of  all  lands  to  settle  the  controversies  between 
nations  by  means  of  arbitration.  The  transcript  in  English  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States  reads  as  follows  : 

THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  WISHES  You  GRACE,  MERCY,  AND  PEACE  !  We,  in  co-opera- 
tion with  other  Christian  bodies,  humbly  memorialize  you,  as  the  guardian  of  your 
people,  in  behalf  of  peaceful  arbitration  as  a  means  of  settling  questions  that  arise 
between  nations.  The  spectacle  that  is  presented  of  Christian  nations  facing  each 
other  with  heavy  armaments,  ready  upon  provocation  to  go  to  war  and  settle  their  differ- 
ences by  bloodshed  or  conquests,  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  blot  upon  the  fair  name  of  Chris- 
tians. We  can  not  contemplate  without  the  deepest  sorrow  the  horrors  of  war,  involving 
the  reckless  sacrifice  of  human  life  that  should  be  held  sacred  ;  bitter  distress  in  many 
households,  the  destruction  of  valuable  property,  the  hindering  of  education  and  religion 
and  a  general  demoralizing  of  the  people. 

Moreover,  the  maintaining  of  a  heavy  war  force,  though  war  be  averted,  withdraws 
multitudes  from  their  homes  and  the  useful  pursuits  of  peace  and  imposes  a  heavy  tax 
upon  the  people  for  its  support.  And,  further,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  wars  do  not 
settle  causes  of  disputes  between  nations  on  principles  of  right  and  justice,  but  upon 
the  barbaric  principle  of  the  triumph  of  the  strongest. 

We  are  encouraged  to  urge  this  cause  upon  your  consideration  by  the  fact  that 
much  has  already  been  accomplished:  as,  for  example,  by  the  Arbitration  of  Geneva,  in 
the  Alabama  case  and  by  the  deliberations  of  the  American  conference  at  Washington 
not  to  mention  other  important  cases.  It  will  be  a  happy  day  for  the  world  when  all 
international  disputes  find  peaceful  solutions,  and  this  \ve  earnestly  seek. 

As  to  the  method  of  accomplishing  this  end  we  make  no  suggestions,  but  leave  that 
to  your  superior  intelligence  and  wisdom  in  matters  of  state  policy. 

We  invoke  upon  ruler  and  people  the  richest  blessings  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

Similar  messages  were  sent  to  Queen  Victoria,  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
the  President  of  the  French  Republic,  the  Czar  of  Russia,  King  of  Belgivm, 
Humbert  of  Italy,  Queen  of  the  Netherlands,  King  Christian  of 
Denmark,  King  Oscar  of  Norway;  the  regent  of  Spain,  Maria  Christina; 
Don  Carlos  I.  of  Portugal,  and  to  the  rulers  of  all  the  South  American 
and  Central  American  republics.  The  beautiful  incident  may  well  close 
these  volumes  of  "  The  Columbian  Jubilee."  It  is  typical  of  the  spirit  of  peace 
and  charity  toward  all  mankind  which  has  pervaded  the  Catholic  Chinch 
in  America  from  the  beginning. 


1. 

COfcU/VIIJUS  THG  DISCOVERGR. 


A  FOUR  HUNDRED  YEAR  JUBILEE. — WHY  CATHOLICS  SHOULD  PROUDLY  CELE- 
BRATE.— GLIMPSES  OF  Two  OLD  CONTINENTS.— COLUMBUS  THE  HISTORICAL 
LINK. — A  SAILOR'S  BIRTH  AND  TRAINING. — CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  AND 
PRACTICES. — LIFE  ON  THE  MEDITERRANEAN. — A  GALLANT  NAVAL  COM- 
MANDER.— SHIPWRECK  ON  A  STRANGE  COAST. — GOOD  LUCK  OF  MEETING  A 
BROTHER. — PICTURE  OF  A  MANLY  MAN. — MARRIAGE  AND  FORTUNES  IN 
LISBON. — DREAMS  OF  GREAT  DISCOVERY. — MANY  REBUFFS  AND  FAILURES. 
— THE  WIDOWED  WANDERER. — BEGGING  AT  A  CONVENT  GATE. — THE  Pious 
GUARDIAN  OF  LA  RABIDA. — NEW  HOPES  AND  A  HOME. — THE  CONFESSOR  OF 
ISABELLA  "THE  CATHOLIC." — SPAIN  AND  THE  MOORS. — PORTRAIT  OF  A 
MOST  ROYAL  LADY. — DISCUSSIONS,  DELAYS  AND  DISAPPOINTMENTS. — A 
SAILOR  BEFORE  CROWNED  HEADS. — FINAL  SUCCESS  AND  ITS  CONDITIONS. — 
A  QUEEN  PLEDGES  HER  JEWELS. — THE  ADMIRAL  OF  THE  GREAT  OCEAN. — 
EXCITING  TIMES  AT  PALOS. — IMPLORING  THE  BLESSING  OF  HEAVEN. — 
SAILING  OF  THE  MEMORABLE  EXPEDITION.  . 

i 

'N  her  fairest  inland  city,  with  vast  pomp  and  circumstance, 
America  celebrates  the  four-hundreth  anniversary  of  the  landing 
of  Christopher  Columbus.  As  Catholics  we  may  share  in  this 
Jubilee  with  pride  and  exultation.  The  man  and  the  event  com- 
memorated are  both  ours.  The  arrival  of  the  great  navigator  was 
likewise  the  advent  of  Catholic  truth  and  worship.  These  were 
plainly  symbolized  by  the  cross  which  he  planted  on  the  virgin  shore,  and 
which  to-day  shines  over  this  continent  from  sea  to  sea.  In  surveying  the 
field  of  history  we  shall  realize  even  more  thoroughly  that  both  the  discovery 
and  exploration  of  America  were  Catholic  enterprises,  undertaken  by 
Catholics  with  Catholic  motives,  and  carried  out  entirely  by  Catholic  co- 
operation. It  shall  also  be  made  clear  to  us  that  the  only  successful  attempts 
to  civilize  and  Christianize  the  savage  natives  were  made  by  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries, and  that,  at  a  later  day,  the  independence  of  these  United  States 
was,  in  a  great  degree,  established  by  Catholic  blood,  talent  and  treasure. 


10  THE   COLUMBIA^   JUBILEE. 

It  is  not  easy  to  cast  back  the  imagination  four  centuries.  Ho\v  shall 
we  conceive  what  Europe  was  before  Martin  Luther?  or  how  can  we  well 
imagine  the  condition  of  America  before  Columbus?  The  huge  continent 
on  this  side  was  an  almost  unbroken  forest,  save  where  the  wide  prairie 
rolled  its  billows  of  grass  towards  the  western  mountains,  or  was  lost  in 
the  sterile  and  sandy  plains  of  the  southwest.  No  city  raised  to  heaven 
spire,  dome,  or  minaret;  no  plow  turned  up  the  rich  alluvial  soil;  no  metal 
dug  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  had  been  fashioned  into  instruments  to 
aid  man  in  the  arts  of  peace  and  war.  The  simplest  requirements  of  civil- 
ized life  were  unknown.  The  country  was  chiefly  inhabited  by  tribes  of 
a  wandering  nature,  rarely  collected  in  villages  except  at  particular  seasons 
or  for  specific  objects.  Around  each  isolated  tribe  lay  an  unbroken  wilder- 
ness, extending  for  miles  on  every  side,  where  the  braves  roamed  and 
rioted,  hunters  alike  of  beasts  and  men.  In  form,  manners,  and  in  habits, 
these  tribes  presented  an  almost  uniform  appearance  and  language  alone 
could  distinguish  the  nation  to  which  each  belonged.  All  alike  were  sunk 
in  the  night  of  barbarism. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  other  side.  Behold  the  Europe  of  four  cen- 
turies since.  Printing  had  only  just  been  invented;  the  ocean  was  as  yet 
a  mystery;  Protestantism  had  not  yet  arisen;  the  Turks  had  but  lately 
taken  Constantinople;  the  rnen  of  trade,  enrolled  in  exclusive  guilds,  pursued 
the  arts  of  peace  in  the  intervals  of  war;  the  Italian  cities  were  the  centers  of 
that  traffic  which  had  not  yet  removed  its  outposts  into  Holland  or  England ; 
Commerce,  shivering  amidships  in  her  open  boat,  steered  from  cape  to  cape, 
dropping  her  anchor  in  the  evening  to  weigh  it  again  with  the  dawn;  walled 
and  battlemented  cities  stretched  along  the  seas  and  rivers,  swarming  with  a 
laborious  and  believing  generation.  Above  all  rose  Rome,  mother  and 
mistress  of  Christian  nations,  patron  of  every  science,  protector  of  every  art, 
preserver  of  every  relic  of  enlightened  antiquity. 

Such  were  the  Old  and  the  New  Worlds,  henceforth  to  be  linked  in 
destiny  by  the  glorious  achievement  of  a  Catholic  navigator,  whose  career 
accordingly  merits  to  be  noted  with  generous  detail. 

Christopher  Columbus  was  born  in  the  year  of  grace,  1436,  in 
the  proud  city  of  Genoa — Genoa  the  Magnificent.  This  beautiful  city  had 
sprung  from  the  sea,  derived  its  support  from  the  sea,  and  its  glory  was 
drawn  from  the  sea;  a  city  almost  cut  off  from  the  inland  and  from  its 
pursuits  by  a  chain  of  high  mountains  surrounding  it  in  the  rear,  whilst  its 


COLUMBUS   THE  DISCOVERER.  ll 

majestic  palaces,  temples,  fortifications  and  noble  streets  turned  incessantly 
towards  the  water,  and  looking  across  the  graceful  semi-circle  of  the  harbor, 
instinctively  schooled  its  gallant  men  and  agile  youth  to  look  ardently  and 
ambitiously  to  the  sea.  The  Genoese  were  essentially  and  from  necessity  a 

maritime  people. 

"Whose  ready  sails  with  every  wind  can  fly 
And  cov'nant  make  with  the  inconstant  sky; 
.     .     .     Who  tread  on  billows  with  a  steady  foot." 

The  ordinary  life  of  a  Genoese  was  commenced  from  early  youth  and 
spent  on  the  water.  It  was  a  daily  school  for  fascinating  clanger  and  bold 
adventure.  Particularly  was  this  the  case  at  the  time  of  the  birth  and  boy- 
hood of  Columbus.  It  was  a  period  when  the  battles  of  Christian  Europe 
against  the  Turks  and  Mussulmen,  when  struggles  of  merchantmen  on  the 
high  seas  with  outlaws  and  corsairs,  when  incessant  brawls  and  contests  with 
the  Mediterranien  pirates,  fired  the  hearts  and  aroused  the  ambition  of  every 
spirited  and  generous  Genoese  youth.  Thus  all  united  to  inspire  the  mind 
and  heart  of  Columbus  with  a  love  of  the  water  from  his  youth.  And  the 
generous  boy  was  equal  to  his  opportunities — for  he  was  a  precocious  sailor 
and  made  his  first  voyage  to  sea  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 

But  there  was  another  training,  deeper  and  more  beneficent,  which 
Columbus  received  during  the  first  fourteen  years  of  his  life.  After  bestow- 
ing on  him  some  elementary  instruction  his  wise  and  Christian  father, 
Domenico,  sent  him  at  the  age  of  ten  to  the  university  of  Pavia.  At  this 
gentle  age  he  studied  the  elements  of  mathematics,  physics,  astronomy,  Latin 
and  mental  and  moral  philosophy,  for  such  were  the  studies  for  which  this 
noted  school  was  famous.  Here  it  was  also  that  he  received  the  Sacraments 
of  Confirmation,  which  made  him  through  life  a  soldier  of  the  Cross,  and  of 
the  Holy  Eucharist,  by  which  he  became  in  fact,  as  in  name,  the  Bearer  of 
Christ — this  being  the  signification  of  his  baptismal  name,  Christopher. 

The  seafaring  life  of  Columbus,  from  his  fourteenth  year  to  the  year 
1470,  when  he  arrived  in  Portugal  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  is  involved  in 
much  regrettable  obscurity.  We  know,  however,  that  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  he  had  reached  the  rank  of  a  captain,  and  commanded  a  ship  in  the 
service  of  Jean  of  Anjou,  who  was  struggling  to  assert  his  sovereignty  over 
the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  Columbus  having  been  certainly  an  active  participant 
in  this  war.  It  was  at  a  later  period  and  during  a  fierce  naval  encounter  off 
Cape  St.  Vincent,  that  an  event  occurred  which  gave  a  new  direction  to  his 
life.  On  this  occasion  the  ship  commanded  by  Columbus  took  fire  and  was 


12  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

soon  enveloped  in  flames.  The  sea  alone  offered  a  place  of  safety,  and 
the  future  discoverer  of  America,  seizing  an  oar,  boldly  struck  out  for 
land,  some  six  miles  away.  He  reached  the  shore,  after  a  desperate  struggle, 
and  piously  thanked  Heaven  for  his  fortunate  escape.  Finding  himself  now 
penniless  on  a  strange  coast,  which  he  learned  to  be  that  of  Portugal,  he 
directed  his  steps  to  Lisbon,  the  capital  of  the  country.  Here  he  was  so 
happy  as  to  meet  his  brother  Bartholomew,  who  was  likewise  a  brave  and 
adventurous  mariner.  The  Portugese  capital  was  then  the  center  of  all  that 
was  eminent  in  commerce  and  navigation.  Columbus  found  a  home  under 
the  hospitable  roof  of  his  enterprising  brother,  and  supported  himself  by 
drawing  maps  and  charts.  Nor  did  he  ever  forget  his  aged  parents,  to  whom, 
from  time  to  time,  he  remitted  sums  of  money.  Filial  love  was  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  traits  in  his  exalted  character. 

While  at  Lisbon,  a  romantic  attachment,  that  ended  in  marriage,  took 
place  between  Columbus  and  a  noble  young  lady,  Dona  Felipa  de  Perestrello. 
Her  only  riches  were  her  virtue,  beauty  and  accomplishments.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  an  eminent  navigator  who  died  Governor  of  Porto  Santo,  but 
who,  by  an  unhappy  reverse  of  fortune,  was  compelled  to  leave  his  family 
with  little  but  the  memory  of  an  honored  name. 

This  alliance  of  Columbus  with  a  family  of  eminence,  however,  proved 
serviceable  to  him  in  more  ways  than  one.  It  introduced  him  to  the  greatest 
men  of  the  court,  and  the  most  noted  scholars  of  the  country.  Besides,  his 
ardent  spirit  of  discovery  received  a  fresh  impulse  in  the  notes  and  journals 
of  his  deceased  father-in-law.  He  engaged  in  many  voyages,  carefully 
noting  everything  new  or  valuable.  His  studies,  his  researches,  his  experi- 
ments, all  tended  towards  one  object — the  grand  project  of  penetrating  the 
great  ocean  which  stretched  away  towards  the  west. 

By  degrees  he  became  convinced  of  the  true  shape  of  the  earth;  and  his 
piercing  intellect  grasped  the  great  problem  of  reaching  other  continents  by 
a  direct  course  across  the  Atlantic,  on  whose  wide  expanse  no  mariner  dared 
to  venture.  Its  vast  and  deep  waters  were  regarded  with  mysterious  awe, 
seeming  to  bound  the  world  as  with  a  chaos,  into  which  conjecture  could  not 
penetrate,  and  where  enterprise  feared  to  meet  ruin  or  misfortune. 

Columbus  was  poor  in  the  goods  of  this  world.  To  aid  him  in  carrying 
out  such  a  vast  and  brilliant  design,  the  assistance  of  a  rich  patron  was  essen- 
tial. But  alas,  for  manly  worth  and  genius,  long  years  were  spent  in  fruitless 
efforts  to  obtain  even  a  hearing.  Nothing,  however,  could  daunt  the  energy 


COLUMBUS   THE  DISCOVERER.  13 

of  this  incomparable  man.     He   was  a  firm  believer  in  the  divinity  of  his 
mission.     He  was  convinced  that  the  time  had  arrived  to  accomplish  it.     For 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 

Which  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune." 

The  long  and  painful  preparatory  efforts  of  Columbus  to  interest  Europe 
in  his  enterprise  would,  at  this  day,  seem  almost  incredible.  He  besought 
Genoa  and  Venice  for  a  ship  or  two  to  find  his  world,  and  they  refused  him. 
The  Portugese  tried  to  steal  his  plan,  and  carry  it  out  themselves,  but  Provi- 
dence had  graciously  decreed  that  America  should  not  be  discovered  by  thieves. 

At  the  period  of  his  sojourn  in  Lisbon,  Columbus  was  in  the  very  prime 
of  life  and  was  a  noble  type  of  manhood.  He  is  described  as  of  a  tall  stature, 
powerfully  built  and  admirably  proportioned,  and  was  graceful,  dignified  and 
noble  in  his  carriage  and  bearing.  In  his  diet  he  was  frugal,  and  in  his  dress 
plain,  though  exceedingly  neat.  While  his  manner  was  affable  in  conversa- 
tion with  strangers,  and  mild  with  servants,  he  was  naturally  grave.  But  it 
was  his  religious  character  and  practices  that  most  of  all  challenge  praise. 
He  spent  much  time  in  prayer,  observed  the  most  rigid  fasts,  attended  the 
Holy  Mass  every  day,  and  recited  daily  the  whole  canonical  office  of  a 
religious.  He  was  a  devout  client  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  and  a  gieat 
admirer  and  imitator  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisium.  That  a  man  should  have 
thus  preserved  his  purity  of  sentiment  and  so  pious  and  religious  a  character 
through  twenty  years  of  a  seafaring  life,  amid  scenes  of  adventure,  turbu- 
lence and  danger,  is  the  strongest  proof  that  Columbus  was  a  representative 
of  the  Most  High  and  a  chosen  missionary  and  embassador  of  the  faith.  The 
death  of  his  wife  dissolved  the  last  tie  that  bound  Columbus  to  Portugal. 
Taking  his  little  son,  James,  by  the  hand,  he  shook  the  very  dust  from  his 
feet,  and  turned  his  back  upon  a  country  which  had  treated  him  with  such 
meanness  and  little  faith.  This  was  at  the  close  of  the  year  1484. 

It  was  in  the  following  year  that  he  arrived  in  Spain.  Here  he  is  first 
heard  of  as  a  wanderer  asking  for  a  little  bread  at  the  gate  of  the 
Franciscan  convent  of  La  Rabida,  close  to  the  small  sea-port  town  of  Palos, 
in  Andalusia.  He  had  his  dear  little  boy  with  him,  and  was  on  his  way  to 
Huelva  to  see  a  sister-in-law,  with  whom,  in  spite  of  her  poverty,  he  no 
doubt  wished  to  leave  the  child. 

Father  John  Perez,  the  Guardian  of  the  convent,  found  his  friend,  Dr. 
Garcia  Hernandez,  the  physician  of  the  house,  in  conversation  with  the 
stranger  on  the  porch.  Some  good  angel  had  certainly  guided  Columbus  to 


'4 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


FATHER    PEREZ. 


La  Rabida,  for  Father  Perez  was  no  ordinary  man.  There  was  scarcely 
another  in  Spain  so  well  prepared  by  nature  and  study  to  appreciate  the  great 
thoughts  of  that  singular  mendicant. 

Father  Perez  had  been  the  confessor  of  Queen  Isabella,  but  a  court  life 
was  less  to  his  liking  than  retirement  and  study.  His  love  for  mathematics 
and  cosmography  was  only  the  handmaid  of  his  zeal  for  souls.  He  longed 

for  the  discovery  of  new  lands,  in  order  that 
Christ  might  be  preached  to  more  men,  and 
the  place  of  his  abode  was  admirably  suited 
to  feed  his  imagination  and  his  Christian 
hopes.  He  had  built  a  kind  of  observatory 
on  the  roof  of  his  monastery,  and  he  spent 
much  of  his  spare  time  in  contemplating  the 
stars  by  night  and  the  sea  by  day.  Did  that 
wide  and  gloomy  ocean  really  bound  the 
world,  or  had  it  a  farther  shore  with  races 
of  men  to  be  evangelized?  There  was  in- 
finite room  for  speculation  where  all  was  con- 
jecture. Some  cosmographers  thought  that  it  could  be  sailed  across  in  three 
years,  and  some  thought  it  was  of  indefinite  extent.  Father  Perez  had  reached 
the  advanced  stage  of  venturing  to  believe  that  a  voyage  across  was  practi- 
cable, when  Columbus  appeared  at  his  convent  gate,  and  soon  the  doubt  of  an 
alleged  impossibility  gave  place  to  the  ardent  desire  of  an  actual  accomplish- 
ment. From  the  first  Father  Perez  was  a  good  friend.  He  made  Columbus 
live  at  his  convent  till  a  favorable  opportunity  should  present  itself  for  laying 
his  plans  before  the  Spanish  monarchs,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

The  good  Franciscan  had  an  influential  friend  at  court,  Father  Ferdinand 
de  Talavera,  confessor  to  the  King  and  Queen,  a  priest  of  learning  and  virtue ; 
and  he  felt  that  in  recommending  Columbus  to  the  intercession  of  such  a  man, 
he  was  almost  ensuring  the  successful  issue  of  his  application.  But  Father 
Talavera  had  no  mind  to  assist  a  project  which  he  deemed  a  delusion.  He 
listened  with  perfect  politeness  to  the  explanations  of  Columbus,  but  he  did 
not  intend  at  that  time,  more  particularly,  when  the  attention  of  the  sover- 
eigns was  concentrated  on  the  Moorish  war,  to  allow  any  idle  dreams  to 
molest  their  ears.  Columbus  was  helpless,  and  had  to  fall  back  upon  calig- 
raphy  and  map-making  for  his  support.  This  was  at  Cordova,  where  the 
sovereigns,  always  in  movement,  then  happened  to  be. 


COLUMBUS  THE  DISCOVERER.  15 

It  was  during  this  painful  suspense  that  Columbus  married  a  young  lady 
of  rank,  Dona  Beatrix  Enriquez,  who  became  the  mother  of  his  second  son, 
and  future  biographer,  Don  Fernando. 

His   marriage  did   not  change   his  plans.     When  he  found  that  Father 
Talavera  was  a  hindrance,  not  a  help,  he   wrote   with   his  own   hand   this 
characteristic  letter  to  King  Ferdinand: 
"  MOST  SERENE  PRINCE: 

I  have  been  engaged  in  navigation  from  my  youth.  For  nearly  forty 
years  have  I  voyaged  on  the  seas.  I  have  visited  nearly  all  the  known 
quarters  of  the  world,  and  have  conversed  with  a  great  number  of  learned 
men — with  ecclesiastics,  seculars,  Latins,  Greeks,  and  persons  of  all  kinds  of 
religion.  I  have  acquired  some  knowledge  of  navigation,  astronomy  and 
geometry,  and  am  sufficiently  expert  in  designing  the  chart  of  the  earth  to 
place  the  cities,  rivers  and  mountains  in  their  correct  situations.  To  the  study 
of  works  on  cosmography,  history  and  philosophy  I  have  also  applied  myself. 
At  present  I  feel  strongly  urged  to  undertake  the  discovery  of  the  Indies, 
and  I  come  to  your  Highness  to  supplicate  you  to  favor  my  enterprise.  That 
those  who  hear  it  will  turn  it  into  ridicule  I  doubt  not,  but  if  your  Highness 
will  give  me  the  means  of  executing  it,  let  the  obstacles  be  what  they  may, 
I  hope  to  be  able  to  make  it  succeed." 

Of  this  letter  no  notice  was  taken.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  making 
the  acquaintance  of  Antonio  Geraldini,  formerly  Papal  Nuncio,  who  at  the 
Queen's  request  had  returned  to  Spain  to  be  tutor  to  her  eldest  daughter,  and 
was  by  him  introduced  to  the  great  Cardinal  Mendoza,  Grand  Chancellor  of 
Castile. 

The  keen  eye  of  Mendoza  recognized  at  once  the  extraordinary  merit  of 
Columbus,  and  he  felt  it  a  duty  to  obtain  for  him  an  audience. 

Notwithstanding  the  poorness  of  his  dress  and  his  foreign  accent, 
Columbus  appeared  before  the  sovereigns  of  Spain  without  hesitation  or 
awkwardness.  The  native  dignity  of  his  air  and  the  grace  of  his  deport- 
ment, together  with  the  noble  familiarity  of  his  language,  won  their  attention. 
He  spoke  with  the  confidence  of  one  who  brings  his  masters  more  than  they 
can  give  him  in  return.  "  In  thinking  what  I  was,"  he  wrote  at  a  later 
period,  "I  was  overwhelmed  with  humility;  but  in  remembering  what  I 
brought,  I  found  myself  equal  to  crowned  heads.  I  was  no  longer  myself,  but 
the  instrument  of  God,  chosen  and  marked  out  to  accomplish  a  vast  design." 
But  nothing  very  satisfactory  was  done.  King  Ferdinand,  with  habitual 
caution,  directed  Talavera  to  call  together  a  council,  or  Junta,  of  scientific 
men,  to  consider  the  case.  Before  the  council  dispersed  the  court  had  left 


!6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Salamanca,  where  this  measure  of  progress  was  attained.  For  Columbus  it 
was  an  unpropitious  time.  The  Junta  had  proved  unfriendly.  Far  from 
dreaming  of  the  conquest  of  regions  beyond  unknown  seas,  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  were  engrossed  in  recovering  their  own  dominions  from  the  Moors. 
These  victorious  Mussulmen,  after  a  long  and  prosperous  possession,  beheld 
themselves  stripped,  one  by  one,  of  the  towns  and  provinces  they  had  held  as 
their  own.  In  spite  of  their  exploits  they  were  everywhere  defeated,  and  were 
now  compelled  to  occupy  the  mountains  and  valleys  around  Granada,  the 
capital  and  wonder  of  their  empire.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  employed  all 
their  powers,  all  their  efforts,  and  the  resources  of  their  united  kingdoms  to 
wrest  from  the  Moors  this  citadel  of  Spain. 

United  by  a  marriage  of  policy  which  love  had  sealed,  and  which  was 
radiant  with  a  common  glory,  the  one  had  brought  the  kingdom  of  Aragon, 
the  other  that  of  Castile,  as  a  marriage  portion  to  this  union  of  crowns.  But 
although  the  king  and  queen  had  blended  their  separate  provinces  into  one 
country,  they  yet  preserved  a  distinct  and  independent  dominion  over  their 
hereditary  kingdoms.  They  had  each  a  council  and  ministers  for  the  sepa- 
rate interests  of  their  personal  subjects.  These  councils  were  only  united  in 
one  common  government  when  patriotic  interests  common  to  the  two  king- 
doms and  the  two  sovereigns  were  at  stake. 

Ferdinand,  a  little  older  than  Isabella,  was  an  able  politician  and  an 
accomplished  soldier.  Before  that  age  when  by  experience  man  learns  to 
know  men,  he  had  already  divined  them.  His  greatest  fault  was  a  certain 
coldness  which  sprang  from  mistrust,  and  which  closed  his  heart  to  enthu- 
siasm and  magnanimity. 

His  royal  companion,  however,  more  truly  deserves  attention  and  ad- 
miration. Of  all  the  illustrious  women  of  history,  Isabella  alone  is  honored 
with  the  beautiful  title  of  The  Catholic,  in  consideration  of  her  greatness  and 
Illustrious  piety.  In  the  annals  of  the  past,  hers  is  one  of  the  brightest  names. 

In  person  she  was  of  the  middle  height,  and  well  proportioned.  She 
had  a  clear,  fresh  complexion,  with  light  blue  eyes  and  auburn  hair — a  style 
of  beauty  exceedingly  rare  in  Spain.  Her  features  were  regular  and  uncom- 
monly beautiful.  Her  manners  were  most  gracious  and  pleasing.  They 
were  marked  by  natural  dignity  and  modest  reserve,  tempered  by  an  affabil- 
ity which  flowed  from  the  kindness  of  her  disposition.  She  showed  great 
tact  in  accommodating  herself  to  the  peculiar  situation  and  character  of  those 


COLUMBUS   THE  DISCOVERER.  17 

around  her.     She  appeared  in  arms  at  the  head   of  her   troops,  and  did   not 
even  shrink  from  the  hardships  of  war. 

But  the  principle  which  gave  a  peculiar  coloring  to  every  feature  of 
Isabella's  mind,  was  piety.  It  shone  forth  from  the  very  depths  of  her  soul 
with  a  heavenly  radiance,  which  illuminated  her  whole  character.  Fortu- 
nately her  earliest  years  had  been  passed  under  the  eye  of  a  mother,  who 
implanted  in  her  serious  mind  such  strong  principles  of  religion  as  nothing  in 
after  life  had  power  to  shake.  In  the  flower  of  youth  and  beauty  she  had 
been  introduced  to  her  brother's  court;  but  its  blandishments,  so  dazzling  to 
a  young  imagination,  had  no  power  over  hers,  for  she  was  surrounded  by  a 
moral  atmosphere  of  purity, 

"Driving  far  off  each  thing  of  sin  and  guilt." 

But  to  come  back  to  Columbus.  He  was,  by  this  time,  well  inured  to 
delay,  scoffs  and  ridicule;  but  the  delay  now  seemed  likely  to  be  intermina- 
ble. The  end  of  the  war  was  an  event  of  the  uncertain  future,  and  he  felt 
that  his  time  was  growing,  with  every  wasted  year,  more  and  more  precious. 
He  made  up  his  mind  to  go  at  once  to  the  King  of  France,  who  had  written 
an  encouraging  letter.  But  he  went  first  to  La  Rabida  to  take  James  from 
the  care  of  Father  Perez.  We  may  imagine  the  grief  of  the  good  Franciscan 
to  see  his  friend,  after  so  many  years  of  patient  hope,  return  with  his  prayer 
unheard.  He  called  in  the  learned  village  doctor,  Garcia  Hernandez,  and 
they  again  put  Columbus  steadily  through  his  proofs,  with  the  objections  to 
them  and  solutions,  like  another  Junta  of  Salamanca.  The  monk  and  the 
physician  were  both  completely  convinced.  Father  Perez  felt  that  it  was 
time  for  prompt  action.  As  the  former  confessor  of  the  queen,  he  felt  that 
he  could  speak  and  be  listened  to,  and  so  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Isabella ;  but 
he  was  determined  that  it  should  be  placed  without  delay  in  her  royal  hands, 
and  they  sent  it  accordingly  by  a  trusty  envoy.  The  letter  found  the  queen 
at  Santa  Fe\ 

In  a  fortnight  the  envoy  returned  with  an  invitation  to  the  Franciscan 
father  and  a  message  of  encouragement  to  Columbus.  The  poor  monk  had 
no  mule  of  his  own  to  saddle,  so  Columbus  had  to  borrow  one  for  him.  He 
obtained  the  ear  of  the  queen,  and  his  pleading  was  irresistible.  Columbus 
was  summoned  to  court  anew,  but  now  fate  was  hanging  over  the  famous 
city  of  Granada,  and  all  things  human  might  wait  a  few  days  to  watch  the 
death  agony  of  a  war  that  had  lasted  for  eight  hundred  years.  He  arrived 
just  in  time  to  witness  the  memorable  surrender  of  that  capital  to  the  Spanish 


iS  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

arms.  On  January  2,  1492,  he  beheld  Boabdil,  the  last  of  the  Moorish  kings, 
sally  forth  from  Alhambra  and  yield  up  the  keys  of  that  favorite  seat  of 
Moslem  power,  while  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  with  all  the  chivalry  and 
magnificence  of  Spain,  moved  forward  in  proud  and  solemn  procession  to 
receive  this  token  of  submission.  The  air  resounded  with  shouts  of  joy, 
songs  of  triumph  and  hymns  of  thanksgiving. 

In  the  midst  of  the  rejoicings,  Isabella  kept  her  promise  and  sent  for 
Columbus.  She  had  full  faith  in  him.  She  accepted  his  project,  but  the 
terms  had  to  be  agreed  upon,  and  it  so  happened  that  Father  Talavera,  now 
Bishop  of  Avila,  was  appointed  to  arrange  them.  To  Talavera's  mind  the 
price  was  too  high  to  pay.  "A  beggar,"  said  he,  "  made  conditions  like  a 
king  to  monarchs."  The  queen,  against  her  better  judgment,  was  even  per- 
suaded to  tell  Columbus  that  his  demands  were  too  large,  and  he  took  his 
departure.  Spain  would  not  pay  the  price,  and  the  price  could  not  be  altered ! 

Columbus  now  mounted  his  mule  and  rode  from  Santa  Fe  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Cordova,  fully  convinced,  at  last,  that  eighteen  good  years  of  life  had 
been  spent  to  no  purpose.  The  demands  which  the  Bishop  of  Avila  could 
not  brook  depended  upon  the  success  of  a  design  which,  if  it  were  ever  real- 
ized, would  make  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  the  debtors  of  their  long-suffering 
petitioner  beyond  all  their  power  to  pay  him  back.  A  vice- royalty  to  him 
and  his  heirs  in  the  event  of  great  discoveries,  would  not  be  deemed  an  exces- 
sive recompense,  and  in  the  event  of  slight  success  or  failure  would  not  press 
heavily  upon  the  donors. 

If  he  was  human,  Columbus  must  have  included  in  one  sweeping  con- 
demnation court  and  courtiers,  learned  men  and  selfish  politicians;  and  even 
Isabella  could  scarcely  hope  to  escape  censure.  A  man  of  his  deep,  earnest 
temperament  would  need  all  his  Christian  philosophy  to  bear  up  against  such 
a  disappointment.  But  he  never  lost  faith  in  his  cause,  for  he  felt  that  the 
cause  was  God's,  in  whose  hands  are  the  hearts  of  rulers  and  the  destinies  of 
nations. 

Fortunately  for  Isabella,  the  Bishop  of  Avila  was  not  the  only  counsel- 
lor at  hand.  Luis  de  St.  Angel,  receiver  of  ecclesiastical  revenues,  and 
Alonzo  de  Quintanilla,  comptroller-general  of  finance,  at  whose  house  Colum- 
bus had  been  staying,  were  full  of  grief.  St.  Angel  rushed  into  the  presence 
of  the  queen,  and  in  the  fervor  of  his  zeal  for  Christendom  and  Spain  he 
even  reproached  her  for  the  unworthy  part  she  was  playing  under  wrong- 
ful dictation.  Isabella  thanked  him  for  his  frankness.  Quintanilla  sup 


COLUMBUS  THE  DISCOVERER.  19 

ported  the  remonstrance.  Father  John  Perez  was  in  the  queen's  chapel  close 
by  on  his  knees  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  praying  with  all  his  heart  and 
soul  that  God,  for  the  five  sacred  wounds  of  Jesus,  would  vouchsafe  to  guide 
her  decision. 

Her  eyes  were  opened.  The  thought  of  the  vast  interests  at  stake  darted 
into  her  mind  with  the  force  of  an  inspiration,  and  her  resolve  was  formed. 
No  power  on  earth  could  change  it  then,  not  even  her  husband's  unwilling- 
ness to  move  in  the  matter;  for  she  was  a  sovereign  in  her  own  right,  and  as 
such,  and  for  her  own  crown  of  Castile,  she  undertook  the  enterprise,  and  as 
the  war  had  drained  the  royal  coffers  of  Castile,  she  was  ready  to  pledge  her 
jewels  to  raise  the  funds  required.  "  I  undertake  it,"  exclaimed  this  noble 
and  generous  lady,  "  for  my  own  crown  of  Castile,  and  I  will  pledge  my 
jewels  to  raise  the  necessary  funds!"  This  was  the  brightest  moment  in  the 
life  of  Isabella.  It  stamped  her  renown  forever  as  the  patroness  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  New  World. 

The  money,  however,  was  a  minor  consideration  at  that  stage  of  the 
proceedings.  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  agreed  to  lend  to  Isabella  of  Castile  the 
sum  required,  and  in  due  time  was  careful  to  exact  repayment.  An  officer 
was  sent  in  haste  to  overtake  Columbus.  When  he  came  up  with  him  at  the 
bridge  of  Pinos,  two  leagues  from  Granada,  his  first  summons  failed  to 
induce  the  fugitive  to  retrace  his  steps;  but  as  soon  as  Columbus  heard  of 
Isabella's  noble  declaration,  he  turned  his  mule,  and  hastened  back  to  Santa 
Fe\  And  well  he  might. 

His  cause  was  now  completely  won.  He  was  high  in  favor.  Indeed, 
the  queen  gave  him  so  warm  a  welcome  that  it  was  evident  she  wished  to 
make  amends  for  all  past  neglect.  No  more  time  was  taken  up  in  haggling 
about  terms.  All  that  had  been  asked  for  was  conceded  without  a  word,  and 
Isabella,  with  delicate  thoughtfulness,  gracefully  added  to  the  more  formal 
grant  a  personal  favor  which  must  have  been  particularly  grateful  to  a  sensi- 
tive and  wounded  spirit,  appointing  Don  James,  Columbus'  eldest  son,  one  of 
the  pages  of  honor  to  Prince  John,  a  distinction  coveted  for  their  sons  by  the 
highest  grandees  of  Spain. 

The  terms  of  agreement  were,  with  all  convenient  dispatch  drawn  up  by 
the  queen's  secretary,  and  Ferdinand  affixed  his  signature  conjointly,  but  he 
took  no  further  interest  in  the  matter,  and  Isabella  singly  was  the  life  anu 
soul  of  the  whole  enterprise.  It  was  to  the  following  effect: — 

The  favors  which  Christopher  Columbus  has  asked  from  the  King  and  Queen  cf 


20 


THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


Spain,  in  recompense  of  the  discoveries  which  he  has  made  in  the  ocean  seas,  and  as  c. 
recompense  for  the  voyages,  which  he  is  about  to  undertake,  are  the  following — 

1.  He  wishes  to  be  made  admiral  of  the  seas  and  countries  which  he  is  about  to 
discover.     He  desires  to  hold  the  dignity  during  his  life,  and  that  it  should  descend  to 
his  heirs. 

This  request  is  granted  by  the  King  and  Queen. 

2.  Christopher  Columbus  wishes  to  be  made  viceroy  of  allthe  countries  and  islands. 
Granted  by  the  King  and  Queen. 

3.  He  wishes  to  have  a  share,  amounting  to  a  tenth  part,  of  the  profits  of  all  mer- 
chandise— be  it  pearls,  jewels,  or  any  other  things — that  may  be  found,  gained,  bought 
or  exported  from  the  countries  which  he  is  to  discover. 

Granted  by  the  King  and  Queen. 

4.  He  wishes,  in  his  quality  of  admiral,  to  be  made  sole  judge  of  all  mercantile 
matters  that  may  be  the  occasion  of  dispute  in  the  countries  which  he  is  to  discover. 

Granted  by  the  King  and  Queen,  on  the  condition,  however,  that  this  jurisdiction 
should  belong  to  the  office  of  admiral,  as  held  by  Don  Enriquez  and  other  admirals. 

5.  Christopher  Columbus  wishes  to  have  the  right  to  contribute  the  eighth  part 
}f  the  expenses  of  all  ships,  which  traffic  in  the  new  countries,  and  in  return  to  earn  the 
eighth  part  of  the  profits. 

Granted  by  the  King  and  Queen. 
SANTA  FE,  in  the  Vega  of  Granada,  April  lyth,  1492. 

Isabella  without  delay,  now  issued  her  orders  for  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments.    It  happened  that  the  little  seaport  of  Palos,  which  Columbus  knew 

so  well,  had  been  condemned  to 
furnish  to  the  crown  one  year's 
service  of  two  caravels,  armed 
and  manned.  Advantage  was 
taken  of  this  existing  obligation, 
and  the  caravels  were  now  re- 


quired to  be  in  readiness  in  ten 
days,  and  to  be  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  Columbus.  The  royal 
mandate  was  read  to  the  natives 
of  Palos  in  the  Church  of  St. 
George  by  the  notary  public,  on 
CARAVEL  OF  1492.  the  requisition  of  Columbus,  who 

was  accompanied  as  a  matter  of  course,  by  the  Franciscan  Guardian,. 
Father  Perez.  The  town  authorities  signified  their  submission;  but  seamen 
had  wills  of  their  own,  and  when  they  heard  the  nature  of  the  service  for 
which  they  were  ordered  to  prepare  they  showed  extreme  repugnance  to 
give  in  their  names.  Not  even  a  royal  order,  or  the  promise  of  immunity 
from  legal  prosecution  and  of  four  months'  pay  at  a  higher  rate  than  usual,, 
to  be  made  in  advance  at  the  time  of  embarkation,  could  induce  men  to  offer 


COLUMBUS  THE  DISCOVERER.  21 

themselves  for  so  mad  a  venture  as  a  voyage  due  west  into  the  vast  and 
gloomy  ocean.  They  valued  their  lives,  and  they  did  not  wish  to  be  sent  off 
on  a  fool's  errand,  or  agree  to  make  up  a  forlorn  hope  for  anybody's  asking. 
Nor  were  these  timid  landsmen,  but  bold  and  hardy  sailors. 

It  is,  in  truth,  suggestive  to  think  that  the  little  port  of  Palos,  in 
Andalusia,  was  assigned  to  Columbus,  as  the  headquarters  of  organization 
for  the  expedition,  and  the  point  of  departure  for  his  squadron.  There  he 
first  found  a  true  friend  in  Spain.  The  idea  discussed  in  the  monastery  of 
La  Rabida,  near  Palos,  by  Father  John  Perez  and  Dr.  Garcia  Hernandez 
when  they  first  talked  with  Columbus,  was  thus  brought  home  to  them  once 
more;  and  the  learned  Franciscan  himself  was  going  to  preside  over  all  the 
preparations,  and  see  from  his  own  hermitage,  the  first  sail  of  his  friend, 
spread  towards  that  unknown  world,  which  they  had  already  contemplated 
together  with  the  eye  of  faith  and  genius. 

In  spite  of  the  kindness  and  authority  of  Isabella,  many  unforeseen 
obstacles  threw  themselves  in  the  way  of  success. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  the  active  help  of  the  Father  Guardian  of  La 
Rabida,  Columbus  might  have  seen  his  cherished  project  fall  through  finally, 
not  for  want  of  letters  patent,  but  for  want  of  men.  A  Franciscan  by  his 
vocation  is  at  home  among  the  poor.  Father  Perez,  sometimes  with  and 
sometimes  without  his  friend,  made  his  rounds  among  the  townspeople  of 
Palos.  Both  his  position  and  his  personal  character  made  him  welcome  and 
gave  him  influence.  He  maintained  the  feasibility  of  the  voyage  and  made 
light  of  imaginary  terrors;  nor  did  he  fail,  priest  as  he  was  and  speaking  to 
Catholics,  to  insinuate  motives  of  a  loftier  kind  than  mere  thirst  for  discovery 
or  desire  of  profit.  He  was  defending  his  own  profound  convictions  all  the 
time.  He  was  thinking  also  of  souls  to  be  saved,  far  away  beyond  that 
mysterious  ocean,  which  barred  them  from  the  light  of  the  Gospel.  If  he 
could  not  communicate  to  lesser  souls  the  noble  confidence  he  felt  himself, 
he  at  least  did  much  to  weaken  prejudice  and  soften  down  hostility;  and 
when  glorious  success  had  crowned  that  western  voyage,  his  efforts  were 
gratefully  remembered. 

One  service,  rendered  by  Father  Perez  in  Palos,  was  the  introduction  of 
Columbus  to  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon.  The  three  brothers  Pinzon,  all  ex- 
perienced mariners,  lived  in  the  best  house  at  Palos.  Martin,  the  eldest,  had 
lately  returned  from  Rome  with  some  fresh  information,  which  predisposed 
him  to  favor  the  idea  of  Columbus.  He  brought  a  map  given  him  by  one 


22  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  Innocent  VIII's  librarians,  upon  which  an  unnamed  land  was  marked  in 
the  far  west.  He  therefore  trusted  and  entered  heartily  into  the  scheme, 
agreed  to  accompany  Columbus,  and  to  provide  a  fine  little  caravel  named  the 
Nina,  with  lateen-sails,  belonging  to  Vincent  Pinzoa —  the  youngest  of  the 
three  brothers  —  who  made  himself  famous  in  the  sequel,  as  the  discoverer 
of  Yucatan,  and  as  the  first  of  the  Spanish  captains  who  crossed  the  equi- 
noctial line.  An  ancient  vessel  called  the  Pinta  had  already  been  supplied 
by  the  municipality.  Columbus  had  engaged  to  furnish  an  eighth  part  of 
the  expenses,  and  the  brothers  Pinzon  enabled  him  to  fulfil  his  engagement. 

Public  opinion  now  began  to  change.  For  the  demand  made  on  it, 
Palos  offered  as  a  second  vessel  a  carack  named  the  Galleja,  large,  heavy, 
and  very  solid.  She  had  four  masts,  was  decked  throughout,  and  her  long 
boat  is  said  to  have  been  thirty  feet  in  length.  Although  unsuited  for  the 
service  assigned  her,  neither  Columbus,  nor  his  counsellor,  Father  Perez, 
dared  to  refuse  her,  fearing  to  add  to  delay  already  too  greatly  extended. 
Rapidly  she  was  equipped.  Columbus  even  chose  her  for  the  erection  of  his 
pavilion  as  admiral,  but  he  first  changed  her  name.  Placing  the  ship  under 
the  protection  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin,  he  had  her  blessed  and  called  the 
Santa  Maria. 

Thus  the  expedition  consisted  of  three  vessels  —  the  Santa  Maria,  the 
Pinta,  and  the  Nina — each  having  a  good  armament  and  provisions  for  a 
year.  The  Santa  Maria  carried  sixty-six  persons,  with  the  admiral  himself  in 
command,  and  strangely  enough  had  among  her  crew  an  Irishman  named 
William  Rice.  Martin  Pinzon,  with  his  brother  Francis  for  a  lieutenant,  had 
command  of  the  Pinta,  which  numbered  thirty  on  board.  The  Nina,  com- 
manded by  Vincent  Pinzon,  carried  the  remainder  of  the  Palos  contingent, 
twenty-four  souls. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  in  finishing  his  review  of  the  equipage,  Colum- 
bus, as  was  his  custom,  made  an  address,  and  that  yielding  to  the  emotions  of 
his  heart,  he  spoke  to  his  hardy  hearers  of  God,  into  whose  hands  they  were 
about  to  commit  their  souls,  and  the  fate  of  the  expedition. 

Fear  and  danger  turned  their  hearts  to  heaven.  Each  confessed  his 
sins,  and  obtained  absolution.  With  Columbus  at  their  head,  the  crews 
marched  in  procession  to  the  sanctuary  of  La  Rabida,  to  implore  the  divine 
assistance,  and  to  put  themselves  under  the  special  protection  of  the  Most 
Blessed  Virgin.  Mass  was  said,  and  from  the  hands  of  Father  Perez  they 
all  received  Holy  Communion — true  bread  of  saints  and  heroes.  Before 


COLUMBUS   THE  DISCOVERER. 


23 


CONVENT    OF    LA    RABIDA,    PALOS. 

departing,  Columbus  took  his  son  James  from  the  convent  of  La  Rabida, 
and  sent  him  under  convoy  to  his  wife  at  Cordova,  having  himself  called 
there  on  his  way  from  Santa  FC".  Having  thus  carefully  provided  for  all  that 
was  dearest  to  him  in  this  world,  the  admiral  retired  to  his  "  cell"  to  wait 
for  a  good  east  wind.  He  had  previously  spent  the  chief  part  of  his  time  in 
the  Franciscan  monastery,  leaving  the  details  of  arrangement  to  the  Pinzons, 
who  were  in  every  way  competent  to  undertake  the  direction,  and  who  had 
too  large  a  stake  in  the  enterprise  to  be  suspected  of  negligence.  Everything 
was  ready,  the  baggage  on  board,  and  the  signal  flag  flying.  No  one  was 
allowed  to  step  ashore  except  the  admiral  himself,  and  he  was  to  be  sum- 
moned as  soon  as  the  first  breeze  should  begin  to  blow.  He  was  at  this 
period  a  member  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis,  and  attended  choir. 
His  favorite  book  was  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  We  may  well  imagine  that 
his  own  meditations  would  have  had,  at  such  a  time,  a  tinge  of  sublimity. 


24  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"  The  morning  is  breaking  on  Palos  bay, 
On  its  town,  and  wharf,  and  ramparts  grey, 
On  three  barks  at  their  moorings  that  gallantly  ride, 
With  the  towers  of  Castile  on  their  flags  of  pride." 

It  was  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  on  Friday,  the  3rd  of  August, 
1492.  Columbus  was  awakened  by  the  rustling  of  the  tall  pines,  whose 
tops  were  agitated  by  the  land  breeze ;  and  at  once  the  keen,  practised  ear  of 
the  veteran  mariner  recognised  the  exp.ected  favorable  wind.  Quitting  his 
cell,  he  quietly  rapped  at  the  door  of  the  Father  Guardian.  The  brother 
sacristan  was  soon  up,  and  the  candles  lit,  preparatory  to  the  celebration  of 
Holy  Mass.  On  board  the  caravels,  the  watch-guards  might,  through  the 
stately  pine-trees,  see  the  high  window  panes  of  La  Rabida  shine  at  that 
unusual  hour.  While  the  community  was  peacefully  slumbering,  Columbus, 
with  gentle  step,  entered  the  chapel  of  Our  Lady.  For  him  it  was  a  morning 
of  joy  and  deep  solemnity.  Father  Perez,  robed  in  his  sacerdotal  vestments, 
ascended  the  steps  of  the  altar,  and  offered  up  the  august  Sacrifice  for  an 
intention,  perhaps  until  then,  unheard  of  since  the  institution  of  the  Blessed 
Eucharist.  At  the  time  of  Holy  Communion,  Columbus  received  the  Bread 
of  angels  by  way  of  viaticum. 

Thanksgiving  over,  the  admiral  and  the  priest  noiselessly  passed  out  of 
the  convent,  and,  absorbed  in  thought  and  silence,  wended  their  way  down 
the  declivity  that  leads  to  Palos.  The  last  stars  still  glittered  in  the  sky,  and 
the  first  faint  glimmerings  of  dawn  began  to  appear  in  the  east.  Together 
they  arrived  at  the  town;  and  without  delay  the  cutter  of  the  Santa  Maria 
was  seen  approaching  the  shore  to  receive  the  admiral.  The  inmates  of 
the  neighboring  houses  were  awakened  by  the  shrill  voices  of  the  pilots 
and  boatswains.  In  a  moment  doors  and  windows  flew  open.  "  They're 
off!"  "They're  off !"  resounded  from  house  to  house.  Mothers  and  sisters, 
wives  and  children  hurried  to  the  quay  with  mingled  sighs  and  sobs  and  tears. 
Friends  and  relatives  threw  themselves  into  the  barks  to  bid  a  sad  adieu — 
perhaps  the  last  forever!  It  was  a  touching  scene.  Columbus  pressed  to 
his  heart  the  good  Father  Perez,  bid  a  silent  farewell,  received  his  parting 
benediction,  and,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  stepped  into  the  waiting  cutter.  On 
reaching  the  Santa  Maria  he  was  received  with  all  the  honors  due  to  an 
admiral  of  Castile.  He  ascended  the  poop  and  took  a  careful  glance  at  the 
arrangements.  The  signal  was  given;  the  boats  were  hoisted  aboard;  the 
anchors  were  lifted  to  the  prows.  Columbus  waved  a  final  adieu  to  his 
friend,  the  Franciscan  father,  and  to  the  crowd  on  the  shore.  Then,  with  a 


COLUMBUS  THE  DISCOVERER.  25 

loud  voice,  from  his  place  on  the  quarter  deck,  he  ordered  the  sails  to  be  un- 
furled in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  Every  eye  in  Palos  gazed  anxiously  on 
the  white  canvas,  as  the  little  squadron  pushed  out  to  sea,  and  sped  on  its 
dangerous  but  momentous  voyage. 


r(F5 


FLEET   OF   COLUMBUS. 


Stapler  II. 


TH6   fcAND  AND  THG  CROSS. 


OFF  ON  AN  UNKNOWN  SEA. — TENERIFFE'S  BURNING  PEAK. — THE  ADMIRAL  PREACH- 
ING COURAGE. — Too  FAR  TO  GET  BACK. — VARIATION  OF  THE  COMPASS. — HYMNS 
TO  THE  "STAR  OF  THE  SEA." — TERRORS  OF  THE  SARGASSO  PLAIN. — FALSE  CRY 
OF  "LAND!" — THE  MUTINY  IN  THE  FLEET. — PLOTTING  TO  SLAY  THE  ADMIRAL. 
— "LAND!  LAND!"  AT  LAST. — THE  ISLAND  OF  SAN  SALVADOR. — GOING  ASHORE 
IN  STATE. — HOLY  SONGS  OF  THANKSGIVING. — THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CROSS. — 
TAKING  POSSESSION  FOR  SPAIN. — INNOCENT  AND  WONDERING  NATIVES. — OTHER 
BEAUTEOUS  ISLANDS. — WRECK  OF  THE  SANTA  MARIA. — THE  DISCOVERER'S  HOME- 
WARD VOYAGE. — JOY  BELLS  RING  IN  PALOS, — WELCOME  BY  KING  AND  QUEEN. — 
SECOND  VOYAGE  TO  AMERICA. — FIRST  MASS  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD. — TROUBLES 
BESET  THE  ADMIRAL. — MUTINOUS  OFFICERS. — HOMEWARD  BOUND  IN  CHAINS. 
— MISFORTUNES  COME  IN  SHOALS. — CLOSE  OF  A  BRIGHT  CAREER. — COLUMBUS 
NEGLECTED  AND  POOR. — DEATH,  CHARACTER  AND  WILL. — His  TOMB  AND 
POETIC  LAURELS. 

p 

HIS  great  Catholic  enterprise  was  now  fairly  begun.  Columbus 
had  attained  his  heart's  dearest  wishes.  Eighteen  years  of  toil, 
suffering,  watching  and  waiting  had  passed  away,  and  the  snows 
of  fifty-seven  winters  were  on  his  head,  when  he  thus  began  anew 
to  battle  with  storm  and  danger  on  the  bosom  of  the  mysterious 
ocean.  His  choice  was  made  and  his  Guide  did  not  fail  him. 
After  ordering  the  sails  to  be  set,  this  greatest  of  navigators  entered  his  cabin, 
and,  with  pen  in  hand,  began  the  diary  of  his  voyage,  the  very  first  words  he 
inscribed  in  it  being:  "  In  nomine  Domini  noslri  Jesu  Christi" 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  men  on  the  three  vessels  there  was  but 
one  calm  brow,  one  heart  that  knew  not  fear,  one  mind  "  constant  as  the 
northern  star."  Though  no  longer  young,  this  extraordinary  man  was  con- 
vinced that  his  life  yet  lay  before  him,  and  felt  within  himself  the  youth  of 
hope  and  an  immortal  future.  But  he  was  well  aware  that  even  then  little 

26 


THE  LAND  AND   THE   CROSS.  27 

was  needed  to  ruin  everything.  If  his  men  refused  to  sail  forward,  what 
could  he  do  ?  In  many  breasts  the  old  reluctance  had  been  only  smothered, 
not  properly  quenched,  and  the  smouldering  fire  of  disaffection  might  burst 
into  flames  at  the  slightest  provocation. 

After  leaving  the  Canary  Islands,  where  they  had  a  couple  of  weeks 
delay  to  refit  the  Pinta,  the  hearts  of  the  sailors  were  stricken  with  terror 
at  the  sight  of  the  volcano  of  Teneriffe,  an  eruption  from  which  was  just 
then  filling  the  sea  and  sky  with  a  lurid  outburst.  They  thought  thev  be- 
held in  this  the  flaming  sword  of  the  angel  who  drove  Adam  out  of  Paradise, 
waving  before  the  sons  of  men  to  warn  them  from  these  forbidden  seas  and 
shores.  Columbus  went  from  ship  to  ship,  in  order  to  dispel  the  panic,  and 
to  explain  scientifically  to  those  simple  men,  the  physical  laws  which  govern 
this  seemingly  awful  phenomenon.  But  when  the  peak  of  Teneriffe  had 
sunk  beneath  the  horizon,  the  mariners  bemoaned  its  loss  with  a  degree  of 
sorrow  equal  to  their  former  fear.  For  them  it  was  the  last  sea-mark,  the 
last  beacon  of  the  old  world;  and  in  losing  sight  of  it  they  seemed  to  have 
lost  the  very  traces  of  their  route  across  immeasurable  space.  They  felt  as 
if  detached  from  this  earth  altogether,  and  as  sailing  through  the  ether  of  the 
planet.  A  general  prostration  of  soul  and  body  seized  upon  them.  Once 
more  the  admiral  gathered  them  around  him  and  tried,  in  eloquent  words, 
to  infuse  into  their  souls  some  of  his  own  fire  and  energy. 

But  the  distance  alone  was  now  enough  to  terrify  the  crews.  In  order 
to  keep  them  in  ignorance  of  the  extent  sailed  over,  Columbus  was  accus- 
tomed every  night,  in  calculating  the  day's  progress,  to  subtract  a  part  of  the 
distance,  thus  keeping  two  reckonings  —  the  correct  one  for  his  own 
private  use,  the  other  to  satisfy  the  inquiries  of  his  officers  and  seamen.  The 
sequel  showed  the  worldly  wisdom  of  the  contrivance. 

When  the  squadron  had  sailed  about  two  hundred  leagues  west  of 
Teneriffe,  a  new  and  most  singular  phenomenon  began  to  puzzle  the  ad- 
miral. Gladly  would  he  have  concealed  it  from  all  his  companions.  This 
was  the  variation  of  the  needle  of  the  compass  —  his  last  and  hitherto  in- 
fallible guide — which  now  seemed  to  fail  him  on  the  borders  of  an  unknown  * 
hemisphere.  For  a  few  days  he  carried  in  his  own  mind  this  secret  and 
terrible  misgiving.  But  the  pilots  who  visited  the  binnacle  as  anxiously  as 
himself,  soon  noticed  the  singular  variations.  Sharing  fully  in  his  astonish- 
ment, but  less  determined  to  brave  nature  herself  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
enterprise,  they  concluded  that  on  the  border  of  illimitable  space,  even  the 


28  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

elements  themselves  were  no  longer  governed  by  invariable  laws.  Pale  and 
terrified  they  gave  utterance  to  their  doubts,  and  resigned  their  ships  to  the 
mercy  of  the  winds  and  waves,  as  thenceforth  their  only  guides.  All  the 
sailors  were  filled  with  consternation  on  perceiving  the  panic  which  had 
seized  the  pilots.  Columbus — who  had  vainly  endeavored  to  satisfy  his  own 
mind  on  the  reason  of  a  phenomenon  which  may  be  ranked  among  the 
mysteries  of  science — now  had  recource  to  that  rich  and  lively  imagination 
with  which  as  an  internal  compass,  Heaven  had  gifted  him.  He  invented 
for  these  untutored  minds  a  hasty  explanation.  He  told  them  that  the  direc- 
tion of  the  needle  was  not  to  the  pole  star,  but  to  some  fixed  and  invisible 
point.  The  variation,  therefore,  was  not  caused  by  any  fallacy  in  the  com- 
pass, but  by  the  movement  of  the  north  star  itself,  which,  like  other  heavenly 
bodies,  he  said,  had  its  changes  and  revolutions,  and  every  day  described  a 
circle  around  the  pole.  The  high  opinion  the  sailors  entertained  of 
Columbus  as  a  profound  astronomer  gave  weight  to  his  theory,  and  their 
fear  subsided. 

The  change  of  the  heavenly  constellations  also  helped  to  alarm  them.  All 
things  were  strange — a  new  earth  and  a  new  sky  and  new  laws  of  nature. 
ColumbUs,  however,  seemed  to  know  no  fear,  or  only  to  fear  the  fears  of  his 
companions.  A  magnificent  meteor  filled  him  with  admiration,  but  the  crews 
with  terror.  His  trust  was  not  in  compass  or  constellations,  but  in  the  guid- 
ing hand  of  God  and  in  the  Star  of  the  Sea  shining  from  a  higher  heaven 
than  the  eyes  of  the  body  could  reach.  The  standard  of  the  Cross  was  float- 
ing overhead  to  disconcert  the  spirits  of  darkness  and  to  rectify  all  malignant 
influences  of  the  elements,  and  every  evening  the  sound  of  the  Salve  Regina 
and  the  Ave  Marls  Stella  sanctified  those  vast  solitudes  where  never  from 
creation's  dawn  the  voice  of  man  had  sounded  until  then — 

"They  were  the  first  that  ever  burst 
Into  that  silent  sea." 

The  admiral  shut  himself  up  at  stated  times  every  day,  to  make  his  medi- 
tation and  recite  his  office,  as  a  true  Franciscan.  He  was  pretty  nearly  all 
the  remainder  of  the  day  and  night  at  his  station  on  the  poop,  keeping  watch. 
The  weather  was  charming,  the  trade-wind  steady,  and  the  progress  rapid. 
But  the  hearts  of  the  wanderers  sank  within  them.  The  fair  wind  itself 
now  began  to  be  the  chief  of  all  their  terrors.  They  were  driving  along 
before  the  breeze  gaily  to  their  doom,  for  if  the  wind  blew  always  from  the 
east  how  could  they  ever  sail  back ! 


THE  LAND  AND   THE  CROSS.  29 

Already,  towards  the  end  of  September,  the  crews  were  ripe  for  mutiny. 
Argument  had  been  exhausted ;  authority  was  little  regarded.  No  effort  was 
made  to  disguise  the  general  discontent.  But  Columbus  held  on  his  course. 
The  wind  shifted  to  the  west,  to  the  immense  relief  of  all.  Next  day,  a  calm 
ensued.  Then  light  breezes  came  and  went.  As  the  caravels  advanced 
slowly  they  encountered  great  masses  of  sea  weed,  for  they  had  arrived  at  the 
Mar  de  Sargasso,  where,  over  an  extent  of  surface  which  Humboldt  declares 
to  be  more  than  seven  times  the  area  of  France,  the  ocean  plain  is  thickly 
covered  with  floating  verdure,  and  sometimes  resembles  a  vast  undulating 
meadow.  At  first  the  greater  abundance  of  sea-weed  was  noticed  with 
delight,  as  a  sign  that  the  land  was  not  far  away.  Then  great  fears  began  to 
be  felt  lest,  perchance,  the  only  land  might  be  found  to  be  those  hidden 
ledges  and  drowned  islands,  of  which  many  fearful  tales  were  told.  Serious 
alarm  reigned  in  the  minds  of  the  crews.  They  believed  they  had  got  to 
those  endless  swamps  of  the  ocean,  which  were  said  to  serve  as  boundaries  to 
the  world,  and  as  tombs  for  the  curiosity  of  those  who  dared  to  enter  them. 
The  crowds  of  plants  growing  in  infinite  numbers,  presented  the  aspect  of  an 
unbounded  marsh,  which  the  Almighty  Creator  had  placed  as  a  limit  in  the 
ocean,  in  order  to  rebuke  the  rashness  of  mankind. 

The  most  fearless  turn*  pale.  Now,  at  last,  they  had  reached  the  place 
of  their  doom.  No  breath  was  in  the  air,  no  ripple  marked  the  green  sea, 
which  stretched  away  without  limit — a  level  plain  on  every  side.  They  felt 
that  they  had  brought  their  fate  upon  themselves,  and  had  themselves  to 
thank.  Had  they  not  really  known  all  the  time  that  such  a  voyage  was  the 
extreme  of  madness? 

Fortunately  the  surface  did  not  long  remain  smooth;  great  billows  rose 
and  fell,  and  the  phantom  of  perpetual  stagnation  vanished,  as  the  phantom 
of  perpetual  east  wind  had  done.  On  the  25th  of  September,  the  Pinta  being 
close  to  the  Santa  Maria,  Martin  Pinzon,  deceived  by  a  cloud  upon  the  hori- 
zon, cried  out,  "Land!  land!  I  claim  the  prize."  All  his  crew  were  shouting 
with  joy;  the  men  of  the  Nina  ran  up  the  rigging  for  a  better  view  and  con- 
firmed the  announcement.  Columbus  fell  on  his  knees  and  intoned  the  Gloria 
in  excelsis.  When  the  mistake  was  discovered  the  revulsion  of  feeling  was 
terrible.  Signs  of  land  for  the  next  few  days  kept  a  glimmering  hope  alive, 
but  the  distance  which  severed  them  from  the  world  of  human  beings — 580 
leagues,  they  were  told,  but  really  707,  as  Columbus  well  knew — seemed  to 
shut  out  all  chances  of  return. 


£0  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Nor  must  it  be  imagined  that  these  mariners  were  sviihoul  stout  ueurts, 
but  what  a  daring  thing  it  was  to  plunge,  down-hill,  as  it  were,  into 

"A  world  of  waves,  a  sea  without  a  shore, 
Trackless,  and  vast,  and  wild," 

mocked  day  after  day  with  signs  of  land  that  neared  not.  They  had  left  at 
home  all  that  is  dearest  to  man  here  below,  and  did  not  bring  out  ^ny  great 
idea  to  uphold  them,  and  had  done  enough  to  make  them  important  men  in 
their  towns,  and  to  furnish  ample  talk  for  the  evening  of  their  Hves. 

Still  we  find  Columbus  as  late  as  the  3d  of  October  saying  "  that  he  did 
not  choose  to  stop  beating  about  last  week  during  those  days  that  they  had 
such  signs  of  land,  although  he  had  knowledge  of  there  being  certain  islands 
in  that  neighborhood,  because  he  would  not  suffer  any  detention,  since  his 
object  was  to  go  to  the  Indies,  and  if  he  should  stop  on  the  way  it  would 
show  a  want  of  mind." 

During  all  this  long  voyage  the  admiral  held  communion  only  with  his 
own  thoughts,  the  stars  and  Heaven,  under  whose  protection  he  felt  himself 
to  be.  Almost  without  sleep  he  spent  his  days  in  his  cabin,  taking  note  of 
the  degrees,  the  latitudes  and  distance  he  reckoned  he  had  passed,  in  charac- 
ters no  one  but  himself  could  decipher,  and  spent  his  nights  on  deck  beside 
the  pilots,  studying  the  stars  and  the  appearance  of  the  sea.  He  was  almost 
utterly  alone.  Like  Moses  of  old,  leading  God's  people  through  the  desert, 
his  pensive  gravity  impressed  his  -companions  with  a  mingled  respect,  distrust 
and  fear,  which  held  them  aloof  from  him. 

"  The  sea  is  always  fine,"  wrote  Columbus  in  his  diary,  "  be  infinite 
thanks  given  to  God."  But  he  was  now  fated  to  need  all  his  strength  and 
presence  of  mind.  The  hour  of  trial  and  fearful  test  was  at  hand.  The 
illusion  of  land  seen  but  never  found,  and  the  iron  purpose  of  Columbus  in 
pursuing  his  way  without  turning  either  to  the  right  or  the  left,  exasperated 
the  officers  who  counseled  a  different  course.  Murmurings  were  changed 
into  hatred.  The  crews  daily  grew  more  and  more  sullen — a  mark  of  the 
greatest  discouragement.  Unknown  to  the  officers  the  sailors  would  gather 
in  groups  of  three  or  four  to  console  one  another.  These  meetings  grew 
more  frequent.  Discontent  became  general.  Soon  no  pains  were  taken  to 
disguise  their  pent-up  feelings  of  fear  and  wrath.  As  Spaniards  they  natu- 
rally detested  this  eccentric  foreigner,  who  had  madly  resolved,  they  said,  to 
find  what  only  existed  in  his  over-heated  imagination.  In  order  to  be  able  to 
speak  ill  of  him — even  in  his  very  presence — they  gave  him  the  nicknames 


THE   LAND   AND    TllK   CA'O.S'.V.  31 

of  "braggart"  and  "humbug."  The  old  sailors  whispered  to  one  another 
that  he  was  a  fool.  All  agreed  that  to  push  on  further  was  to  go  to  certain 
destruction. 

Was  it  right,  they  said,  that  one  hundred  and  twenty  men — most  of  them 
Castilians — should  perish  through  the  .whims  of  this  dreaming  Genoese? 
Never!  He  must  be  told  to  turn  back  to  Spain;  and  in  case  of  his  refusal — 
why  heave  him  into  the  sea  he  so  much  admired.  This  rigorous  course  was 
unavoidable.  Necessity  knew  no  law.  Then,  it  would  be  easy  on  their 
return  to  publish  that  he  fell  of  accident  into  the  ocean,  while  observing  the 
stars.  There  was  even  a  secret  agreement  between  the  crews  of  the  three 
caravels.  This  conspiracy  had  almost  every  sailor  as  an  accomplice,  while  it 
had  nobody  as  chief. 

The  captains  of  the  Pinta  and  Nina  were  not  ignorant  of  the  plot  which 
was  hatching  against  the  admiral,  but  their  superior  intelligence  prevented 
them  from  participating  in  the  fears  of  the  common  seamen.  They  care- 
fully abstained,  however,  from  saying  a  word.  But  many  times,  in  their 
communications  with  Columbus,  the  three  Pinzons,  by  their  lofty  airs  and 
haughty  proceedings,  made  him  sorely  feel  their  strength,  and  his  own  un- 
happy isolation. 

The  evening  of  the  loth  of  October — two  days  before  Columbus  doubled 
the  size  of  the  world's  map — saw  the  crews  in  a  state  of  open  revolt.  Their 
feelings,  so  long  pent  up,  now  burst  forth  like  the  roar  of  a  cataract.  Each 
night,  according  to  the  admiral's  orders,  the  three  vessels  drew  close  together; 
and,  in  the  present  instance,  no  sooner  had  they  drawn  near  than  the  Pinzons, 
followed  by  their  men,  all  armed,  jumped  on  the  deck  of  Columbus'  ship, 
and  with  fury  in  their  looks,  and  weapons  in  their  hands,  loudly  summoned 
him  at  once  to  turn  the  prows  of  the  caravels  to  Castile.  His  own  crew  and 
pilots  had  joined  in  the  revolt.  As  he  afterward  wrote  of  the  event,  he  was 
"alone  against  all!"  He  had  exhausted  words;  besides  terror-stricken  men 
neither  hear  nor  reason.  Yet  this  great  man,  equal  to  every  emergency, 
calmed  the  fury  of  those  rebellious  spirits;  although  far  from  yielding  to  their 
demands  he  boldly  declared,  in  a  tone  of  authority  which  only  a  hero  of 
resolution  can  assume,  that  their  complaints  were  in  vain — that  he  had  started 
to  go  to  the  Indies — and  that  neither  man  nor  devil  could  turn  him  from  his 
course  until,  with  the  assistance  of  Heaven,  he  would  reach  the  shores  he 
sought.  Wonderful  to  relate,  this  surging  mass  of  enraged  Spaniards  became 
suddenly  hushed  before  a  lone  man — a  foreigner  whom  they  detested !  Phi- 


32  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

losophy  cannot  explain  such  a  phenomenon.  It  stands  alone  in  history.  The 
finger  of  God  was  there. 

From  the  dawn  of  the  next  morning,  the  breezes  were  soft  and  balmy, 
yet  the  sea  swelled,  and  the  speed  of  the  caravels  increased.  Numbers  of 
petrels  were  seen.  A  reed,  a  green  bulrush,  a  small  plank,  a  branch  of  a 
tree  bearing  some  red  fruit,  and  a  stick  which  appeared  to  be  carved  with  a 
knife  were  observed  on  different  occasions  during  the  day.  Such  signs  sus- 
tained the  drooping  hopes  of  the  sailors. 

The  sun  went  down  flaming  into  the  vast  and  solitary  ocean.  Naught 
but  the  horizon  on  its  pure  azure  appeared  to  the  eye.  No  vapor  indicated 
that  land  was  near,  but  suddenly — as  if  by  inspiration — Columbus  changed 
his  course  somewhat,  and  ordered  the  helmsman  to  steer  due  west.  As  the 
caravels  came  together,  all  joined,  according  to  custom,  in  singing  the  Salve 
Regina — our  familiar  "  Hail,  holy  Queen!'5 — at  the  conclusion  of  which  the 
admiral  made  them  a  touching  discourse.  He  spoke  of  the  mercy  of  that 
good  God  who  had  enabled  them  to  reach  seas  never  cut  by  keel  before. 
He  asked  them  to  raise  their  hearts  in  gratitude,  and  vanquish  their  fears,  that 
the  fulfillment  of  their  hopes  was  near  at  hand.  That  very  night,  he  said, 
would  see  the  end  of  their  memorable  voyage.  He  finally  recommended  all 
to  watch  and  pray,  as  their  eyes  would  behold  land  before  morning.  He 
ordered  the  pilots  to  lessen  sail  after  midnight,  and  promised,  besides  the 
queen's  premium,  a  velvet  doublet  to  the  person  who  would  first  announce 
land.  Columbus  then  returned  to  his  cabin.  What  passed  there  in  the  secret 
of  his  heart  has  not  been  given  to  history. 

The  greatest  animation  prevailed  throughout  the  ships;  not  an  eye  was 
closed  that  night.  About  ten  o'clock,  the  admiral  mounted  the  poop. 
Scarcely  had  he  got  there,  when  his  eagle  glance  seemed  to  discern  a  light  in 
the  distance.  Fearing  that  his  hopes  might  deceive  him  he  called  to  one  of 
his  officers  named  Peter  Gutierrez,  and  demanded  whether  he  saw  a  light  in 
that  direction;  the  latter  replied  in  the  affirmative.  Columbus,  yet  doubtful 
whether  it  might  not  be  some  delusion  of  the  fancy,  called  one  Roderic 
Sanchez,  and  made  the  same  inquiry.  By  the  time,  however,  the  latter 
ascended  the  poop,  the  light  had  disappeared. 

After  midnight  they  proceeded  cautiously,  the  Pinta  being  considerabl  y 
in  advance.  Every  eye  was  straining  through  the  gloom — every  heart  throb- 
bing. What  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  the  man,  whose  mind  had 
schemed,  whose  single  will  had  compassed,  so  sublime  a  venture?  Before 


THE  LAND  AND   THE  CROSS.  33 

him  wrapped  in  darkness,  lay  a  world  awaiting  discovery  in  the  light  of 
morning!  His  name  was  now  the  heritage  of  fame.  No  history  of  mankind 
could  pass  him  by  unnoticed.  God  was  to  be  glorified.  The  memory  of 
that  night  would  live  till  the  end  of  time. 

At  two  A.  M.,  by  the  clock  of  the  Santa  Maria,  a  flash  came  from  the 
Pinta,  followed  by  a  loud  report — the  signal  gun.  It  was  no  false  alarm  this 
time.  Roderic  de  Triana,  a  sailor  on  the  Pinta,  had  sighted  land.  Columbus, 
at  the  sound  of  the  gun,  fell  on  his  knees  and  chanted  the  Te  Dcum ;  his 
men  responded  with  full  hearts.  Then  they  went  wild  with  joy.  The  admiral 
ordered  the  sails  to  be  furled,  and  the  ships  to  be  put  in  a  state  of  defence,  for 
it  was  impossible  to  say  what  the  daylight  might  reveal.  His  officers  came 
crowding  round  to  offer  their  congratulations  and  their  genuine  reverence. 
Now  they  no  longer  blamed  his  obstinacy,  or  spoke  of  his  infatuation. 

It  was  Friday,  the  I2th  of  October,  1492.  Friday — the  day  of  the 
Redemption — was  always  a  blessed  day  for  Columbus.  On  Friday  he 
sailed  from  Palos,  on  Friday  he  discovered  America;  on  Friday  he  planted 
the  first  cross  in  the  New  World;  and  on  Friday  he  re-entered  Palos  in 
triumph.  At  dawn  of  this  fateful  day  there  was  seen  issuing  from  the  mists, 
a  flowery  land,  whose  groves,  colored  by  the  first  golden  rays  of  the  morn- 
ing sun,  exhaled  an  unknown  fragrance,  and  presented  most  smiling  scenes 
to  the  eye.  In  advancing,  the  men  saw  before  them  an  island  of  consider- 
able extent,  level,  and  without  any  appearance  of  mountains.  Thick  forests 
bounded  the  horizon,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  glade  shone  the  pure  and  spark- 
ling waters  of  a  lake.  Green  willows  and  sunny  avenues  gave  half  glimpses 
into  these  mysteries  of  solitude,  and  revealed  many  a  scattered  dwelling, 
seeming  by  its  rounded  form  and  roof  of  dried  leaves,  to  resemble  a  human 
hive,  from  which  the  curling  smoke  ascended  in  the  air,  greeting  the  glad 
sunbeams  of  that  early  hour.  Groups  of  half  naked  men,  women,  and 
children,  astonished  rather  than  alarmed,  came  down  among  the  trees  upon 
the  shore,  now  timidly  advancing,  and  again  returning,  showing  by  their 
lively  attitudes  and  gestures,  mingled  fear,  curiosity  and  admiration,  at  the 
sight  of  the  ships  and  the  strangers,  which  the  previous  night  had  sent  them 
on  the  waves. 

Columbus,  after  silently  gazing  upon  the  shore  of  that  new  land,  so 
often  pictured  and  so  magnificently  colored  in  his  imagination,  beheld  it  yet 
more  beautiful  than  he  had  dreamed.  Joy  made  his  heart  beat  faster.  He 
yearned  impatiently  to  be  the  first  to  set  a  European  foot  upon  these  strange 


34  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

sands,  and  plant  thereon  the  cross  and  the  Spanish  flag,  the  standards  of  a 
conquest  made  by  his  genius  for  God  and  his  sovereigns.  But  he  restrained 
his  own  anxiety,  and  that  of  his  men  to  land,  wishing  to  invest  this  taking 
possession  of  a  New  World  with  all  the  solemnity  befitting  the  greatest 
achievement  ever  accomplished  by  a  navigator.  Since  human  witnesses  were 
wanting,  he  wished  to  call  God  and  his  angels,  sea,  and  land,  and  sky,  to  bear 
testimony  to  his  victory  over  the  hitherto  unknown  world! 

When  all  was  ready,  the  anchors  were  dropped,  orders  were  given  to 
man  the  boats,  and  Columbus,  with  majestic  countenance  and  great  recollec- 
tion— as  one  who  walked  in  the  presence  of  God — descended  into  his  own 
cutter.  He  was  richly  attired  in  the  costume  of  his  dignities.  A  scarlet 
mantle  hung  from  his  shoulders,  and  he  held  displayed  in  his  hand,  the  image 
of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  royal  flag.  The  captains  of  the  Pinta  and  Nina, 
Martin  and  Vincent  Pinzon,  likewise  put  off  their  boats,  each  accompanied 
by  a  well-armed  detachment,  and  bearing  the  banner  of  the  enterprise 
emblazoned  with  a  green  cross. 

With  mute  delight,  and  all  the  elastic  ardor  of  youth,  the  admiral 
stepped  on  shore.  Scarcely  had  he  touched  the  new  land,  when  he  planted 
in  it  the  standard  of  the  Cross.  His  heart  swelled  with  gratitude.  In  adora- 
tion, he  prostrated  himself  before  God.  Three  times  bowing  his  head,  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,  he  kissed  the  soil  to  which  he  was  conducted  by  the  divine 
goodness.  The  sailors  participated  in  the  emotions  of  their  commander,  and 
kneeling,  as  he  did,  elevated  a  crucifix  in  the  air.  Raising  his  countenance 
towards  heaven,  the  gratitude  of  his  soul  found  expression  in  that  beautiful 
prayer  which  has  been  preserved  by  history  and  which  was  afterwards 
repeated  by  order  of  the  sovereigns  of  Castile  in  subsequent  discoveries. 

"Lord!  Eternal  and  Almighty  God!  who  by  Thy  sacred  word  hast 
created  the  heavens,  the  earth,  and  the  seas,  mav  Thy  name  be  blessed  and 
glorified  everywhere.  May  Thy  Majesty  be  exalted,  who  hast  deigned  to 
permit  that  by  Thy  humble  servant,  Thy  sacred  name  should  be  made  knowi 
and  preached  in  this  other  part  of  the  world." 

Standing  up  with  great  dignity,  he  displayed  the  standard  of  the  Cross, 
offering  up  to  Jesus  Christ  the  first  fruits  of  his  discovery.  Of  himself  he 
thought  not.  He  wished  to  give  all  the  glory  to  God,  and  he  named  the 
island  San  Salvador,  which  means  "  Holy  Savior." 

Columbus  then  drew  his  sword,  and  all  the  officers  doing  the  same,  he 
declared  that  he  took  possession  of  that  land  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  for  the 
crown  of  Castile.  The  notary  royal  was  ordered  to  draw  up  the  proceedings 


THE  LAND  AND   THE  CROSS.  35 

in  prescribed  form.  He  then  called  upon  all  present  to  take  the  oath  of 
obedience  to  him  as  admiral,  viceroy,  and  representative  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella. 

Not  only  did  his  lieutenants,  his  pilots,  and  his  crews  swear  obedience  to 
the  admiral,  but  they  were  overcome  with  wild  joy,  and  filled  with  intense 
reverence  for  one  whose  wondrous  glance  had  penetrated  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  visible  horizon,  and  whom  they  had  so  lately  outraged  by  their  blind 
rebellion.  Overawed  by  his  mental  superiority,  they  now  fell  at  his  feet, 
kissed  his  hands  and  clothes,  and,  for  a  moment,  recognized  the  dignity  and 
grandeur  of  genius.  But  yesterday,  they  considered  themselves  the  victims 
of  his  obstinacy;  to-day  they  felt  they  were  the  companions  of  his  success — 
radiant  with  the  glory  against  which  they  had  so  lately  blasphemed! 

Let  us  now  glance  at  the  natives.  When,  at  the  dawn  of  day,  they  had 
beheld  the  ships  hovering  on  the  coast,  they  supposed  them  to  be  some 
monsters,  which  had  issued  from  the  deep  during  the  night.  Their  veering 
about,  without  any  apparent  effort,  and  the  shifting  and  furling  of  their  sails, 
resembling  huge  wings,  filled  them  with  astonishment.  When  they  beheld 
the  boats  approach  the  shore,  and  a  number  of  strange  beings,  clad  in  glittering 
steel,  or  raiment  of  various  colors,  landing  upon  the  beach,  they  fled  in  affright 
to  the  woods.  Finding,  however,  that  there  was  no  attempt  to  pursue  or 
molest  them,  they  gradually  recovered  from  their  terror,  and  approached  the 
Spaniards  with  great  awe,  frequently  prostrating  themselves,  and  making 
signs  of  adoration. 

During  the  ceremony  of  taking  possession,  they  remained  gazing,  in 
timid  admiration,  at  the  complexion,  the  beards,  the  shining  armor,  and  splen- 
did dress  of  the  Spaniards.  The  admiral  particularly  attracted  their  attention, 
from  his  commanding  height,  his  air  of  authority,  his  scarlet  dress,  and  the 
deference  paid  to  him  by  his  companions.  When  they  had  still  further 
recovered  from  their  fears,  they  approached  the  Spaniards,  touched  their 
beards,  and  examined  their  hands  and  faces,  admiring  their  whiteness.  Fol- 
lowing the  example  set  them  by  Columbus,  the  mariners  received  with  smiles 
of  kindness  those  artless  children  of  the  forest,  and  quietly  submitted  to  their 
examinations. 

The  wondering  savages  were  won  by  this  benignity;  they  now  supposed 
that  the  ships  had  sailed  out  of  the  crystal  firmament  which  bounded  their 
horizon,  or  had  descended  from  above,  on  their  ample  wings,  and  that  these 
marvellous  beings  were  natives  of  the  skies. 


36  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  people  of  the  island  were  no  less  objects  of  curiosity  to  the  Span- 
iards, differing,  as  they  did,  from  any  race  of  men  they  had  ever  seen.  They 
were  entirely  naked,  of  a  moderate  stature,  well-shaped,  of  a  copper  hue, 
with  agreeable  features,  lofty  foreheads  and  fine  eyes.  The  hair  was  coarse 
and  straight;  they  had  no  beards,  and  were  painted  with  a  variety  of  colors. 
They  appeared  to  be  a  simple  and  artless  race,  and  of  gentle  and  friendly 
dispositions.  Their  only  arms  were  lances,  hardened  at  the  end  by  fire,  or 
pointed  with  a  flint  or  the  bone  of  a  fish.  Columbus  distributed  among  them 
colored  caps,  glass  beads,  hawk's  bells  and  other  trifles,  which  they  received 
as  inestimable  gifts,  and,  decorating  themselves  with  them,  were  wonderfully 
delighted  with  their  finery. 

After  Columbus  had  completed  the  formalities  of  taking  possession  of 
the  island,  he  ordered  the  carpenters  to  construct  a  large  wooden  cross. 
This  was  soon  done.  At  his  desire  the  hole  in  which  the  pole  of  the  banner 
had  been  planted  in  this  shore  was  enlarged.  Into  this  hole  was  placed  the 
end  of  the  erected  cross,  which  was  sustained  by  the  admiral  himself,  while 
the  hymn,  Vexilla  Regis. 

"The  banners  of  Heaven's  King  advance, 
The  mystery  of  the  Cross  shines  forth," 

was  chanted  by  the  whole  party.  When  the  sacred  sign  was  solidly  fixed  in 
the  soil  he  intoned  that  grand  hymn  of  victory,  the  Te  Deum.  Thus  did  the 
great  Columbus  erect  the  sign  of  redemption  in  the  New  World,  not 
merely  as  a  mark  of  prior  occupation,  but  as  a  memorial  of  the  fact  that  he 
took  possession  of  this  land  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  As  the  day  was 
now  growing  late,  he  said  evening  prayers  before  the  rough  cross,  and  on 
finishing  this  pious  act  he  took  up  the  flag  of  the  expedition  and  returned  on 
board  the  Santa  Maria. 

The  island  which  Columbus  had  just  offered  to  God,  and  named  San 
Salvador,  was  called,  in  the  language  of  the  natives,  "  Guanahani."  It  is  one 
of  that  group  which  geographers  now  term  the  Bahama  Islands.  The 
admiral  supposed  it  to  be  at  the  extremity  of  India,  and  therefore  called  the 
inhabitants  Indians — a  name  which  has  since  been  extended  to  all  the  aborig- 
ines of  the  New  World.  . 

San  Salvador  was  soon  explored.  Among  its  natural  advantages  is 
noticed  "stone  for  building  churches."  The  poor  natives  in  all  parts  of  it 
received  the  strangers  with  the  most  sincere  hospitality.  Seven  of  the 
Indians  were  easily  induced  to  go  with  Columbus,  and  he  seems  to  have 


THE  LAND  AND   THE   CROSS.  37 

distributed  them  among  the  three  vessels.  One  of  them  deseited,  but  others 
were  added  from  Cuba  and  San  Domingo.  He  designed  to  present  them  to 
their  Catholic  Majesties,  to  have  them  instructed  in  the  Faith,  and  then  to 
send  them  back  to  their  country  to  help  forward  the  work  of  conversion. 

When  he  sailed  away  from  San  Salvador,  the  admiral  at  once  found 
himself  in  an  archipelago,  pleasantly  embarrassed  by  the  multitude  of  islands 
offered  to  his  choice.  He  steered  for  the  largest,  which  he  named  Santa 
Maria  de  la  Concepcion,  for  the  Immaculate  Virgin.  Another  island  he 
named  Fernandina,  and  one  Isabella. 

Sailing  across  from  Isabella  the  admiral  discovered  Cuba,  where  the 
Spaniards  first  saw  potatoes  and  tobacco.  Continuing  his  explorations  he 
reached  Hayti,  which  he  named  Hispaniola,  and  on  the  coast  of  which  the 
Santa  Maria  grounded  on  a  sand-bank  and  was  soon  a  total  wreck.  The 
admiral  built  a  fort  at  this  point,  and  leaving  it  in  trust  of  a  small  body  of 
mariners  he  boarded  the  Nina  and  sailed  for  Spain  in  January,  1493. 

But  scarcely  was  the  prow  of  his  little  bark  turned  on  its  homeward 
voyage,  when  a  fearful  tempest  threatened  to  engulf  the  discoverer  of 
America.  His  skill  was  tasked  to  the  utmost;  nor  did  he  fail  to  look  up  to 
Heaven  for  assistance.  In  those  dark  hours  of  distress  he  implored  the  pro- 
tection of  our  Blessed  Mother,  and  vowed  a  pilgrimage  to  her  nearest  shrine 
the  first  land  he  touched — a  vow  punctually  fulfilled. 

When  the  great  admiral  once  more  touched  the  shores  of  sunny  Spain, 
his  first  act  was  a  solemn  procession  to  the  monastery  of  La  Rabida.  The 
faithful  Father  Perez  said  a  Mass  of  thanksgiving,  and  the  Te  Dcum  wa& 
chanted.  In  his  letter  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  signifying  his  arrival,  there 
is  no  tinge  of  egotism,  no  talk  about  his  achievements.  He  simply  asks 
Spain  to  exhibit  a  holy  joy,  "for  Christ  rejoices  on  earth  as  in  Heaven,  seeing 
the  future  redemption  of  souls." 

The  court  was  at  Barcelona,  and  the  progress  of  Columbus  towards  that 
city  was  like  the  march  of  some  victorious  monarch.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
received  him  with  royal  magnificence. 

"A  thousand  trumpets  ring  within  old  Barcelona's  walls, 
A  thousand  gallant  nobles  throng  in  Barcelona's  halls. 
All  met  to  gaze  on  him  who  wrought  a  pathway  for  mankind, 
Through  seas  as  broad,  to  worlds  as  rich  as  his  triumphant  mind; 
And  King  and  Queen  will  grace  forsooth  the  mariner's  array, 
The  lonely  seaman,  scoffed  and  scorned  in  Palos  town  one  day, 
He  comes,  he  comes!   The  gates  swing  wide,  and  through  the  streets  advance 
His  cavalcade  in  proud  parade,  with  plume  and  pennoned  lance, 


38  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

And  natives  of  those  new-found  worlds,  and  treasures  all  untold — 
And  in  the  midst  the  admiral,  his  charger  trapped  with  gold; 
And  all  with  joy  are  wild,  and  blithe  the  gladsome  clarions  swell, 
And  dames  and  princes  press  to  greet,  and  loud  the  myriads  yell. 
'     They  cheer,  that  mob,  they  wildly  cheer— Columbus  checks  his  rein, 
And  bends  him  to  the  beauteous  dames  and  cavaliers  of  Spain." 

The  discoverer  of  America  was  now  honored  by  princes,  and  his  praise 
was  sounded  by  those  who  had  mocked  him  in  other  days.  It  was  a  moment 
of  prosperity — a  gleam  of  sunshine  before  the  gathering  clouds  that 
announce  the  storm.  Up  to  this  time  his  enemies  had  done  nothing  worse 
than  to  waste  his  time  and  health  and  strength,  and  delay  his  work.  It  was 
now  to  be  their  base  part  to  ruin  his  benevolent  schemes,  to  bring  his  gray 
hairs  in  sorrow  to  the  grave,  and  to  heap  reproaches  on  his  memory. 

After  a  short  repose,  Columbus  pushed  the  preparations  for  a  second 
voyage.  He  had  in  view  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  to  the  Catholic 
Faith  and  vast  schemes  of  colonization.  Among  the  noted  persons  who  ac- 
companied him  were  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  John  de  la  Cosa,  John  Pbnce  de 
Leon,  his  old  friend,  Father  John  Perez,  the  Franciscan,  and  a  Vicar  Apos- 
tolic, Father  Bernard  Boil,  of  the  ancient  order  of  St.  Benedict.  There  were 
twelve  missionary  priests.  The  expedition,  which  consisted  of  seventeen  ships 
and  about  fifteen  hundred  persons,  reached  Hispaniola  late  in  the  fall  of  1493. 

The  foundation  of  the  ill-starred  city  of  Isabella  was  laid,  and  the  work 
of  settlement  commenced.  But  from  that  to  the  day  of  his  death,  the  life  of 
the  illustrious  admiral  was  one  ceaseless  conflict  with  calumny,  avarice,  and 
misfortune.  He  was  soon  surrounded  by  a  host  of  bitter  enemies.  We  may  not, 
in  this  history,  enter  into  details.  There  is  no  space  and  the  story  is  too  sad. 

Meanwhile  the  Franciscan  fathers,  on  January  6,  1494,  blessed,  on  the 
island  of  Hayti,  the  first  rude  temple  of  the  Most  High  in  the  New  World. 
Churches  were  established  in  others  of  the  West  India  islands,  and — t© 
anticipate  a  little — an  episcopal  see  was  erected  at  St.  Domingo  in  1513,  and 
a  few  years  after  there  were  bishops  at  Yucatan  and  Santiago  de  Cuba. 

In  a  few  years,  Columbus  found  it  necessary  to  leave  his  brother  Don 
Bartholomew  in  command  and  proceed  to  Spain  in  order  to  defend  himself 
against  the  slanderous  charges  made  by  his  foes  in  the  New  World.  He 
succeeded.  He  then  organized  an  expedition  for  his  third  voyage,  in  which 
he  discovered  the  mainland  of  South  America,  August  i,  1498.  The  part 
first  seen  was  the  delta  of  the  Orinoco. 

But  misfortune  kept  pace  with  his  discoveries.  In  a  short  time  the 
malice  of  his  enemies  succeeded  in  having  him  sent  home  in  chains  on  a 


THE   LAND   AND    THE   CRUSH. 


39 


vessel   called    the    Gorclo.      And    thus    shamefully    shackled    in    irons   were 
"  hands  that  the  rod  of  empire  might  have  swayed.'' 

"  I  shall  preserve  these  chains,"  said  the  great  discoverer,  "  as  memorials 
of  the  reward  of  my  services  !" 

"He  did  so,"  writes  his  son  Ferdinand.    "I  saw  them  always  hanging  in  his 
cabinet,  and  he  requested  that  when  he  died,  they  might  be  buried  with  him." 

The  sight  of  Columbus  in  chains  aroused  a  feeling  of  indignation.  It 
was  a  most  disgraceful  affair.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  it  is  true,  expressed 
great  sorrow ;  but  a  gross  injustice — never  to  be  repaired — was  done  the 
venerable  prince  of  discoverers. 

After  another  period  of  repose,  he  set  out  on  his  fourth  and  last  voyage, 
in  May,  1502.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  younger  son  Ferdinand,  his 
noble  brother  Don  Bartholomew,  and  his  faithful  friend  James  Mendez. 
Though  now  sixty-six  years  of  age  and  in  broken  health,  the  great  old 
admiral  intended  to  circumnavigate  the  globe.  Various  reasons  made  him 
hope  to  find  a  strait  at  the  Isthmus  of  Darien.  He  would  pass  through  it, 
and  sail  around  the  world.  He  was  mistaken,  of  course;  but  the  guess  ran 
strangely  near  the  truth. 

The  astonishing  resources  of  his  genius,  and  his  patience  in  suffering, 
were  never  more  heavily  taxed  than  in  this  expedition.  He  discovered  the 
northern  coast  of  Honduras,  and  after  a  desperate  struggle  with  wind  and 
waves,  the  badly-damaged  ships  rounded  a  cape,  and  at  once  found  fair 
weather  and  free  navigation.  Columbus,  full  of  gratitude  to  Heaven,  named 
the  cape  Gracios  a  Dios,  or  "  Thanks  be  to  God" — a  name  retained  to  this  day. 

He  then  stood  towards  the  south,  and  coasted  along  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  carefully  examining  every  bay  and  inlet  in  search  of  his  supposed 
strait  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific;  and  not  finding  what  he  sought, 
he  directed  the  prows  of  his  now  sinking,  crazy,  and  worm-eaten  vessels 
across  the  Caribbean  Sea,  but  was  forced  to  run  them  aground  on  the  shores 
of  Jamaica.  While  there,  mutiny  weakened  his  authority,  and  famine  stared 
him  in  the  face.  It  was  only  by  predicting  an  eclipse  that  he  compelled  the 
savage  and  treacherous  natives  to  supply  him  with  food,  thus  preserving  him- 
self and  his  diminished  crews  from  death  by  starvation.  After  countless  advent- 
ures, and  weighed  down  by  age  and  infirmities,  he  returned  to  Spain  in  1504. 
The  death  of  the  generous  Isabella  destroyed  his  last  hopes  of  being 
reinstated  in  his  dignities.  Ferdinand  treated  him  with  shameful  ingratitude. 
The  mighty  admiral  who  gave  Spain  a  hemisphere,  did  not  own  a  roof  in 


4o 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


Spain,  and  closed  his  days  in  the  shades  of  poverty  and  neglect.  In  a  letter 
to  his  son  James,  he  urges  him  to  extreme  economy.  "  I  receive  nothing  of 
the  revenue  due  to  me,"  he  writes,  "  but  live  by  borrowing.  Little  have  I 
profited  by  twenty  years  of  toils  and  perils,  since  at  present  I  do  not  own  a 
roof  in  Spain.  I  have  no  resort  but  an  inn,  and  during  most  of  the  time,  I 
have  not  money  to  pay  my  bill." 

But  to  the  last  his  moral  and  intellectual  greatness  stood  out  in  bold 
relief,  clyar  and  majestic.  He  made  his  will,  turned  his  thoughts  to  heaven, 
received  the  last  sacraments  with  all  the  devotion  of  his  magnificent  soul,  and 
murmured  in  dying  accents,  "Into  thy  hands,  O  Lord!  I  commend  my 
spirit."  His  bed  was  surrounded  by  his  two  sons,  James  and  Ferdinand, 
some  friends,  and  a  few  Franciscan  fathers.  And  thus  died  Christopher 
Columbus,  the  discoverer  of  America,  at  Valladolid,  on  the  3<Dth  of  May, 
1506.  He  was  about  seventy-one  years  of  age. 

The  great  admiral  was  buried  as  he  directed,  with  his  chains  in  his 
coffin,  among  the  Franciscans  of  Valladolid,  but  in  1573  was  transferred 
with  pomp  to  the  Carthusian  convent  of  Santa  Maria  at  Seville.  His 

journeys  were  not,  however,  ended.  In 
1536  the  bones  and  chains  of  Columbus 
crossed  the  ocean  and  were  deposited  on 
the  right  of  the  high  altar  of  the  cathe- 
dral of  San  Domingo;  but  when  Spain 
lost  the  island  in  1795,  she  removed  them, 
as  her  great  treasure,  to  the  cathedral  of 
Havana,  where  their  place  is  marked  by 
the  monument  of  which  a  faithful  illustra- 
tion is  furnished  in  this  chapter. 

To  the  day  of  his  death  he  was  an 
ardent  student,  "  ever  trying  to  find  out 
the  secrets  of  nature."  His  mind  had 
grasped  all  kinds  of  knowledge.  He  was 
equally  familiar  with  the  ancient  geogra- 
phers and  the  Fathers  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  His  poetical  imagination  was  governed  in  its  flights  by  a  strong 
practical  judgment;  and  his  discovery  of  America  has  been  truly  called 
"  a  conquest  of  reflection." 


TOMB    OF    COLUMBUS. 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  CROSS. 


41 


But  it  was  virtue,  above  all,  that  crowned  the  manly  integrity  of  his 
character.  God  and  religion  held  the  first  place  in  his  mind.  "  Throughout 
his  life,"  says  Irving,  "  he  was  noted  for  a  strict  attention  to  the  offices  of 
religion;  nor  did  his  piety  consist  in  mere  forms,  but  partook  of  that  lofty 
and  solemn  enthusiasm  with  which  his  whole  character  was  strongly 
tinctured." 

A  Catholic  of  Catholics,  if  this  prince  of  pioneers  desired  to  open  the 
way  to  unknown  continents,  and  to  raise  large  sums  of  money,  it  was  not 
through  any  motive  of  grasping  selfishness.  Before  St.  Ignatius  Loyola 
adopted  the  maxim,  Ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam, — "  To  the  greater  glory  of 
God" — Columbus  put  it  in  practice.  To  carry  the  light  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
heathen,  to  connect  the  ends  of  the  earth  for  the  glory  of  Heaven,  to  rescue 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  hands  of  the  infidel  Turk — such  were  the 
grand  motives  that  guided  his  life's  labors.  Though  a  layman,  he  was  one 
of  the  greatest  of  missionaries.  His  discoveries  led  to  the  salvation  of  mil- 
lions of  souls,  and  this  messenger  of  the  Cross  rivals  the  most  illustrious  of 
the  saints  in  being  the  means  of  unlocking  the  portals  of  paradise  to  count- 
less multitudes.  America,  and  the  world  at  large,  might  well  do  honor  in 
Chicago  to  his  memory  and  his  achievements.  While  he  has  handed  down 
to  all  ages  an  imperishable  name,  he  has  also  left  an  example  to  posterity — 
and  particularly  to  us  Americans,  who  owe  him  so  much  gratitude  and 
reverence — that  far  outweighs  in  importance  his  contributions  to  science  and 
his  efforts  to  aggrandize  his  adopted  country.  He  has  proved  in  his  own 
person  that  a  soul  filled  with  deep  and  intense  devotion  to  the  Creator,  and  a 
will  conformable  in  all  things  to  His  laws,  are  alone  capable  of  leading 
human  beings  to  the  achievement  of  true  and  lasting  greatness. 

He  was  a  man  whom  danger  could  not  daunt, 

Nor  sophistry  perplex,  nor  pain  subdue; 
A  stoic,  reckless  of  the  world's  vain  taunt, 

And  steeled  the  path  of  honor  to  pvirsue. 
So  when  by  all  deserted,  still  he  knew 

How  best  to  soothe  the  heart-sick,  or  confront 
Sedition ;  schooled  with  equal  eye  to  view 

The  frowns  of  grief  and  the  base  pangs  of  want. 
But  when  he  saw  that  promised  land  arise 

In  all  its  rare  and  bright  varieties, 
Lovelier  than  fondest  fancy  ever  trod. 

Then  softening  nature  melted  in  his  eyes; 
He  knew  his  fame  was  full,  and  blessed  his  God; 

And  fell  upon  his  face,  and  kissed  the  virgin  sod. 

Poet  and  historian  alike  have  employed  their  highest  eloquence  in  doing 


42  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

honor  to  this  remarkable  man,  but  his  character,  which  they  wreathe  in 
eulogy,  will  appear  in  its  truest  and  most  Catholic  light  from  the  last  will 
and  testament  which  he  left  behind,  and  of  which  a  careful  translation  is 
here  appended: — 

&|JB  WWi  nf  Columbus. 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  who  inspired  'me  with  the  idea, 
and  afterwards  made  it  perfectly  clear  to  me,  that  I  could  navigate  and  go  to 
the  Indies  from  Spain,  by  traversing  the  ocean  westwardly ;  which  I  com- 
municated to  the  king,  Don  Ferdinand,  and  to  the  queen,  Dona  Isabella,  our 
sovereigns;  and  they  were  pleased  to  furnish  me  the  necessary  equipment  of 
men  and  ships,  and  to  make  me  their  admiral  over  the  said  ocean,  in  all  parts 
lying  to  the  west  of  an  imaginary  line,  drawn  from  pole  to  pole,  a  hundred 
leagues  west  of  the  Cape  de  Verd  and  Azore  Islands;  also  appointing  me 
their  viceroy  and  governor  over  all  continents  and  islands  that  I  might  dis- 
cover beyond  the  said  line  westwardly,  with  the  right  of  being  succeeded  in 
the  said  offices  by  my  eldest  son  and  his  heirs  forever;  and  a  grant  of  the 
tenth  part  of  all  things  found  in  the  said  jurisdiction;  and  of  all  rents  and 
revenues  arising  from  it;  and  the  eighth  of  all  the  lands  and  everything  else, 
together  with  the  salary  corresponding  to  my  rank  of  admiral,  viceroy  and 
governor,  and  all  other  emoluments  accruing  thereto,  as  is  more  fully 
expressed  in  the  title  and  agreement  sanctioned  by  their  Highnesses. 

And  it  pleased  the  Lord  Almighty  that  in  the  year  1492  I  should  dis- 
cover the  continent  of  the  Indies  and  many  islands,  among  them  Hispaniola, 
which  the  Indians  call  Ayte,  and  the  Monicongos,  Apango.  I  then  returned 
to  Castile  to  their  highnesses,  who  approved  of  my  undertaking  a  second 
enterprise  for  further  discoveries  and  settlements ;  and  the  Lord  gave  me 
victory  over  the  Island  of  Hispaniola,  which  extends  six  hundred  leagues, 
and  I  conquered  it  and  made  it  tributary;  and  I  discovered  many  islands 
inhabited  by  cannibals,  and  seven  hundred  to  the  west  of  Hispaniola,  among 
which  is  Jamaica,  which  we  call  Santiago,  and  three  hundred  and  thirty-three 
leagues  of  continent  from  south  to  west,  besides  a  hundred  and  seven  to  the 
north,  which  I  discovered  in  my  first  voyage,  together  with  many  islands,  as 
may  more  clearly  be  seen  by  my  letters,  memorials,  and  maritime  charts. 
And  as  we  hope  in  God  that  before  long  a  good  and  great  revenue  will  be 
derived  from  the  above  islands  and  continents,  of  which  for  the  reasons 
aforesaid  belong  to  me  the  tenth  and  the  eighth,  with  the  salaries  and  emolu- 
ments specified  above;  and  considering  that  we  are  mortal,  and  that  it  is 
proper  for  every  one  to  settle  his  affairs,  and  to  leave  declared  to  his  heirs 
and  successors  the  property  he  possesses  or  may  have  a  right  to  Wheretore 
I  have  concluded  to  create  an  entailed  estate  (Mayorazgo)  out  of  the  said 
eighth  of  the  lands,  places,  and  revenues,  in  the  manner  which  I  now  proceed 
to  state. 

In  the  first  place,  I  am  to  be  succeeded  by  Don  Diego,  my  son,  who  in 
case  of  death  without  children  is  to  be  succeeded  by  my  other  son  Ferdinand; 
and  should  God  dispose  of  him  also  without  leaving  children,  and  without 
my  having  any  other  son,  then  my  brother  Don  Bartholomew  is  to  succeed; 
and  after  him  his  eldest  son;  and  if  God  should  dispose  of  him  without  heirs, 
he  shall  be  succeeded  by  his  sons  from  one  to  another  forever;  or,  in  the 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  CROSS. 


43 


failure  of  a  son,  to  be  succeeded  by  Don  Ferdinand,  after  the  same  manner; 
from  son  to  son  successively,  or  in  their  place  by  my  brothers  Bartholomew 
and  Diego.  And  should  it  please  the  Lord  that  the  estate,  after  having 
continued  for  some  time  in  the  line  of  any  of  the  above  successors,  should 
stand  in  need  of  an  immediate  and  lawful  male  heir,  the  succession  shall 
then  devolve  to  the  nearest  relation,  being  a  man  of  legitimate  birth,  and 
bearing  the  name  of  Columbus,  derived  from  his  father  and  his  ancestors. 
This  entailed  estate  shall  in  no  wise  be  inherited  by  a  woman,  except  in  case 
that  no  male  is  to  be  found,  either  in  this  or  any  other  quarter  of  the  world, 
of  my  real  lineage,  whose  name,  as  well  as  that  of  his  ancestors  shall  have 
always  been  Columbus.  In  such  an  event,  (which  may  God  forefend!)  then 
the  female  of  legitimate  birth,  most  nearly  related  to  the  preceding  possessor 
of  the  estate,  shall  succeed  to  it;  and  this  is  to  be  under  the  conditions  herein 
stipulated  at  foot,  which  must  be  understood  to  extend  as  well  to  Don  Diego, 
my  son,  as  to  the  aforesaid  and  their  heirs,  every  one  of  them,  to  be  fulfilled 
by  them ;  and  failing  to  do  so  they  are  to  be  deprived  of  the  succession,  for 
not  having  complied  with  what  shall  herein  be  expressed,  and  the  estate  io 
pass  to  the  person  most  nearly  related  to  the  one  who  held  the  right;  and  the 
person  thus  succeeding  shall  in  like  manner  forfeit  the  estate,  should  he  also 
fail  to  comply  with  said  conditions;  and  another  person,  the  nearest  of  my 
lineage,  shall  succeed,  provided  he  abide  by  them,  so  that  they  may  be 
observed  forever  in  the  form  prescribed.  This  forfeiture  is  not  to  be  incurred 
for  trifling  matters,  originating  in  lawsuits,  but  in  important  cases,  when  the 
glory  of  God,  or  my  own,  or  that  of  my  family  may  be  concerned,  which 
supposes  a  perfect  fulfilment  of  all  the  things  hereby  ordained ;  all  which  I 
recommend  to  the  courts  of  justice.  And  I  supplicate  His  holiness,  who  now 
is,  and  those  that  may  succeed  in  the  Holy  Church,  that  if  it  should  happen 
that  this  my  will  and  testament  has  need  of  his  holy  order  and  command 
for  its  fulfilment,  that  such  order  be  issued  in  virtue  of  obedience  and 
under  penalty  of  excommunication,  and  that  it  shall  not  be  in  any  wise 
disfigured.  And  I  also  pray  the  king  and  queen,  our  sovereigns,  and 
their  eldest  born,  Prince  Don  Juan,  our  lord,  and  their  successors, 
for  the  sake  of  the  services  I  have  done  them,  and  because  it  is  just, 
that  it  may  please  them  not  to  permit  this  my  will  and  constitution  of 
my  entailed  estate  to  be  anyway  altered,  but  to  leave  it  in  the  form  and 
manner  which  I  have  ordained,  forever,  for  the  greater  glory  of  the  Almighty, 
and  that  it  may  be  the  root  and  basis  of  my  lineage,  and  a  memento  of  the 
services  I  have  rendered  their  highnesses;  that,  being  born  in  Genoa,  I  came 
over  to  serve  them  in  Castile,  and  discovered  to  the  west  of  Terra  Firma  the 
Indies  and  islands  before  mentioned.  I  accordingly  pray  their  highnesses  to 
order  that  this  my  privilege  and  testament  be  held  valid,  and  be  executed  sum- 
marily and  without  any  opposition  or  demur,  according  to  the  letter.  I  also 
pray  the  grandees  of  the  realm  and  the  lords  of  the  council,  and  all  others 
having  the  administration  of  justice,  to  be  pleased  not  to  suffer  this  my  will 
and  testament  to  be  of  no  avail,  but  to  cause  it  to  be  fulfilled  as  by  me 
ordained;  it  being  just  that  a  noble,  who  has  served  the  king  and  queen  and 
the  kingdom,  should  be  respected  in  the  disposition  of  his  estate  by  will,  testa- 
ment, institution  of  entail  or  inheritance,  and  that  the  same  be  not  infringed 
either  in  whole  or  in  part. 

In  the  first  place,  my  son  Don  Diego,  and  all  my  successors  and  descend- 
ants, as  well  as  my  brothers  Bartholomew  and  Diego,  shall  bear  my  arms, 
such  as  I  shall  leave  them  after  my  days,  without  inserting  anything  else  in 


44 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


COLUMBUS'  COAT  OF  ARMS. 


them;  and  they  shall  be  their  seal  to  seal 
withal.  Don  Diego  my  son,  or  any  other 
•who  may  inherit  this  estate,  or  coming  into 
possession  of  the  inheritance,  shall  sign  with 
the  signature  which  I  now  make  use  of, 
which  is  an  X  with  an  S  over  it,  and  an  M 
with  a  Roman  A  over  it,  and  over  that  an  S, 
and  then  a  Greek  Y,  with  an  S  over  it,  with 
its  lines  and  points  as  is  my  custom,  as  may 
be  seen  by  my  signatures,  of  which  there 
are  many,  and  it  will  be  seen  by  the  pre- 
sent one. 

He  shall  only  write  "  the  admiral," 
whatever  other  titles  the  king  may  have  con- 
ferred on  him.  This  is  to  be  understood  as 
respects  his  signature,  but  not  the  enumera- 
tion of  his  titles,  which  he  can  make  at  full 
length  if  agreeable;  only  the  signature  is  to 
be  "the  admiral." 

The  said  Don  Diego,  or  any  other  in- 
heritor of  this  estate,  shall  possess  my  offices  of  admiral  of  the  ocean,  which 
is  to  the  west  of  an  imaginary  line,  which  his  highness  ordered  to  be  drawn, 
running  from  pole  to  pole  a  hundred  leagues  beyond  the  Azores,  and  as  many 
more  beyond  the  Cape  de  Verd  islands,  over  which  I  was  made,  by  their 
order,  their  admiral  of  the  sea,  with  all  the  preeminences  held  by  Don  Hen- 
rique in  the  admiralty  of  Castile,  and  they  made  me  their  governor  and  vice- 
roy perpetually  and  forever  over  all  the  islands  and  mainland  discovered,  or 
to  be  discovered,  for  myself  and  heirs,  as  is  more  fully  shown  by  my  treaty 
and  privilege  as  above  mentioned.  • 

Item :  The  said  Diego,  or  any  other  inheritor  of  this  estate,  shall  dis- 
tribute the  revenue  which  it  may  please  our  Lord  to  grant  him  in  the  follow- 
ing manner,  under  the  above  penalty: — 

First:  Of  the  whole  income  of  this  estate,  now  and  at  all  times,  and  of 
whatever  may  be  had  or  collected  from  it,  he  shall  give  the  fourth  part  annu- 
ally to  my  brother,  Don  Bartholomew  Columbus,  Adelantado  of  the  Indies; 
and  this  is  to  continue  until  he  shall  have  acquired  an  income  of  a  million  of 
maravadises  for  his  support,  and  for  the  services  he  has  rendered  and  will 
continue  to  render  to  this  entailed  estate;  which  million  he  is  to  receive  as 
stated,  every  year,  if  the  said  fourth  amount  to  so  much,  and  that  he  have 
nothing  else ;  but  if  he  possess  a  part  or  the  whole  of  that  amount  in  rents, 
that  thenceforth  he  shall  not  enjoy  the  said  million,  nor  any  part  of  it,  except 
that  he  shall  have  in  the  said  fourth  part  unto  the  said  quantity  of  a  million, 
if  it  should  amount  to  so  much,  and  as  much  as  he  shall  have  of  revenue 
beside  this  fourth  part,  whatever  sum  of  maravadises  of  known  rent  from 
property  or  perpetual  offices,  the  said  quantity  of  rent  or  revenues  from 
property  or  offices  shall  be  discounted,  and  from  the  said  million  shall  be 
reserved  whatever  marriage  portion  he  may  receive  with  any  female  he  may 
espouse ;  so  that,  whatever  he  may  receive  in  marriage  with  his  wife,  no 
deduction  shall  be  made  on  that  account  from  said  million,  but  only  for  what- 
ever he  may  acquire,  or  may  have,  over  and  above  his  wife's  dowry;  and 
when  it  shall  please  God,  that  he  or  his  heirs  and  descendants  shall  derive 
from  their  property  and  offices  a  revenue  of  a  million  arising  from  rents, 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  CROSS. 


45 


neither  he  nor  his  heirs  shall  enjoy  any  longer  any  thing  from  the  said  fourth 
part  of  the  entailed  estate,  which  shall  remain  with  Don  Diego,  or  whoever 
may  inherit  it. 

Item:  From  the  revenues  of  the  said  estate,  or  from  any  other  fourth 
part  of  it,  (should  its  amount  be  adequate  to  it)  shall  be  p'aid  every  year  to 
my  son  Ferdinand  two  millions,  till  such  time  as  his  revenue  si. all  amount  to 
two  millions,  in  the  same  form  and  manner  as  in  the  case  of  Bartholomew, 
who,  as  well  as  his  heirs,  are  to  have  the  million,  or  the  part  that  may  be 
wanting. 

Item:  The  said  Don  Diego,  or  Don  Bartholomew  shall  make  out  of 
the  said  estate,  for  my  brother  Diego,  such  provision  as  may  enable  him  to 
live  decently,  as  he  is  my  brother,  to  whom  I  assign  no  particular  sum,  as  he 
has  attached  himself  to  the  Church,  and  that  will  be  given  him  which  is 
right,  and  this  to  be  given  him  in  a  mass,  and  before  any  thing  shall  have 
been  received  by  Ferdinand  my  son,  or  Bartholomew  my  brother,  or  their 
heirs,  and  also  according  to  the  amount  of  the  income  of  the  estate.  And 
in  case  of  discord,  the  case  is  to  be  referred  to  two  of  our  relations,  or  other 
men  of  honor;  and  should  they  disagree  among  themselves,  they  will  choose 
a  third  person  as  arbitrator,  being  virtuous  and  not  distrusted  by  either  party. 

Item :  All  this  revenue  which  I  bequeath  to  Bartholomew,  to  Ferdi- 
nand, and  to  Diego,  shall  be  delivered  to,  and  received  by  them  as  prescribed 
under  the  obligation  of  being  faithful  and  loyal  to  Diego,  my  son  or  his 
heirs,  they  as  well  as  their  children;  and  should  it  appear  that  they,  or 
any  of  them,  had  proceeded  against  him  in  anything  touching  his  honor,  or 
the  prosperity  of  the  family,  or  of  the  estate,  either  in  word  or  deed,  whereby 
might  come  a  scandal  and  debasement  to  my  family  and  a  detriment  to  my 
estate,  in  that  case  nothing  further  shall  be  given  to  them  or  him  from  that 
time  forward,  inasmuch  as  they  are  always  to  be  faithful  to  Diego  and  to 
his  successors. 

Item:  As  it  was  my  intention,  when  I  first  instituted  this  entailed  estate 
to  dispose,  or  that  my  son  Diego  should  dispose  for  me,  of  the  tenth  part  of 
the  income  in  favor  of  necessitous  persons,  as  a  tithe,  and  .'n  commemoration 
of  the  almighty  and  eternal  God,  and  persisting  still  in  this  opinion,  and 
hoping  that  his  high  Majesty  will  assist  me,  and  those  who  may  inherit  it,  in 
this  or  the  new  world,  I  have  resolved  that  the  said  tithe  shall  be  paid  in  the 
manner  following: — 

First:  It  is  to  be  understood  that  the  fourth  part  of  the  revenue  of  the 
estate  which  I  have  ordained  and  directed  to  be  given  to  Don  Bartholomew, 
till  he  have  an  income  of  one  million,  includes  the  tenth  of  the  whole 
revenue  of  the  estate;  and  that  as  in  proportion  as  the  income  of  my  brother 
Don  Bartholomew  shall  increase,  as  it  has  to  be  discounted  from  the  revenue 
of  the  fourth  part  of  the  entailed  estate,  that  the  said  revenue  shall  be  calcu- 
lated, to  know  how  much  the  tenth  part  amounts  to;  and  the  part  which 
exceeds  what  is  necessary  to  make  up  the  million  for  Don  Bartholomew  shall 
be  received  by  such  of  my  family  as  may  most  stand  in  need  of  it,  discount- 
ing it  from  said  tenth,  if  their  income  do  not  amount  to  fifty  thousand  mara- 
vadtses;  and  should  any  of  these  come  to  have  an  income  of  such  amount, 
such  a  part  shall  be  awarded  them,  as  two  persons  chosen  for  the  purpose, 
may  determine  along  with  Don  Diego,  or  his  heirs.  Thus  it  is  to  be  under- 
stood that  the  million  which  I  leave  to  Don  Bartholomew,  comprehends  the 
tenth  of  the  whole  revenue  of  the  estate,  which  revenue  is  to  be  distributed 
among  my  nearest  and  most  needy  relations  in  the  manner  I  have  directed; 


46  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  when  Don  Bartholomew  has  an  income  of  one  million,  and  that  nothing 
more  shall  be  due  to  him  on  account  of  said  fourth  part,  then  Don  Diego,  my 
son,  or  the  person  who  may  be  in  possession  of  the  estate,  along  with  the  two 
other  persons  which  I  shall  herein  point  out,  shall  inspect  the  accounts,  and 
so  direct  that  the  tenth  of  the  revenue  shall  still  continue  to  be  paid  to  the 
most  necessitous  members  of  my  family  that  may  be  found  in  this  or  any 
other  quarter  of  the  world,  who  shall  be  diligently  sought  out,  and  they  are 
to  be  paid  out  of  the  fourth  part  from  which  Don  Bartholomew  is  to  derive 
his  million;  which  sums  are  to  be  taken  into  account,  and  deducted  from  the 
said  tenth,  which  should  it  amount  to  more,  the  overplus,  as  it  arises  from  the 
fourth  part,  shall  be  given  to  the  most  necessitous  person  as  aforesaid;  and 
should  it  not  be  sufficient,  that  Don  Bartholomew  shall  have  it  until  his  own 
estate  goes  on  increasing,  leaving  the  said  million  in  part  or  in  the  whole. 

Item:  The  said  Don  Diego  my  son,  or  whoever  may  be  the  inheritor, 
shall  appoint  two  persons  of  conscience  and  authority,  and  most  nearly 
related  to  the  family,  who  are  to  examine  the  revenue  and  its  amount  care- 
fully, and  to  cause  the  said  tenth  to  be  paid  out  of  the  fourth  from  which 
Don  Bartholomew  is  to  receive  his  million,  to  the  most  necessitated  members 
of  my  family  that  may  be  found  here  or  elsewhere,  whom  they  shall  look 
for  diligently  upon  their  consciences;  and  as  it  might  happen  that  said  Don 
Diego,  or  others  after  him,  for  reasons  which  may  concern  their  own  welfare 
or  the  credit  and  support  of  the  estate,  may  be  unwilling  to  make  known 
the  full  amount  of  the  income,  nevertheless  I  charge  him,  on  his  conscience, 
to  pay  the  sum  aforesaid;  and  I  charge  them,  on  their  souls  and  consciences, 
not  to  denounce  or  make  it  known,  except  with  the  consent  of  Don  Diego, 
or  the  person  that  may  succeed  him ;  but  let  the  above  tithe  be  paid  in  the 
manner  I  have  directed. 

Item :  In  order  to  avoid  all  disputes  in  the  choice  of  the  two  nearest 
relations  who  are  to  act  with  Don  Diego  or  his  heirs,  I  hereby  elect  Don 
Bartholomew  my  brother  for  one,  and  Don  Fernando  my  son  for  the  other; 
and  when  these  two  shall  enter  upon  the  business,  they  shall  choose  two 
other  persons  among  the  most  trusty  and  most  nearly  related,  and  these 
again  shall  elect  two  others  when  it  shall  be  question  of  commencing  the 
examination;  and  thus  it  shall  be  managed  with  diligence  from  one  to  the 
other,  as  well  in  this,  as  in  the  other  of  government,  for  the  service  and 
glory  of  God,  and  the  benefit  of  the  said  entailed  estate. 

Item :  I  also  enjoin  Diego,  or  any  one  that  may  inherit  the  estate,  to 
have  and  maintain  in  the  city  of  Genoa  one  person  of  our  lineage  to  reside 
there  with  his  wife,  and  appoint  him  a  sufficient  revenue  to  enable  him  to 
live  decently,  as  a  person  closely  connected  with  the  family,  of  which  he  is 
to  be  the  root  and  basis  in  that  city,  from  which  great  good  may  accrue  to 
him,  inasmuch  as  I  was  born  there  and  came  from  thence. 

Item:  .  The  said  Don  Diego,  or  whoever  shall  inherit  the  estate,  must 
remit  in  bills,  or  in  any  other  way,  all  such  sums  as  he  may  be  able  to  save 
out  of  the  revenue  of  the  estate,  and  direct  purchases  to  be  made  in  his  name, 
or  that  of  his  heirs,  in  a  stock  in  the  bank  of  St.  George,  which  gives  an 
interest  of  six  per  cent,  and  in  secure  money;  and  this  shall  be  devoted  to  the 
purpose  I  am  about  to  explain. 

Item :  As  it  becomes  every  man  of  property  to  serve  God,  either  per- 
sonally or  by  means  of  his  wealth,  and  as  all  moneys  deposited  with  St. 
George  are  quite  safe,  and  Genoa  is  a  noble  city  and  powerful  by  sea,  and  as 
at  the  time  that  I  undertook  to  set  out  upon  the  discovery  of  the  Indies,  it 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  CROSS.  tf 

was  with  the  intention  of  supplicating  the  kino-  and  queen,  our  lords,  that 
whatever  moneys  should  be  derived  from  the  said  Indies  should  be  invested 
in  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem,  and  as  I  did  so  supplicate  them,  if  they  do  this, 
it  will  be  well;  if  not,  at  all  events  the  said  Diego,  or  such  person  as  may 
succeed  him  in  this  trust,  to  collect  together  all  the  money  he  can  and  accom- 
pany the  king,  our  lord,  should  he  go  to  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem,  or  else 
go  there  himself  with  all  the  force  he  can  command;  and  in  pursuing  this 
intention  it  will  please  the  Lord  to  assist  towards  the  accomplishment  of  the 
plan;  and  should  he  not  be  able  to  effect  the  conquest  of  the  whole,  no  doubt 
he  will  achieve  it  in  part.  Let  him  therefore  collect  and  make  a  fund  of  all 
his  wealth  in  St.  George,  of  Genoa,  and  let  it  multiply  there  till  such  time  as 
it  may  appear  to  him  that  something  of  consequence  may  be  effected  as 
respects  the  project  on  Jerusalem,  for  I  believe  that,  when  their  highnesses 
shall  see  that  this  is  contemplated,  they  will  wish  to  realize  it  themselves,  or 
will  afford  him,  as  their  servant  and  vassal,  the  means  of  doing  it  for  them. 

Item:  I  charge  my  son  Diego  and  my  descendants,  especially  whoever 
may  inherit  this  estate,  which  consists,  as  aforesaid,  of  the  tenth  of  whatso- 
ever may  be  had  or  found  in  the  Indies,  and  the  eighth  part  of  the  lands  and 
rents,  all  which,  together  with  my  rights  and  emoluments  as  admiral, 
Viceroy  and  governor  amount  to  more  than  25  per  cent, — I  say  that  I 
require  of  him  to  employ  all  this  revenue,  as  well  as  his  person  and  all  the 
means  in  his  power,  in  well  and  faithfully  serving  and  supporting  their  high- 
nesses, or  their  successors,  even  to  the  loss  of  life  and  property;  since  it  was 
their  highnesses,  next  to  God,  who  first  gave  me  the  means  of  getting  and 
achieving  this  property;  although  it  is  true  I  came  over  to  these  realms  to 
invite  them  to  the  enterprise,  and  that  a  long  time  elapsed  before  any  pro- 
vision was  made  for  carrying  it  into  execution ;  which,  however,  is  not  sur- 
prising, as  this  was  an  undertaking  of  which  all  the  world  was  ignorant,  and 
no  one  had  any  faith  in  it ;  wherefore  I  am  by  so  much  the  more  indebted 
to  them,  as  well  as  because  they  have  since  also  much  favored  and 
promoted  me. 

Item:  I  also  require  of  Diego,  or  whomsoever  may  be  in  possession  of 
the  estate,  that  in  the  case  of  any  schism  taking  place  in  the  Church  of  God, 
or  that  any  person  of  whatever  class  or  condition  should  attempt  to  despoil 
it  of  its  property  and  honors,  they  hasten  to  offer  at  the  feet  of  his  holiness, 
that  is,  if  they  are  not  heretics  (which  God  forbid!)  their  persons,  power  and 
wealth  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  such  schism  and  preventing  any 
spoliation  of  the  honor  and  property  of  the  church. 

Item:  I  command  the  said  Diego,  or  whoever  may  possess  the  said 
estate,  to  labor  and  strive  for  the  honor,  welfare,  and  aggrandizement  of  the 
city  of  Genoa,  and  to  make  use  of  all  his  power  and  means  in  defending  and 
enhancing  the  good  and  credit  of  that  republic  in  all  things  not  contrary  to 
the  service  of  the  church  of  God,  or  the  high  dignity  of  our  king  and  queen, 
our  lords,  and  their  successors. 

Item:  The  said  Diego,  or  whoever  may  possess  or  succeed  to  the 
estate,  out  of  the  fourth  part  of  the  whole  revenue,  from  which,  as  aforesaid, 
is  to  be  taken  the  tenth,  when  Don  Bartholomew  or  his  heirs  shall  have 
saved  the  two  millions,  or  part  of  them,  and  when  the  time  shall  come  of 
making  a  distribution  among  our  relations,  shall  apply  and  invest  the  said 
tenth  in  providing  marriages  for  such  daughters  of  our  lineage  as  may 
require  it,  and  in  doing  all  the  good  in  their  power. 


48  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Item:  When  a  suitable  time  shall  arrive,  he  shall  order  a  church  to  be 
built  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  and  in  the  most  convenient  spot,  to  be  called 
Santa  Maria  de  la  Concepcion;  to  which  is  to  be  annexed  a  hospital,  upon 
the  best  possible  plan,  like  those  of  Italy  and  Castile,  and  a  chapel  erected  to 
say  Mass  in  for  the  good  of  my  sou.1,  and  those  of  my  ancestors  and  successors 
with  great  devotion,  since  no  doubt  it  will  please  the  Lord  to  give  us  a 
sufficient  revenue  for  this  and  the  aforementioned  purposes. 

Item:  I  also  order  Diego  my  son,  or  whomsoever  may  inherit  after  him, 
to  spare  no  pains  in  having  and  maintaining  in  the  Island  of  Hispaniola  four 
good  professors  of  theology,  to  the  end  and  aim  of  their  studying  and  laboring 
to  convert  to  our  holy  faith  the  inhabitants  of  the  Indies;  and  in  proportion 
as,  by  God's  will,  the  revenue  of  the  estate  shall  increase,  in  the  same  degree 
shall  the  number  of  teachers  and  devout  increase,  who  are  to  strive  to  make 
Christians  of  the  natives;  in  attaining  which,  no  expense  should  be  thought 
too  great.  And  in  commemoration  of  all  that  I  hereby  ordain,  and  of  the 
foregoing,  a  monument  of  marble  shall  be  erected  in  the  said  church  of  La 
Concepcion,  in  the  most  conspicuous  place,  to  serve  as  a  record  of  what  1 
here  enjoin  on  the  said  Diego,  as  well  as  to  other  persons  who  may  look  upon 
it;  which  marble  shall  contain  an  inscription  to  the  same  effect. 

Item:  I  also  require  of  Diego  my  son,  and  whomsoever  may  succeed  him 
in  the  estate,  that  every  time,  and  as  often  as  he  confesses,  he  first  show  this 
obligation,  or  a  copy  of  it,  to  the  confessor,  praying  him  to  read  it  through, 
that  he  may  be  enabled  to  inquire  respecting  its  fulfillment;  from  which  will 
redound  great  good  and  happiness  to  his  soul. 

S. 

S.    A.    S. 
X.    M.   Y. 
EL    ALMIRANTE. 

The  name,  as  subscribed,  is  in  the  anagram matic  form,  in  which  according 
to  the  custom  of  his  age,  the  admiral  gave  his  signature.  The  abbreviations 
signify — "  Christus,  Sancta  Maria,  Tosephus,ov  Salve  me,  Xristus,  Maria, 
ITosephus" 

Can  we  wonder,  after  perusing  this  testament,  that  the  Catholic  heart  of 
America  pays  tribute  to  the  memory  of  its  saintly  discoverer?  Can  we 
wonder,  in  this  fourth  centennial,  that  the  most  eloquent  outpourings  of  its 
affection  are  laid  as  flowers  before  his  tomb?  Witness  this  lesson  from  his 
life  by  the  gifted  poet  and  historian,  Professor  Maurice  F.  Egan  of  Notre 
Dame  (Ind.)  University,  very  happily  entitled — 

Columbus,  tlje  $OorUi-(!5toBr* 

Who  doubts  has  met  defeat  ere  blows  can  fall, 

Who  doubts  must  die  with  no  palm  in  his  hand, 
Who  doubts  shall  never  be  of  that  high  band 

Which  clearlv  answers  Present!  to  Death's  call; 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  CROSS.  49 

For  Faith  is  life,  and,  though  a  funeral  pall 

Veil  our  fair  Hope,  and  on  our  promised  land 
A  mist  malignant  hang,  if  Faith  but  stand 

Among  our  ruins,  we  shall  conquer  all. 

O  faithful  soul!  that  knew  no  doubting  low, 

O  Faith  incarnate,  lit  by  Hope's  strong  flame, 
And  led  by  Faith's  own  cross  to  dare  all  ill 

And  find  our  world! — but  more  than  this  we  owe 

To  thy  true  heart;  thy  pure  and  glorious  name 
Is  one  clear  trumpet-call  to  Faith  and  Will. 

And  again,  read  this  glowing  memento  from  the  pen  of  Rt.  Rev.  John  L. 
Spalding,  the  illustrious  bishop  of  Peoria,  Illinois,  whose  brilliant  literary  emi- 
nence is  only  surpassed  by  his  zeal  and  piety  as  a  shepherd  of  the  Catholic  fold: 

Cnltmtbns, 
I. 

"  My  men  and  brothers,  westward  lies  our  way." 

So  spoke  Columbus,  looking  on  the  sea 

Which  stretched  before  him  to  infinity; 
And  while  he  sailed  he  wrote  these  words  each  day, 

As  though,  "  West  lies  thy  course,"  he  heard  God  say, 
With  promise  of  the  blessings  which  should  be 
When  a  New  World  had  borne  young  Liberty, 

As  fair  and  fresh  as  flowers  in  month  of  May. 

O  God-appointed  man!  all  hail  to  thee! 

Thou  other  Moses  of  a  chosen  race, 
Who  out  of  darkness  and  captivity 

Leadest  the  people  from  the  tyrant's  face 
To  where  all  men  shall  equal  be  and  free, 

And  evil  life  alone  shall  be  disgrace. 

II. 

Sail  on,  Columbus!  sail  right  onward  still, 

O'er  watery  waste  of  trackless  billows  sail, 
Nor  let  a  doubting  race  make  thy  heart  fail 

Till  a  new  world  upglow  beneath  thy  will. 

Let  storms  break  forth  and  driving  winds  be  shrill. 
But  be  thou  steadfast  when  all  others  quail, 
Still  looking  westward  till  the  night  grow  pale, 

And  the  long  dreamed-of  land  thy  glad  eyes  fill. 

Sailor,  still  onward  sail!    God  leads  the  way 

Across  the  gloomy,  fathomless  dark  sea, 
Of  man  unvisited  until  thy  day, 

But  which  henceforth  for  the  whole  world  shall  be 
The  road  to  nobler  life  and  wider  sway, 

Where  tyrants  perish  and  all  men  are  free. 


111. 


THREE  NOIJfcE  SPANIARDS. 


THE  FEVER  OF  OCEAN  DISCOVERY. — BRAVE  ALONZO  DE  OJEDA. — EXPEDITION  TO 
CARTHAGENA. — WAR-LIKE  NATIVES. — PROCLAMATION  OF  CATHOLIC  FAITH. — 
ATTACK  BY  THE  SAVAGES. — DEATH  OF  THE  VENERABLE  PILOT. — OJEDA'S 
GALLANTRY  AND  ESCAPE. — THE  FOUNDING  OF  SAN  SEBASTIAN. — SHIPWRECK 
ON  THE  CUBAN  COAST. — A  DESPERATE  MARCH. — THE  VENERATED  PICTURE  OF 
OUR  LADY. — A  Vow  AND  ITS  FULFILMENT. — DAYS  OF  DARKNESS. — DEATH  OF 
A  CATHOLIC  CAVALIER. — VASCO  NUNEZ  DE  BALBOA. — THE  INDIAN  PALACE  OF 
COMAGRE. — SQUABBLING  OVER  THE  BOOTY. — PHILOSOPHY  OF  A  YOUNG  CHIEF. — 
RUMORS  OF  THE  GREAT  SEA. — BALBOA'S  WAR  DOGS.— A  DARING  EXPEDITION. 
— DISCOVERY  OF  THE  PACIFIC. — JOY  AND  RELIGIOUS  SOLEMNITY. — ARRIVAL  OF 
AN  ENEMY. — A  MOCK  TRIAL. — EXECUTION  OF  BALBOA. — ONE  OF  A  TRIO. — 
PONCE  DE  LEON. — A  CAREER  OF  ADVENTURE. — THE  DELUSIVE  FOUNTAIN  OF 
YOUTH. — DISCOVERY  OF  THE  LAND  OF  FLOWERS. — THE  DISCOVERER  SLAIN 
BY  NATIVES. — A  WARRIOR'S  EPITAPH. — A  CLUSTER  OF  DISCOVERERS. — SUM- 
MARY OF  THEIR  CHARACTERISTICS. 


,  HE  success  of  Christopher  Columbus  aroused  not  only  Spain,  but 
all  Europe,  to  a  fever  of  oceanic  enterprise.  In  this  new  career 
France  may  dispute  the  second  place  with  Portugal,  England 
comes  next,  Holland  and  Sweden  last. 

The  captains  under  all  these  powers  were  Catholics;  the  observ- 
ances and  spirit  of  each  expedition  were  Catholic;  the  forms  used 
by  other  nations  in  taking  possession  or  in  founding  colonies  were  copied 
after  those  of  Spain,  and  of  course  were  Catholic.  These  grateful  facts  may 
be  illustrated  by  some  notice  of  the  chief  discoverers,  usually  called  the 
"successors  of  Columbus,"  before  we  enter  on  the  great  theme  of  that 
Catholic  missionary  work  to  which  they  all  served  as  pioneers. 

The  Spaniards  themselves  were  the  first  to  follow  on  in  the  path  of  dis- 
covery and  exploration.    Among  the  companions  of  Columbus  on  his  second 

5° 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS.  51 

voyage  mention  has  already  been  made  of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda.  At  that  time 
he  is  described  as  a  dashing  young  cavalier,  handsome  in  person,  rather 
under  the  middle  height,  but  well-formed,  and  of  great  strength  and  activity. 
He  was  a  master  of  the  art  of  war,  an  admirable  horseman,  and  unmatched 
in  the  use  of  all  kinds  of  weapons.  "  Bold  of  heart,"  says  Irving,  "  free  of 
spirit ,  open  of  hand,  fierce  in  fight,  quick  in  quarrel,  but  ever  ready  to  forget 
and  forgive  an  injury,  he  was  destined,  for  a  long  time,  to  be  the  admiration 
of  the  wild  and  roving  youth  who  flocked  to  the  New  World." 

Before  his  departure  from  Spain,  Oje'da  had  been  introduced  to  Bishop 
Fonseca,  and  the  prelate  made  him  a  gift  of  a  little  Flemish  painting  of  the 
most  Holy  Virgin.  In  all  his  wanderings  the  devout  young  soldier  carried 
this  picture  about  him,  and  it  rises  to  fame  in  the  story  of  his  adventures. 

Columbus  gave  the  command  of  all  perilous  enterprises  to  Ojeda — 
whether  it  was  the  work  of  exploring  the  unknown  interior  of  Hispaniola, 
or  the  still  weightier  responsibility  of  holding  an  exposed  position  against 
the  hostile  savages.  Nor  could  the  work  have  been  placed  in  braver  hands, 
and  his  tact  was  such  that  where  he  failed  no  man  might  hope  to  succeed. 

The  accomplished  cavalier  was  appointed  commander  of  Fort  St. 
Thomas,  and  his  skill  and  intrepidity  were  tested  in  many  an  enterprise  by  the 
great  admiral.  In  1496  he  sailed  back  to  Spain  in  company  with  Columbus, 
and  shortly  afterward  was  placed  in  command  of  an  independent  squadron 
of  four  vessels.  This  expedition  was  as  full  of  strife  and  danger  as  of 
achievements,  and  was  succeeded  by  others  until,  November  10,  1509,  Alonzo 
set  sail  from  San  Domingo  with  two  ships,  two  brigantines  and  three 
hundred  men,  among  those  aboard  being  the  old  pilot,  John  de  la  Cosa,  and 
Francis  Pizarro,  afterwards  the  conqueror  of  Peru.  Ojeda's  expedition  soon 
reached  the  harbor  of  Carthagena,  at  present  a  city  and  seaport  of  New 
Grenada,  in  South  America.  De  la  Cosa  had  been  there  on  a  previous  voyage, 
and  he  advised  his  chief  of  the  warlike  disposition  of  the  natives.  They 
fought  with  palm  swords,  he  said,  and  tipped  their  arrows  in  a  deadly  poison. 

Ojeda,  accompanied  by  De  la  Cosa,  some  priests,  and  a  part  of  his  force, 
landed.  A  crowd  of  savages  had  gathered,  and  he  advanced  to  meet  them. 
He  then  ordered  one  of  the  missionaries  to  read  the  solemn  formula  which 
had  been  prepared  for  such  an  occasion.  It  began: 

"  I,  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  servant  of  the  high  and  mighty  kings  of  Castile 
and  Leon,  civilizers  of  barbarous  nations,  their  messenger  and  captain,  notify 
and  make  known  to  you,  in  the  best  way  I  can,  that  God  our  Lord,  One  and 


52  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Eternal,  created  the  Heavens  and  the  earth,  and  one  man  and  one  woman, 
from  whom  you  and  we,  and  all  the  people  of  the  earth,  were  and  are 
descended,  procreated,  and  all  those  who  shall  come  after  us ;  but  the  vast 
number  of  generations,  which  have  proceeded  from  them  in  the  course  of 
more  than  5,000  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  creation  of  the  world, 
made  it  necessary  that  some  of  the  human  race  should  disperse  in  one 
direction,  and  some  in  another,  and  that  they  should  divide  themselves  into 
many  kingdoms  and  provinces,  as  they  could  not  sustain  and  preserve  them- 
selves in  one  alone. 

"All  these  peoples  were  given  in  charge,  by  God  our  Lord,  to  one 
person,  named  St.  Peter,  who  was  thus  made  lord  and  superior  of  all  the 
people  of  the  earth,  and  head  of  the  whole  human  lineage;  whom  all  should 
obey,  wherever  they  might  live,  and  whatever  might  be  their  law,  sect  or 
belief.  He  gave  him  also  the  whole  world  for  his  service  and  jurisdiction; 
and  though  he  desired  that  he  should  establish  his  chair  in  Rome,  as  a  place 
most  convenient  for  governing  the  world,  yet  he  permitted  that  he  might 
establish  his  chair  in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  and  judge  and  govern  all 
nations — Christians,  Moors,  Jews,  Gentiles,  and  whatever  other  sect  or  belief 
might  be.  This  person  was  denominated  Pope,  that  is  to  say,  Admirable, 
Supreme  Father  and  Guardian,  because  he  is  the  father  and  governor  of  all 
mankind.  This  Holy  Father  was  obeyed  and  honored  as  lord,  king,  and 
superior  of  the  universe  by  those  who  lived  in  his  time,  and  in  like  manner 
have  been  obeyed  and  honored  all  those  who  have  been  elected  to  the  pontifi- 
cate; and  thus  it  has  continued  to  the  present  day,  and  will  continue  until  the 
end  of  the  world  .  .  ." 

The  pious  manifesto  then  calls  on  the  savages  to  render  obedience  to 
the  Spanish  sovereigns,  to  take  time  to  consider  the  truths  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  and  to  embrace  them;  and,  finally,  threatens  them  with  severe  punish- 
ment in  case  of  obstinate  refusal. 

When  the  priest  had  finished  reading  this  document,  Ojeda  made  signs 
of  friendship,  and  held  up  presents.  The  fierce,  dusky  warriors,  however, 
were  not  to  be  thus  easily  won.  Assuming  a  sullen  air,  they  loudly  sounded 
the  note  of  battle.  The  commander's  fiery  nature  was  in  a  moment  aroused. 
De  la  Cosa  saw  this,  and 'entreated  his  chief  to  abandon  a  hostile  shore,  whose 
wild  inhabitants  fought  like  poisonous  reptiles.  But  in  vain  was  the  wise 
advice  of  the  faithful  old  pilot. 

Ojuda  hastily  breathed  a  prayer  to  his  Heavenly  Patroness,  brandished 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS.  53 

his  sword,  and  rushed  on  the  savages.  The  brave  De  la  Cosa  and  others 
followed.  In  a  few  minutes  the  rout  was  complete.  Nor  was  this  all. 
Ojeda  pursued  the  flying  Indians  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  into  the  interior, 
in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  his,  more  prudent  lieutenant,  who  never  left 
his  side.  At  last,  they  came  to  a  stronghold  of  the  enemy.  It  was  in  a 
dense  wood.  With  the  old  Castilian  war-cry  of  "Sanjago!"  on  his  lips, 
Ojeda  led  his  men,  and  charged  furiously  on  the  entrenched  Indians.  The 
savages  fled  in  terror,  and  the  rash  pursuit  was  continued.  Evening  found 
the  Spaniards  in  a  village  whose  inhabitants  had  taken  to  the  neighboring 
mountains.  Carelessly  dividing  into  bands,  they  roved  about  from  house  to 
house,  and  seized  on  everything  of  value.  While  thus  engaged,  an  army 
of  Indians  closed  on  the  scattered  soldiers.  Everywhere  they  were  suddenly 
surrounded.  The  Spaniards  fought  like  lions;  but  overwhelmed  by  num- 
bers, they  fell,  one  by  one,  beneath  the  heavy  war-clubs  and  the  poisoned 
arrows  of  the  enraged  savages. 

On  the  first  alarm,  Oje"da  collected  a  few  soldiers  and  ensconced  himself 
within  a  small  enclosure,  surrounded  by  palisades.  He  was  closely 

besieged  and  galled  by  flights  of  arrows.  He  threw  himself  on  his  knees, 
covered  himself  with  his  buckler,  and,  being  small  and  active,  managed  to 
protect  himself  from  the  deadly  shower,  but  all  his  companions  were  slain 
by  his  side,  sone  of  them  perishing  in  frightful  agonies.  At  this  fearful 
moment  the  veteran  De  la  Cosa,  having  heard  of  the  peril  of  his  commander, 
arrived  with  a  few  followers  to  his  assistance.  Stationing  himself  at  the 
gate  of  the  palisades,  the  brave  old  seaman  kept  the  savages  at  bay,  until 
most  of  his  men  were  slain,  and  he  himself  was  severely  wounded.  Just 
then  Oje"da  sprang  forth  like  a  tiger  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy,  dealing  his 
blows  on  every  side.  De  la  Cosa  would  have  seconded  him,  but  was 
crippled  by  his  wounds.  He  took  refuge  with  the  remnant  of  his  men  in  an 
Indian  cabin,  the  straw  roof  of  which  he  aided  them  to  throw  off,  lest  the 
enemy  set  it  on  fire. 

Here  he  defended  himself  until  all  his  comrades  but  one  were  destroyed. 
The  subtile  poison  of  his  wounds  at  length  overpowered  him,  and  he  sank 
to  the  ground.  Feeling  death  at  hand,  he  called  to  his  only  surviving  com- 
panion. "  Brother,"  said  he,  "  since  God  has  protected  you  from  harm,  sally 
forth  and  fly,  and  if  ever  you  should  see  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  tell  him  of  my 
fate!"  And  thus  died  the  kind  and  hardy  veteran,  John  de  la  Cosa,  devoted, 
fearless,  faithful  and  unflinching  to  the  last  gasp. 


54 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


The  Spaniards  who  remained  on  the  ships  were  alarmed  at  the  long 
delay  of  their  commander  and  his  detachment  in  the  interior.  Days  passed, 
but  the  absent  appeared  not.  Search  was  then  made,  and  soon  given  up  in 
despair.  One  day,  however,  as  a  party  were  coasting  along,  they  came  to  a 
dense  forest  of  mangrove  trees  that  lined  the  shore.  In  the  distance  seemed 
a  human  figure  lying  on  the  matted  roots.  The  men  drew  near,  and  found 
Ojeda!  He  was  speechless,  but  still  bravely  grasped  his  sword  and  buckler. 
A  fire  was  made,  food  and  wine  given  him,  and  in  a  little  while  the  hero 
recovered.  He  told  his  astonished  hearers  how,  after  he  had  succeeded  in 
cutting  a  passage  through  crowds  of  Indians,  that  he  found  himself  alone  in 
the  savage  wilderness.  He  deplored  his  rashness,  and  his  heart  was  ready  to 
break  when  he  recalled  the  awful  fate  of  his  faithful  followers,  and,  above 
all,  the  intrepid  De  la  Cosa.  He  boldly  pushed  on,  however,  and  struck  the 
coast  line,  which  he  endeavoured  to  follow  in  order  to  reach  the  ships.  But 
his  marvelous  strength  gave  way,  and  at  length  he  fell  half  dead  to  the  earth. 
He  attributed  his  escape  to  the  Immaculate  Virgin;  and  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  it  was  little  short  of  miraculous.  Not  a  scratch  marked  his  person, 
though  "  his  buckler  bore  the  dints  of  upwards  of  three  hundred  arrows!" 

The  cavalier  now  hastened  from  the  scene  of  his  misfortunes,  steered 
across  the  Gulf,  and  began  a  settlement  on  the  coast  of  Darien.  He  founded 
a  city  which  he  called  San  Sebastian,  as  he  said  "  in  honor  of  the  sainted 
martyr  who  was  slain  by  arrows,  hoping  that  he  might  protect  the  inhabit- 
ants from  the  empoisoned  shafts  of  the  savages."  But  the  colony  did  not 
take  root.  Provisions  grew  scarce.  The  settlers  lost  heart,  and  the  Indians 
daily  grew  bolder,  in  spite  of  the  fearful  punishments  again  and  again 
inflicted  on  them  by  Oj6da,  who  "  slew  more  of  their  warriors  with  his  single 
arm  than  all  his  followers  together." 

In  the  midst  of  this  gloomy  state  of  affairs,  a  strange  ship  appeared  in 
the  harbor  of  San  Sebastian ;  and  Ojeda  decided  to  board  her,  and  seek  aid 
for  his  struggling  colony.  He  left  Francis  Pizarro  in  command,  and  sailed 
for  San  Domingo.  The  ship  was  wrecked  on  the  southern  coast  of  Cuba. 
It  was  a  sad  misfortune.  The  poor  castaways  were  hundreds  of  miles  from 
any  Christian  settlement,  and  their  only  course  was  to  cut  a  pathway  through 
the  swamps,  rivers,  and  tangled  forests  of  Cuba,  and  then  to  cross  the  wide 
strait  that  separates  it  from  Hispaniola. 

Ojeda  led  the  dreary  march,  and  daily  infused  some  of  his  own  hardy 
spirit  into  the  famished  and  exhausted  travelers.  At  one  point,  a  swamp 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS. 


55 


ninety  miles  in  extent  seemed  to  bar  all  further  progress.     Ojeda  had  daily 

offered  his  prayers  before  the  Flemish  painting  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  and  invited 

his  companions  to  do  the  same;   but  now   he 

vowed  that  if  his  Heavenly  Patroness  should 

conduct  him  safely  through  this  peril,  he  would 

erect  a  chapel  to  her  honor  in  the  first  Indian 

village  he  would  reach,  and  leave  her  picture 

there  as  an  object  of  veneration  to  the  dusky 

children  of  the  forest. 

When  the  sorely  tired  travellers,  still 
guided  by  the  iron  figure  of  Ojeda,  had  cut 
their  way  through  the  frightful  morass,  it  was 
found  that  only  thirty-five  out  of  the  seventy 
men  who  left  the  ship  survived.  The  rest  had 
sunk  beneath  the  burden  of  their  miseries.  A  OJEDA'S  MADONNA. 

path  led  to  an  Indian  village.  The  good  old  chief  consoled  the  famished, 
toil-worn  Spaniards,  "and"  says  Las  Casas,  "almost  worshipped  them  as  if 
they  were  angels." 

Ojeda  built  a  chapel,  placed  his  famous  painting  of  the  Holy  Virgin 
above  the  altar ;  and  after  explaining  the  truths  of  the  Catholic  religion,  he 
committed  it  to  the  care  of  the  chief,  who  conceived  a  profound  regard  for 
the  beautiful  Madonna.  When  Las  Casas,  the  celebrated  missionary,  visited 
this  Tillage  at  a  later  period,  he  found  the  little  chapel  preserved  with  the 
most  religious  care  as  a  sacred  place  and  the  picture  of  the  Holy  Virgin 
regarded  with  fond  admiration.  The  poor  Indians  crowded  to  attend  Mass, 
which  he  performed  at  the  altar;  they  listened  attentively  to  his  paternal 
instructions,  and  at  his  request  brought  their  children  to  be  baptized.  The 
good  Las  Casas,  having  heard  much  of  this  famous  relic  of  Ojeda,  was 
desirous  of  obtaining  possession  of  it,  and  offered  to  give  the  cacique,  in 
exchange  for  it,  an  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  which  he  had  brought  with 
him.  The  chieftain  made  an  evasive  answer  and  seemed  much  troubled  in 
mind.  The  next  morning  he  failed  to  make  his  appearance. 

The  missionary  went  to  the  chapel  to  celebrate  Mass,  but  found  the 
altar  stripped  of  its  precious  relic.  On  inquiring  he  learned  that  in  the  night 
the  cacique  had  fled  to  the  woods,  bearing  off  with  him  his  beloved  picture 
of  the  Madonna.  It  was  in  vain  that  Las  Casas  sent  messengers  after  him, 
assuring  him  that  he  should  not  be  deprived  of  the  relic,  but,  on  the  contrary, 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


that  the  image  should  also  be  left  with  him  as  a  gift.  The  cacique  refused  to 
come  forth  from  the  dark  recesses  of  the  forest;  nor  did  he  return  to  his  village 
and  replace  the  picture  in  the  chapel  until  after  the  departure  of  the  Spaniards. 
To  return  to  Ojeda.  On  reaching  San  Domingo  he  found  himself 
greatly  fallen  in  popular  estimation.  The  ill  success  of  his  colony  was 
received  as  a  bad  omen,  and,  without  friends  or  fortune,  he  could  do  little. 
Poor  health  added  to  the  ruin  already  made  by  poverty  and  hardship.  The 
brilliant  leader  and  discoverer  sank  into  obscurity  and  poverty.  But  his  end 
was  marked  by  the  humble  piety  of  a  brave  Christian  cavalier.  Religion, 
which  in  more  prosperous  days  had  shone  on  his  wild  and  adventurous  path- 
way, still  cheered  his  intrepid  spirit  and  brightened  the  last  hours  of  life. 
Humility  and  true  valor  are  commonly  found  inseparable.  In  expiation  of 
his  past  pride,  Ojeda  requested,  with  dying  lips,  to  be  buried  under  the  portal 
of  the  monastery  of  St.  Francis,  at  San  Domingo,  "that  every  one  who 
entered  might  tread  upon  his  grave."  And  thus  passed  away  from  this 
world  Alonzo  de  OjeMa,  the  protege  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  fearless 
leader  of  many  a  bold  and  desperate  charge,  and  one  of  the  most  dauntless 
men  that  ever  stood  on  the  shores  of  the  New  World. 

.  Another  Spanish  discoverer    who  merits    especial  mention   is   Vincent 

Nunez,  also  called  Balboa  from  the  city  of  his 
birth.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  sailed  for 
the  New  World,  and,  after  some  unprofitable 
wandering,  turned  farmer  in  Hispaniol<u  But 
fortune  refusing  to  smile  on  his  toil,  he  was 
forced  to  escape  from  his  creditors  by  having 
himself  smuggled  on  board  a  vessel  bound  for 
Panama,  in  1510.  He  was  a  brave  and  worthy 
gentleman,  however,  and  soon  rose  to  leader- 
ship and  distinction  in  the  new  Spanish  settle- 
ments. In  time  he  became  a  commander  in  the 
colony  of  Darien,  but  space  will  not  allow  of  a 
THE  CHIEF  OF  coMAGRE.  record  of  all  his  exploits  and  adventures.  One 
incident  among  the  rest  imperatively  demands  a  place.  On  a  certain  expedi- 
tion the  commander  made  a  friendly  visit  to  the  chief  of  Comagre,  who  must 
have  been  an  important  personage  as  it  is  said  he  could  muster  3,000  war- 
riors in  the  field.  His  dominions  lay  at  the  foot  of  a  lofty  mountain,  in  a 
beautiful  plain  twelve  leagues  in  extent.  On  the  approach  of  Balboa, 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS.  57 

the  cacique  came  forth  to  meet  him,  attended  by  seven  sons,  all  fine  young 
men.  He  was  followed  by  his  principal  chiefs  and  warriors,  and  by  a  multi- 
tude of  his  people.  The  Spaniards  were  conducted  with  great  ceremony  to 
the  village,  where  quarters  were  assigned  them,  and  they  were  furnished  with 
abundance  of  provisions,  and  men  and  women  were  appointed  to  attend 
upon  them. 

The  dwelling  of  the  cacique  surpassed  any  they  had  yet  seen,  for  mag- 
nitude, and  for  the  skill  and  solidity  of  the  architecture.  It  was  150  paces  in 
length  and  So  in  breadth,  founded  upon  great  logs,  surrounded  with  a  stone 
wall  ;  while  the  upper  part  was  of  woodwork,  curiously  interwoven  and 
wrought  with  such  beauty  as  to  cause  surprise  and  admiration.  It  contained 
many  commodious  apartments.  There  were  store-rooms  also  ;  one  filled 
with  bread,  with  venison,  and  other  provisions  ;  another  with  various  spiritu- 
ous beverages  which  the  Indians  made  from  maize,  from  a  snecies  of  the 
palm,  and  from  roots  of  different  kinds. 

There  was  also  a  great  hall  in  a  retired  and  secret  part  of  the  building, 
wherein  the  dusky  ruler  preserved  the  bodies  of  his  ancestors  and  relatives. 
These  had  been  dried  by  the  fire,  so  as  to  insure  them  against  decay,  and  affer. 
wards  wrapped  in  mantles  of  cotton,  richly  wrought  and  interwoven  with  pearls 
and  jewels  of  gold,  and  with  certain  stones  held  precious  by  the  natives. 
They  were  then  hung  about  the  hall  with  cords  of  cotton,  and  regarded  with 
great  reverence,  if  not  with  religious  devotion. 

The  chief's  eldest  son  was  distinguished  above  the  rest  by  his  lofty,  gen- 
erous spirit  and  superior  intelligence.  Seeing,  writes  old  Peter  Martyr,  that 
the  Spaniards  were  a  "  wandering  kind  of  men,  living  only  by  shifts  and 
spoils,"  he  sought  to  gain  their  favor  by  gifts  of  the  precious  metal.  He 
presented  Balboa  with  4,000  ounces  of  gold  in  various  forms. 

The  commander  ordered  the  treasure  to  be  weighed,  one-fifth  to  be  set 
apart  for  the  crown,  and  the  rest  to  be  distributed  among  his  followers.  The 
gold  was  weighed  in  the  porch  of  the  chief's  residence,  and  in  presence  of  the 
youthful  donor.  While  this  was  going  on  a  violent  quarrel  arose  among  the 
Spaniards  as  to  the  size  and  value  of  the  pieces  which  fell  to  their  respective 
shares.  The  young  cacique  was  disgusted  on  beholding  such  a  sordid  brawl 
among  beings  whom  he  had  regarded  with  such  reverence.  Seized  by  an 
impulse  of  disdain,  he  struck  the  sc^.es  with  his  hand,  and  scattered  the  glit- 
tering gold  about  the  porch. 

"  Why,"  he  exclaimed,  "  do  you  quarrel  about  such  a  trifle  ?     If  this 


5fc  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

gold  is,  indeed,  so  precious  in  your  eyes  that  for  it  alone  you  abandon  your 
homes,  invade  the  peaceful  lands  of  others,  and  expose  yourselves  to  such  suf- 
ferings and  dangers,  I  will  tell  you  of  a  region  where  you  may  gratify  your 
wishes  to  the  utmost.  Behold  those  lofty  mountains,"  he  continued,  point- 
ing to  the  south,  "  beyond  the^e  lies  a  mighty  sea  which  may  be  discerned 
from  their  summit.  •>  It  is  navigated  by  a  people  who  have  vessels  almost  as 
large  as  yours.  The  streams  that  flow  down  to  the  sea  abound  in  gold.  The 
kings  who  rule  on  its  shores  eat  and  drink  out  of  golden  vessels." 

Balboa  inquired  how  this  rich  region  could  be  reached. 

"  The  task,"  replied  the  young  chief,  ''  is  both  difficult  and  dangerous. 
You  must  pass  through  the  territories  of  many  powerful  caciques,  who  will 
oppose  you  with  hundreds  of  warriors.  Some  of  the  mountains  are  infested 
by  fierce  and  cruel  cannibals.  But,  above  all,  you  will  have  to  encounter  the 
great  cacique  Tubanama,  whose  territories  are  at  the  distance  of  six  days' 
journey,  and  more  rich  in  gold  than  any  other  province.  He  will  be  sure  to 
come  forth  against  you  with  a  mighty  force.  To  succeed  in  such  an  enter- 
prise would  require  at  least  one  thousand  men  armed  like  those  whom  you 
now  command." 

The  young  chief  also  gave  some  further  information,  and  even  offered 
to  accompany  Balboa  with  his  father's  warriors. 

This  was  the  first  information  which  the  Spaniards  received  concerning 
the  great  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  rich  and  extensive  countrv  afterwards  known 
by  the  name  of  Peru.  Balboa  had  now  before  him  objects  worthy  of  his 
ambition  and  the  enterprising  ardor  of  his  bright  and  active  genius.  Nor 
was  the  Faith  forgotten. 

Before  leaving  Comagre,  Balboa  had  the  happiness  of  receiving  its  wise 
and  distinguished  cacique  into  the  Church.  The  dusky  ruler  was  baptised 
by  the  name  of  Don  Carlos.  His  sons  and  many  of  his  people  followed  his 
example.  Thus  did  religion  and  the  spirit  of  discovery  go  hand  in  hand. 

Balboa  now  concluded  that  the  ocean  which  the  young  chief  mentioned 
was  no  other  than  that  for  which  Columbus  had  searched  without  success  in 
this  part  of  America,  in  hopes  of  opening  a  more  direct  communication  with 
the  East  Indies;  and  he  surmised  that  the  rich  territory  which  had  been 
described  to  him  must  be  part  of  that  vast  and  opulent  region  of  the  earth. 
He  was  elated  with  the  idea  of  performing  what  so  great  a  man  had  in  vain 
attempted.  The  thought  of  such  an  enterprise  aroused  his  spirit  and  ennobled 
his  character.  Besides,  he  was  also  eager  to  accomplish  a  discovery  which  he 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS.  59 

knew  would  be  no  less  acceptable  to  the  king  than  beneficial  to  his  country ; 
and  was  impatient  till  he  could  set  out  upon  this  undertaking,  in  comparison 
with  which  all  his  former  exploits  appeared  inconsiderable. 

With  these  thoughts  nerving  him  to  action,  Balboa  carefully  chose  one 
hundred  and  ninety  hardy  and  resolute  followers — men  devoted  to  his  person 
and  fortune.  He  armed  them  with  swords,  cross-bows  and  arquebuses.  Nor 
did  he  conceal  from  them  the  dangers  that  might  have  to  be  encountered ;  but 
the  bold  spirit  of  the  early  Spanish  adventurers  always  rose  with  the  diffi- 
culties of  their  position.  They  were  ready  to  follow  their  intrepid  leader  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  A  number  of  Darien  Indians  were  likewise  added  to 
the  force  for  the  expedition.  Such  was  the  motley  armament  that  set  out  in 
quest  of  the  Pacific  Ocean! 

It  was  the  6th  of  September,  1513.  In  the  little  Indian  port  of  Coyba, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Isthmus,  there  lay  rocking  on  the  quiet  waves  a 
brigantine  and  nine  large  canoes — the  little  fleet  which  had  just  transported 
Balboa  and  his  force  from  Darien  to  this  point.  All  felt  it  was  a  day  of 
great  importance.  Early  in  the  morning  Holy  Mass  was  celebrated,  and  even 
the  least  devout  prayed  that  God  would  bless  the  expedition  with  success. 

Balboa  left  about  half  his  men  to  guard  the  vessels,  and  with  the  rest 
struck  into  the  interior.  The  Isthmus  of  Darien — now  called  Panama — is 
not  above  seventy  miles  in  breadth  ;  but  this  neck  of  land,  which  binds 
together  the  grand  divisions  of  North  and  South  America,  is  barricaded  by  a 
chain  of  lofty  mountains  stretching  through  its  whole  extent.  The  moun- 
tains at  that  day  were  covered  with  forests  almost  inaccessible.  The  valleys 
in  such  a  moist  climate,  where  it  rains  during  two-thirds  of  the  year,  are 
marshy,  and  so  frequently  overflowed,  that  the  inhabitants  find  it  necessary, 
in  many  places,  to  build  their  houses  upon  trees,  in  order  to  be  elevated  at 
some  distance  from  the  damp  soil  and  the  reptiles  engendered  in  the  putrid 
waters.  From  the  high  grounds  large  rivers  rush  down  with  an  impetuous 
current.  And  in  a  region  then  inhabited  by  wandering  savages,  the  hand  of 
industry  had  done  nothing  to  correct  those  natural  disadvantages. 

To  march  across  this  unexplored  country  with  no  other  guides  than 
Indians— whose  fidelity  could  be  little  trusted— was,  perhaps,  the  boldest 
enterprise  on  which  the  Spaniards  had  hitherto  ventured  in  the  New  World. 
But  the  intrepidity  of  Balboa  was  such  as  distinguished  him  among  his  coun- 
trymen at  a  period  when  every  explorer  was  conspicuous  for  daring  courage. 
Nor  was  bravery  his  only  merit.  He  was  prudent  in  conduct,  generous, 


60  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

courteous,  and  possessed  of  those  popular  talents  which  in  the  most  desperate 
undertakings  inspire  confidence  and  secure  attachment. 

The  commander  no  sooner  advanced  into  the  interior  of  the  country 
than  he  found  his  pathway  strewed  with  numberless  obstacles.  Roads  there 
were  none.  Some  of  the  caciques,  at  his  approach,  fled  to  the  mountains 
with  all  their  people,  and  carried  off  or  destroyed  whatever  could  afford  sub. 
sistence  to  his  troops.  Others  collected  their  wild  subjects  in  order  to  oppose 
his  progress.  In  short,  he  quickly  learned  what  an  arduous  undertaking  it 
was  to  lead  such  a  body  of  men  across  swamp  and  river,  through  wood  and 
wilderness,  over  plain  and  mountain,  which  had  never  been  pressed  but  by 
the  feet  of  straggling  savages.  But  by  sharing  in  every  hardship  with  the 
meanest  soldier,  by  being  first  to  meet  every  danger,  by  promising  confidently 
to  his  little  force  the  enjoyment  of  honor  and  riches  superior  to  what  had 
been  attained  by  the  most  successful  of  their  countrymen,  he  inspired  them 
with  such  enthusiastic  bravery  that  they  followed  him  without  a  murmur. 

When  the  Spaniards  had  penetrated  a  good  way  into  the  mountains,  a 
powerful  chief  appeared  in  a  narrow  pass  with  a  large  body  of  warriors, 
armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  spears  and  war-clubs  made  of  palm,  which 
were  almost  as  hard  and  heavy  as  iron.  The  hostile  savages  looked  with 
contempt  on  the  handful  of  white,  exhausted  travelers,  raised  the  war-cry, 
and  with  fury  rushed  to  the  attack.  Balboa  and  his  men,  like  a  wall,  with- 
stood the  impetuous  onset.  The  first  fire  of  the  Spanish  guns  filled  the  dusky 
horde  with  alarm.  They  broke  and  ran.  The  Spaniards  pursued.  At  the 
end  of  the  conflict  the  chief  and  six  hundred  Indians  lay  dead  on  the  battle- 
field, and  many  more  were  taken  prisoners. 

The  troops  then  marched  to  the  village  of  the  slain  cacique  and  took 
possession  of  a  large  quantity  of  gold  and  jewels.  Balboa  reserved  one-fifth 
for  the  king  and  made  a  liberal  division  of  the  rest  among  his  exhausted  fol- 
lowers. They  had  now  reached  the  foot  of  the  last  mountain  that  separated 
them  from  a  view  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  In  the  recent  engagement  several 
of  the  Spaniards  were  wounded,  and  others  were  so  worn  out  with  fatigue 
that  they  could  go  no  farther.  After  a  careful  examination  of  his  force  the 
commander  found  but  sixty-seven  men  who  were  in  sufficient  health  and 
spirits  to  continue  their  long  and  toilsome  inarch.  Though  the  guides  had 
represented  the  breadth  of  the  Isthmus  to  be  only  a  journey  of  six  days,  they 
had  already  spent  twenty  in  forcing  their  way  over  mountains  and  through 
the  trackless  wilderness.  It  was  evening,  and  all  retired  to  rest. 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS.  61 

The  day  had  scarcely  dawned  when  Balboa  and  his  followers  set  forth 
from  the  Indian  village  and  began  to  climb  the  height.  It  was  severe  and 
rugged  toil  for  men  so  way-worn;  but  they  were  filled  with  new  ardor  as 
the  idea  of  the  triumphant  scene  that  was  so  soon  to  repay  them  for  all  their 
hardships.  About  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  emerged  from  the  thick 
forests  through  which  they  had  hitherto  struggled,  and  arrived  at  a  lofty  and 
airy  region  of  the  mountain.  The  bald  summit  alone  remained  to  be  ascended, 
and  their  guides  pointed  to  a  moderate  eminence  from  which,  they  said,  the 
Southern  Sea  was  visible. 

Upon  this,  Balboa  commanded  his  followers  to  halt,  and  that  no  man 
should  stir  from  his  place.  Then,  with  a  palpitating  heart,  he  ascended 
alone  the  bare  mountain-top.  On  reaching  the  summit,  the  long-desired 
prospect  burst  upon  his  view.  It  was  as  if  a  new  world  were  unfolded  to 
him,  separated  from  all  hitherto  known  by  this  mighty  barrier  of  mountains. 
Below  him  extended  a  vast  chaos  of  rock,  and  forest,  and  green  savannas, 
and  wandering  streams,  while  at  a  distance  the  waters  of  the  promised  ocean 
glittered  in  the  morning  sun. 

It  was,  in  truth,  a  scene  glorious  and  picturesque.  The  brave  Balboa 
fell  upon  his  knees,  raised  his  eyes  to  Heaven,  and  thanked  the  good  God  for 
being  the  first  European  to  make  such  a  great  discovery.  He  invited  his 
troops  to  ascend. 

"  My  brothers,"  he  exclaimed,  "  behold  the  object  of  all  our  desires,  and 
the  reward  of  all  our  toils.  Let  us  give  thanks  to  God  that  he  has  granted 
us  this  great  honor  and  advantage.  Let  us  pray  to  him  to  guide  and  aid  us 
to  conquer  the  sea  and  land  which  we  have  discovered,  and  which  Christian 
has  never  entered  to  preach  the  holy  doctrine  of  the  Evangelists.  As  to 
yourselves,  be  as  you  have  hitherto  been,  faithful  and  true  to  me,  and,  by  the 
favor  of  Christ,  you  will  become  the  richest  Spaniards  that  have  ever  came 
to  the  Indies  ;  you  will  render  the  greatest  service  to  your  king  that  ever 
vassal  rendered  to  his  lord  ;  and  you  will  have  the  eternal  glory  and  advan- 
tage of  all  that  is  here  discovered ,  conquered,  and  converted  to  our  holy 

Catholic  faith  ! " 

« 

This  warm,  eloquent  address  produced  profound  emotion.  The  soldiers 
embraced  their  heroic  commander,  and  promised  to  follow  him  even  to  death 
itself.  The  chaplain,  Father  Andrew  de  Vara,  then  lifted  up  his  voice  and 
chanted  the  Te  Deum,  in  thanksgiving  to  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  uni- 
verse. "  The  rest,  kneeling  down,"  writes  the  Protestant  Irving,  "  joined  in 


62 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


the  strain  with  pious  enthusiasm  and  tears  of  joy  ;  and  never  did  a  more  sin- 
cere oblation  rise  to  the  Deity  from  a  sanctified  altar  than  from  the  mountain 
summit  It  was,  indeed,  one  of  the  most  sublime  discoveries  that  had  yet 
been  made  in  the  New  World,  and  must  have  opened  a  boundless  field  of 
conjecture  to  the  wondering  Spaniards." 

Balboa  called  his  companions  to  witness  that  he  took  possession  of  the 
sea,  islands,  and  surrounding  territory,  in  the  name  of  the  Catholic  sover- 
eigns of  Castile.  A  testimonial  to  that  effect  was  drawn  up,  and  signed  by 
the  sixty-seven  men.  He  then  cut  down  a  tall  tree,  made  a  cross,  and  raised 
the  august  sign  of  the  redemption  on  the  very  spot  whence  he  first  saw  the 

vast  expanse  of  water. 
The  Spaniards 
held  on  their  course, 
descended  the  moun- 
tain, and  through  many 
obstacles  forced  their 
way  to  the  shore.  The 
wild  waters  lay  in  som- 
bre silence.  No  sail  met 
the  eye.  A  great  bay 
extended  as  far  as  the 
vision  could  reach,  and 
it  being  St.  Michael's 
day,  Balboa,  in  the 
spirit  of  a  true  Catho- 
lic, gave  it  the  name  of 
Gulf  of  St.  Michael, 
the  name  by  which  it 
is  known  even  to  day. 
At  that  hour  the  tide 
was  out,  but  the  com- 
mander waited  till  the 
~  surging  deep  swept  in 
UK"  almost  to  his  feet.  He 
then  took  a  banner, 
upon  which  were 
painted  the  images  of 


BALBOA    CLAIMS    THE    PACIFIC. 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS.  63 

the  Most  Blessed  Virgin  and  the,  Holy  Infant,  and  under  them  the  arms  of 
Castile,  and,  drawing  his  sword,  he  marched  into  the  sea,  until  the  water  was 
knee-deep,  and  called  upon  all  to  witness  that  he  took  solemn  possession  for 
the  Spanish  Sovereigns.  The  notary  of  the  expedition  drew  up  the  usual 
document,  which  was  signed  by  those  present.  Then  all  stooped  down  and 
tasted  the  waters,  and  again  returned  thanks  to  heaven.  Balboa  finally  cut 
three  crosses  on  three  adjacent  trees,  in  honor  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  in 
token  that  he  had  discovered  and  taken  possession  of  the  great  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  remainder  of  Balboa's  life  was  as  sad  as  it  was  brief.  His  first  care 
was  to  send  home  the  news  of  his  discovery,  and  to  demand  reinforcements 
for  the  conquest  of  Peru.  King  Ferdinand,  with  his  usual  hateful  policy, 
appointed  another  governor  over  the  territories  added  by  Balboa  to  his  crown, 
while  the  immortal  pioneer  himself  was  tardily  assigned  the  subordinate 
position  of  lieutenant-governor.  But  Balboa  did  not  complain.  He  received 
the  new  governor — a  cruel,  intriguing  courtier  named  Davila — with  all  the 
respect  due  to  his  position. 

It  could  scarcely  be  hoped  that  harmony  would  long  prevail  among  men 
so  different  in  merit,  temper,  and  genius,  as  Balboa  and  Davila.  From  the 
first  Davila  exhibited  feelings  of  jealousy.  Dissensions  were  frequent,  and 
the  colony  suffered  in  consequence.  The  bishop  of  Darien,  for  a  time,  suc- 
ceeded in  reconciling  the  governor  and  his  lieutenant.  When  Balboa  promised 
to  marry  Davila's  daughter,  it  was  thought  the  reconciliation  would  be  lasting. 

The  discoverer  of  the  Pacific  now  hastened  preparations  for  the  conquest 
at  Peru.  Not  finding  suitable  timber  for  ship-building  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
he  had  it  cut  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  It  was  then  dragged  piece  by  piece 
over  the  rugged,  lofty  mountains  of  the  isthmus.  Even  anchors  and  rigging 
were  thus  conveyed,  and  it  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  toil  was  extreme. 
At  length,  four  vessels  manned  by  three  hundred  chosen  men  were  ready  to 
sail,  when  Balboa  received  an  unexpected  message  from  Davila,  requesting 
his  immediate  presence. 

He  at  once  hastened  to  Alca  to  meet  the  governor,  never  for  a  moment  * 
suspecting  the  murderous  treachery  of  the  man.  While  on  the  way  he  was 
arrested  by  his  old  companion  Francis  Pizarro,  and  cast  into  prison.  A  mock 
trial  began,  and  Balboa  was  condemned  to  death,  on  the  false  charge  of 
meditating  rebellion.  But  the  notable  discoverer  repelled  the  charge  with 
virtuous  indignation;  and,  fixing  his^ye  on  the  brutal  Davila,  he  exclaimed: 

"  Had  I  been  conscious  of  my  guilt,  what  could  have  induced  me  to  come 


64  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

here  and  put  myself  into  your  hands?  Had  I  meditated  rebellion,  what 
prevented  me  from  carrying  it  info  effect?  I  had  four  ships  ready  to  weigh 
anchor,  three  hundred  brave  men  at  my  command,  and  an  open  sea  before 
me.  What  had  I  to  do  but  to  spread  sail  and  press  forward?  There  was  no 
doubt  of  finding  a  land,  whether  rich  or  poor,  sufficient  for  me  and  mine,  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  your  control.  In  the  innocence  of  my  heart,  however,  I 
came  here  promptly  at  your  mere  request,  and  my  reward  is  insult — slander — 
chains!" 

In  violation  of  all  forms  of  justice,  Balboa  was  condemned  to  death. 
But  he  met  his  unhappy  fate  like  a  brave  man  and  a  true  Catholic;  and  after 
making  a  last  humble  confession  and  receiving  Holy  Communion,  he  was 
beheaded  in  1517,  at  the  rude  town  of  Alca,  almost  in  sight  of  the  cross  on 
the  mountain  that  bore  witness  to  his  immortal  discovery. 

To  complete  a  noble  trio  of  Spanish  pioneers  some  account  must  also  be 
given  of  John  Ponce  de  Leon,  a  cavalier  who  had  accompanied  Columbus  on 
his  second  voyage.  The  early  years  of  this  gallant  gentleman  had  been 
devoted  to  arms,  and  in  his  native  Spain  he  had  served  in  many  a  campaign 
against  the  Moors.  Nor  was  he  long  in  the  New  World  when  he  also 
acquired  fame  as  a  skilled  Indian  fighter. 

Ponce  de  Leon  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  a  province  embracing 
the  eastern  extremity  of  Hispaniola.  A  neighboring  island,  hitherto  unex- 
plored, could  be  seen  in  the  distance.  It  was  Porto  Rico,  whose  lofty 
mountains  were  clothed  with  forest  trees  of  prodigious  size  and  magnificent 
foliage.  The  climate  was  healthy.  Precious  metals  abounded,  and  silvery 
streams  flowed  down  through  wild  valleys  full  of  romantic  scenery. 

All  this  Ponce  cle  Leon  discovered  on  exploring  the  country  in  1508. 
The  next  thing  was  to  conquer  it.  The  king,  indeed,  made  him  governor; 
but  the  Indians  battled  bravely  for  their  island  paradise.  It  was  only  after 
much  fighting  and  many  hardships  that  he  became  master  of  Porto  Rico. 

It  is  singular  that  among  his  most  successful  "warriors  was  a  dog  named 
JBertzillo,  renowned  for  courage,  strength,  and  sagacity.  It  is  said  that  he 
could  distinguish  those  of  the  Indians  who  were  allies  from  those  who  were 
enemies  of  the  Spaniards.  To  the  former  he  was  docile  and  friendly,  to  the 
latter  fierce  and  implacable.  He  was  the  terror  of  the  natives,  who  were 
unaccustomed  to  powerful  and  ferocious  animals,  and  did  more  service  in  this 
wild  warfare  than  could  have  been  rendered  by  several  soldiers.  This 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS.  65 

famous  dog  was  killed  some  years  afterwards  by  a  poisoned  arrow,  as  he  was 
swimming  in  the  sea  in  pursuit  of  a  Carib  Indian!" 

In  the  course  of  time,  however,  Ponce  de  Leon  was  relieved  of  the  com- 
mand of  Porto  Rico.  But  the  old  cavalier  looked  about  for  some  new  under- 
taking. Age  could  not  tame  his  restless  spirit,  and  his  head  was  soon  filled 
with  one  of  the  most  romantic  enterprises  in  early  American  history.  He  had 
learned  from  some  wandering  Indians  of  a  country  in  the  northwest — a  land 
abounding  in  riches  and  possessing  a  river  of  such  marvellous  virtue  that  a 
bath  in  its  healing  waters  restored  decrepit  age  to  the  bloom,  vigor,  and 
beauty  of  youth. 

'.'  Ponce  de  Leon,"  says  Irving,  "  listened  to  these  tales  with  fond  cred- 
ulity. He  was  advancing  in  life,  and  the  ordinary  term  of  existence  seemed 
insufficient  for  his  mighty  plans.  Could  he  but  plunge  into  this  gifted  river 
and  come  out  with  his  battered,  war-worn  body  restored  to  the  strength,  and 
freshness,  and  suppleness  of  youth,  and  his  head  still  retaining  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  age,  what  enterprises  might  he  not  accomplish  in  the 
additional  course  of  vigorous  years  insured  to  him." 

It  may  seem  incredible  at  the  present  day  that  a  man  of  years  and  expe- 
rience could  yield  any  faith  to  a  story  which  resembles  the  wild  fiction  of  an 
Arabian  tale;  but  the  wonders  and  novelties  breaking  upon  the  world  in  that 
age  of  discovery  almost  realized  the  illusions  of  fable. 

So  fully  convinced  was  the  worthy  old  cavalier  of  the  existence  of  the 
region  described  to  him  that  he  fitted  out  three  ships  at  his  own  expense  to 
prosecute  the  discovery,  nor  had  he  any  difficulty  in  finding  adventurers  in 
abundance  ready  to  cruise  with  him  in  quest  of  this  fairy-land. 

He  steered  from  the  Island  of  Porto  Rico,  and  after  sailing  to  the  north- 
west for  over  three  weeks,  he  discovered  an  unknown  country,  decked  in 
blooming  flowers  and  covered  with  magnificent  forests.  It  was  Easter 
Sunday — called  by  the  Spaniards  Pascua  Florida — the  27111  of  March,  1512. 
The  veteran  Catholic  pioneer  named  the  new  land  Florida,  a  name  retained 
to  this  day.  He  took  possession  of  the  country  for  the  Spanish  sovereigns. 
The  Indians  proved  fierce  and  warlike,  and,  after  looking  in  vain  for  the  river 
of  youth,  he  turned  his  steps  homeward. 

Ponce  de  Leon  was  received  with  much  honor  at  the  Spanish  court,  and 
King  Ferdinand  bestowed  on  him  the  title  of  Governor  of  Florida.  Nine 
years  passed  away,  however,  before  he  resolved  to  settle  and  develop  the 
resources  of  the  new  country.  Aroused  to  fresh  exertion  by  the  news  of  the 


66  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

brilliant  achievements  of  Cortes  in  Mexico,  he  fitted  out  an  expedition  and 
landed  on  the  coast  of  Florida.  A  sharp  encounter  with  the  savages  followed. 
The  governor,  mortally  wounded,  was  borne  on  board  of  his  ship,  which 
sailed  for  Cuba.  He  died,  shortly  after  landing  at  that  island,  in  1521. 

"  Thus  fate,"  says  a  Spanish  writer,  "  delights  to  reverse  the  schemes  of 
man.  The  discovery  that  Ponce  de  Leon  flattered  himself  was  to  lead  to  a 
means  of  perpetuating  his  life,  had  the  ultimate  effect  of  hastening  his  death." 
It  is  true  the  old  warrior  failed  to  find  the  fountain  of  youth,  but  he 
immortalized  his  name  by  discovering  Florida.  The  epitaph  on  his  monu- 
ment is  a  fair  summary  of  his  fearless  character:  "In  this  tomb  rest  the  bones 
of  a  man  who  was  a  lion  by  name,  and  still  more  by  nature." 

But  many  volumes  might  be  filled  in  recounting  the  deeds  of  those  pio- 
neers of  the  New  World.  Nor  was  Spain  the  only  nation  that  sent  her  brave 
captains  into  this  field  of  discovery  and  exploration.  Farther  southward  still 
the  Portuguese  discoverers,  Cabral  and  Orellana,  carried  on  the  work. 
Finally,  on  the  utmost  southern  cape,  the  pious  Magellan  planted  the  Cross. 
In  all  the  Portugese  voyages  the  same  religious  characteristics  prevailed  as  in 
those  of  the  Spaniards. 

At  the  North  we  also  meet  with  the  Italian  genius  in  Verazzano  and  the 
two  Cabots,  father  and  son.  The  latter  were  in  the  service  of  England ;  but 

as  yet  England  was  Catholic,  and  the  creed  of  an 
Italian  was  no  bar  to  his  employment.  Jacques 
Cartier,  De  Soto,  Champlain  and  La  Salle  are  of 
a  later  day,  and  will  each  be  fittingly  noticed  in 
the  order  of  time.  In  all  the  attributes  that  dis- 
tinguish manly  character — as  courage,  energy,  for- 
titude— these  Catholic  discoverers  were  eminent. 
In  piety,  virtue,  integrity,  they  will  bear  compari- 
son with  any  equal  number  of  the  world's  great 

SEBASTIAN  .'ABOT.  men.     They  were  not  free  from  faults,  but  neither 

did  their  faults  outnumber  their  virtues.  They  were  not  all  good  missionaries, 
but  they  were  a  brood  of  eagles,  penetrating  farther  and  farther  into  the  wilder- 
ness as  population  pressed  on  from  behind.  Most  of  them  died  in  the  regions 
they  had  marked  out  for  their  own.  None  of  them  fared  better  than 
Columbus— not  one  of  them  ruled  in  his  posterity.  In  the  islands  or  on  the 
mainland,  with  two  exceptions,  their  unknown  graves  are  scattered  in  solitary 
places,  and  the  names  they  dreamed  to  make  immortal  are  now  almost  un- 


THREE  NOBLE  SPANIARDS.  67 

known.  But  assuredly  they  shall  not  be  forgotten  by  us  who  are  of  the  same 
sacred  Household— for  they  were  all  Catholics,  who  undertook  their  daring 
ventures  from  Catholic  motives,  and  who  only  succeeded  in  them  through 
Catholic  co-operation. 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVeRSION  OF  /MEXICO. 


YOUTH  OF  HERNANDO  CORTES. — A  ROVING  AND  GALLANT  CAREER. — PLANNING  A 
MIGHTY  ENTERPRISE.— THE  EXPEDITION  SETS  FORTH.— UNDER  THE  VELVET 
BANNER. — IN  THE  LAND  OF  MONTEZUMA. — GIFTS  FROM  AN  EMPEROR. — "  ON 
TO  MEXICO!" — A  LEGION  OF  BARBARIAN  ALLIES. — THE  INVADER  AS  A 
MISSIONARY. — ENTERING  THE  BEAUTIFUL  CITY. — ENCOMPASSED  WITH  DAN- 
GER.— SEIZURE  OF  THE  DUSKY  MONARCH. — THE  SPANIARDS  IN  A  DILEMMA. — 
AN  ARMY  TO  ARREST  CORTES. — SAFETY  PLUCKED  OUT  OF  DANGER. — A  CITY 
IN  ARMS. — FIERCE  BATTLES  WITH  THE  NATIVES. — MONTEZUMA  KILLED  BY 
ACCIDENT. — SCENES  OF  BLOOD  AND  TERROR. — FIGHTING  AGAINST  FEARFUL 
ODDS. — CORTES  SLAYS  A  COMMANDER. — LAYING  SIEGE  TO  MEXICO  CITY. — A 
STUBBORN  INVESTMENT. — SHIPS  HAULED  OVER  MOUNTAIN-TOPS.— THE  CITY 
is  DESPERATELY  WON. — THE  CHRISTIAN  POLICY  OF  THE  CONQUEROR. — His 
HONORS  AND  FURTHER  CAREER. — LAST  SCENE  OF  ALL. — MEXICO  is  CATHOL- 
ICIZED.— NINE  MILLION  CONVERTS  IN  TWENTY  YEARS. 

)  , 

S  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  the  Spanish  settlement  of  this  conti- 
nent, as  well  as  in  the  evangelization  of  millions  of  its  aborigines, 
the  wonderful  conquest  of  Mexico  demands  a  special  notice. 
Among  the  crowd  that  greeted  Columbus  at  the  wharf  of  San 
Domingo,  after  his  escape,  on  his  last  voyage,  from  the  wreck  at 
Jamaica,  might  be  noticed  a  handsome,  well-educated  young  man 
of  distinguished  bearing,  who  seemed  to  take  an  unusual  interest  in  the 
venerable  discoverer.  This  was  Hernando  Cortes,  who  had  lately  arrived  in 
Hispaniola. 

He  was  born  in  1485,  at  Me-lellin,  a  little  town  in  Spain.  His  parents, 
Don  Martin  Cortes  and  Dona  Catharine  Pizarro,  belonged  to  ancient 
families,  and  were  persons  of  worth,  virtue,  and  distinction.  Hernando  was 
educated  for  the  law,  and  spent  two  years  at  the  University  of  Salamanca; 

68 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  60 

but  his  daring  nature  inclined  him  to  a  life  of  adventure,  and  he  afterward-, 
adopted  the  profession  of  arms.  In  1504,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  received 
some  money  and  the  tender  blessing  of  his  father  and  mother,  and  sailed  in 
an  expedition  to  the  New  World. 

On  arriving  at  Hispaniola,  young  Cortes  was  well  received  by  his  kins- 
man, Governor  Ovando,  who  employed  him  in  helping  to  put  down  a  rebel- 
lion among  the  Indians.  It  was  here  he  gained  his  first  experience  in  savage 
warfare.  When,  in  151 1,  Velasquez  undertook  to  subdue  and  colonize  Cuba, 
Cortes  joined  the  enterprise,  and  so  distinguished  himself  that  he  received  a 
handsome  reward  for  his  services  in  large  grants  of  lands  and  Indians. 

Cortds  now  settled  down  in  Cuba,  lived  on  his  estate,  devoted  himself  to 
agriculture,  was  appointed  a  magistrate,  and  married  a  beautiful  lady  named 
Dona  Catherine  Juarez.  Time  had 
moulded,  ripened,  and  improved  his 
restless  character.  Good  temper  and 
soldierly  frankness  were  now  accom- 
panied by  calm  prudence  in  concerting 
his  schemes,  by  persevering  vigor  in 

executing  them,  and  by  what  is  a  pecul-      Hfl|  mj^L » Jhfl 

iar   gift   of   superior  genius — the    art      |j|£  HJj^HKdfl 

of  gaining  the  confidence  and  -govern- 
ing the  minds  of  men. 

To  all  these  were  added  the  smaller 
accomplishments  that  strike   the   vul- 
gar,  and  command   their  respect  —  a 
graceful    person,    a    winning   counte- 
nance, remarkable  skill  in  warlike  ex- 
ercises, and  a  constitution   of  such  iron  HERNANDO  CORTEZ. 
vigor  as  to  be  capable  of  enduring  any  fatigue.     Such  was  Cortes  at  the  age 
of  thirty-three,  when  he  was  selected   by   Governor  Velasquez  to  add  the 
recently  discovered  empire  of  Mexico  to  the  provinces  of  Spain. 

The  future  conqueror  expressed  his  warm  thanks  for  the  commission; 
but  Velasquez  had  no  sooner  granted  the  document,  than  the  whispering  of 
evil  tongues  inclined  him  to  revoke  it.  He  suddenly  grew  jealous.  He 
seemed  to  fear  that  his  dashing  and  sagacious  lieutenant  would  deprive  him 
of  all  the  glory  of  the  enterprise.  Cortes,  however,  maintained  his  command 
in  defiance  of  the  governor, 


yo  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Never,  perhaps,  was  a  great  enterprise  begun  with  so  little  regard  for  its 
difficulties  and  dangers.  The  fleet  consisted  of  eleven  small  vessels,  and  six 
hundred  and  seventeen  men.  Only  thirteen  soldiers  had  muskets.  Thirty- 
two  were  cross  jowmen,  and  the  rest  were  armed  with  spears  and  swords. 
The  cavalry  and  artillery  were  summed  up  in  twelve  horses  and  ten  small 
pieces  of  cannon. 

The  chief  banner  of  the  expedition  was  of  black  velvet,  embroidered  with 
gold,  and  emblazoned  with  a  red  cross  on  black  ground,  sprinkled  with  blue 
and  white  flames,  and  underneath  was  the  motto:  "  Let  us  follow  the  Cross, 
and  in  that  sign  we  shall  conquer." 

The  fleet  was  placed  under  the  protection  of  St.  Peter,  the  patron  saint 
of  Cortes.  Holy  Mass  was  celebrated  early  in  the  morning  by  the  chaplain  of 
the  expedition,  Father  Bartholomew  de  Olmedo,  O.  S.  F.,  and  on  the  i8th  of 
February,  1519,  the  trumpet  sounded  for  departure,  and  the  armament  bore 
away  towards  Mexico. 

After  touching  at  the  island  of  Cozumel — where  he  had  the  good  fort- 
une to  redeem  Jerome  de  Aguilar,  a  Spanish  ecclesiastic  who  had  been  eight 
years  a  captive  among  the  Indians,  and  who  afterwards  proved  extremely 
useful  as  an  interpreter — Cortes  doubled  Cape  Catoche,  swept  down  the 
broad  Bay  of  Campeachy,  and  cast  anchor  at  the  mouth  of  the  little  river 
Tabasco. 

The  shore  was  lined  with  Indians.  The  general  asked  permission  to 
land,  but  he  was  answered  with  angry  gestures  and  shouts  of  defiance.  He 
disembarked,  however,  and  at  once  found  himself  surrounded  by  crowds  of 
enemies.  The  hard-contested  battle  of  Cintla  was  fought  after  Mass  on  the 
festival  of  the  Annunciation.  Forty  thousand  Indians  made  frantic  efforts  to 
crush  the  handful  of  Spaniards,  but  Cortes,  by  a  bold  flank  movement,  at  the 
head  of  the  cavalry,  turned  the  scales  of  victory.  The  savages  were  com- 
pletely routed. 

"  It  was  not  long,"  said  Prescott, describing  this  brilliant  charge,"  before 
the  ears  of  the  Christians  were  saluted  with  the  cheering  war-cry  of  San 
Jago  and  San  Pedro!  and  they  beheld  the  bright  helmets  and  swords  of  the 
Castilian  chivalry  flashing  back  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun,  as  they  dashed 
through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  striking  to  the  right  and  left,  and  scattering 
dismay  around  them.  The  eye  of  faith,  indeed,  could  discern  the  patron 
saint  of  Spain  himself,  mounted  on  his  gray  war-horse,  leading  the  rescue 
and  trampling  over  the  bodies  of  the  fallen  infidels!  " 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  .MEXICO.  71 

The  terror-stricken  Tabascans  humbly  submitted,  acknowledged  the 
king  of  Spain  as  their  sovereign,  made  liberal  presents  to  the  victors,  and 
gave  all  the  information  in  their  power  about  Mexico.  Nor  did  Corte"z 
forget  that  the  spread  of  the  Catholic  religion  was  one  of  the  first  objects  of 
the  expedition.  He  broke  down  the  idols,  and  set  up  crosses.  The  priests 
instructed  the  Indians,  who  embraced  the  Faith  in  large  numbers.  On  Palm 
Sunday  there  was  a  solemn  procession  of  the  whole  army,  "each  soldier 
bearing  a  palm-branch  in  his  hand." 

Next  day  the  Spaniards  returned  to  their  ships,  and  coasted  along  towards 
the  northwest  till  they  came  to  the  harbor  of  San  Juan  de  Ulloa.  Here  they 
disembarked,  and  were  visited  by  some  Mexican  officers,  with  whom  Cort^z 
entered  into  negotiations  regarding  a  visit  to  Montezuma,  who  then  ruled 
with  nearly  absolute  sway  over  the  empire  of  Mexico.  Montezuma  sent  the 
Spanish  general  rich  presents — among  which  were  a  basket  of  gold  and 
silver  ornaments,  some  boxes  filled  with  pearls,  and  two  large  circular  plates 
of  massive  gold,  one  representing  the  sun  and  the  other  the  moon — but 
objected  to  his  visiting  the  capital. 

Corte"z,  however,  resolved  upon  seeing  the  emperor  in  his  capital  and 
was  not  to  be  daunted  by  opposition.  "This  is  indeed  a  rich  and  powerful 
prince,"  he  remarked  to  his  officers,  "but  it  shall  go  hard  if  we  do  not  one 
day  pay  him  a  visit."  Having  founded  the  town  of  Vera  Cruz — or  the  True 
Cross — and  burned  all  his  ships  but  one,  so  that  his  troops  could  not  return, 
and  must  henceforth  conquer  or  perish,  the  hero,  with  a  force  reduced  to  four 
hundred  Spaniards  and  a  considerable  number  of  Indians,  lent  him  by  dissat- 
isfied chiefs  dependent  upon  Montezuma,  prepared  to  march  for  the  city  of 
Mexico.  Before  departing,  he  made  an  address  to  his  soldiers,  some  of  whom 
were  discontented. 

"As  for  me,"  he  said  in  conclusion,  "1  have  chosen  my  part.  I  will 
remain  here  while  there  is  one  soldier  to  bear  me  company.  If  there  be  any 
so  craven  as  to  shrink  from  sharing  the  dangers  of  our  glorious  enterprise,  let 
them  go  home,  in  God's  name.  There  is  still  one  vessel  left.  Let  them  take 
that,  and  return  to  Cuba.  They  can  tell  how  they  deserted  their  commander 
and  their  comrades,  and  patiently  wait  till  we  return  loaded  with  the  spoils  of 
the  Mexicans." 

This  address  had  a  magical  effect.  Shouts  of  "  On  to  Mexico !"  resounded 
through  the  camp,  and  the  line  of  march  was  begun  on  the  i6th  of  August, 
1510.  The  hardy  veterans  scaled  the  table-lands  of  Mexico  amid  sleet  and 


72  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

hail,  and  erected  crosses  as  they  passed  along.  "The  route  of  the  army," 
says  Prescott,  "might  be  tracked  by  these  emblems  of  man's  salvation." 

On  coming  to  the  proud  little  republic  of  Tlascala,  Corte"z  requested 
permission  to  pass  through  the  country  on  his  way  to  the  capital  of  Mexico. 
He  was  refused,  and  had  to  vanquish  two  large  armies  before  the  Tlascalans 
recognized  his  power  and  genius,  and  became  his  friends  and  faithful  allies. 

The  Spanish  general  continued  his  march  with  his  forces  swelled  by 
6,000  Tlascalan  warriors.  He  next  came  to  the  beautiful  city  of  Cholula,  the 
sanctuary  of  the  Mexican  idols.  Here  he  learned  of  a  bold  plot  to  massacre 
his  whole  force,  but,  heading  off  the  treacherous  barbarians,  he  fell  on  them 
like  a  flash  of  lightning,  in  swift  and  terrible  chastisement.  The  slaughter 
lasted  for  two  days.  The  dead  bodies  of  six  thousand  Cholulans  filled  the 
city  with  terror,  and  carried  dismay  into  the  very  heart  of  the  empire. 

The  Spaniards  and  their  allies  pressed  on  through  a  lofty  country  of 
picturesque  grandeur.  For  a  few  leagues  the  way  led  up  the  steep  side  of  a 
great  volcanic  mountain,  then  in  a  state  of  eruption,  although  its  fires  are  now 
extinguished.  A  dense  forest  for  a  time  impeded  their  march,  then,  as  they 
ascended,  vegetation  ceased,  and  they  passed  within  the  line  of  everlasting 
snow.  At  length,  rounding  a  shoulder  of  the  mountain,  the  great  Valley  of 
Mexico,  seen  afar,  in  that  clear  air,  spread  itself  before  them  in  all  its  glory 
of  lake  and  city,  of  garden  and  forest,  and  cultivated  plain.  It  was  a  vision 
never  to  be  forgotten.  Corte"z  was  received  with  great  pomp  by  the 
emperor  in  person.  He  was  conducted  to  a  vast  palace.  "You  are  now," 
said  the  politic  Mexican  ruler,  "with  your  brothers  in  your  own  house. 
Refresh  yourself  after  your  fatigues,  and  be  happy  till  I  return." 

Cortes  and  his  companions  entered  the  capital  on  the  iSth  day  of 
November,  1519.  It  had  been  well  said  that  in  a  time  of  great  festivity,  they 
would  have  formed  but  a  poor  and  mean  sacrifice  to  have  been  offered  to  the 
Mexican  gods.  The  population  of  the  celebrated  city — then  the  greatest  in 
the  New  World — was  estimated  at  300,000  soujs. 

It  was  built  on  islands  in  a  shallow  salt-water  lake,  and  was  approached 
by  three  principal  causeways  of  about  thirty  feet  in  breadth,  and  constructed 
of  solid  masonry.  At  the  end  of  these  causeways  were  wooden  draw-bridges, 
so  that  in  time  of  war  communication  could  be  cut  off  between  the  causeways 
and  the  city,  which  would  thus  become  a  citadel.  There  were  numerous 
temples,  and  the  royal  palaces  were  vast  and  magnificent.  The  market-place 
accommodated  fifty  thousand  people. 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  73 

In  the  evening,  Montezuma  returned  to  visit  his  guests.  He  came  in 
great  state,  and  brought  valuable  presents  to  Cortes  and  his  men.  A  long 
conference  then  followed  with  the  Spanish  general,  in  which  the  Mexican 
monarch  freely  expressed  his  opinion  of  the  strangers.  Among  the  Mexicans 
it  was  an  established  tradition,  he  told  Cortes,  that  their  ancestors  came  origi- 
nally from  a  remote  region,  and  conquered  the  countries  now  subject  to  his 
rule,  and  that  after  they  were  settled  there,  the  great  captain  who  conducted 
this  colony  returned  to  his  own  country,  promising  that  at  some  future  period 
his  descendants  would  visit  them,  assume  the  government,  and  reform  their 
laws  and  constitution. 

From  what  he  had  seen  and  heard  of  the  Spaniards,  Montezuma  said 
in  conclusion,  he  had  no  doubt  that  they  were  the  very  persons  whose 
appearance  the  Mexican  traditions  and  prophecies  taught  him  to  expect ;  and 
hence  he  had  received  them,  not  as  strangers,  but  as  relations  of  the  same  blood 
and  parentage,  and  desired  that  they  might  consider  themselves  as  masters  in 
his  dominions,  for  both  himself  and  his  subjects  would  be  ready  to  show  them 
all  due  honor.  The  reply  of  the  Spanish  commander  was  eloquent,  cautious, 
and  dignified. 

The  next  day  Cortes  paid  a  visit  to  Montezuma.  This  time  the  conver- 
sation was  not  political.  It  was  religious.  Our  hero  was  a  man  of  deep  and 
ardent  faith.  As  a  true  knight  he  would  have  shed  the  last  drop  of  his  blood 
for  the  glory  of  God  arid  the  Catholic  Church.  Indeed,  the  pages  of  history 
might  be  searched  in  vain  for  the  name  of  any  conquerer  who  was  more 
deeply  imbued  with  the  missionary  spirit  than  the  wise  and  fearless  Cortes. 

The  commander-in-chief  was  not  unpracticed  in  expounding  the  truths 
of  Faith.  He  related  to  Montezuma  the  wonderful  story  of  Christianity, 
stated  why  the  Spaniards  honored  the  cross,  gave  expression  to  his  hatred 
and  scorn  for  the  vile  idols  of  Mexico,  and  informed  the  dusky  emperor  that 
these  idols  had  given  way  before  the  cross.  He  then  spoke  of  the  creation, 
of  Adam  and  Eve,  and  the  universal  brotherhood  of  man;  and  said  that  his 
king  in  the  true  spirit  of  such  brotherhood,  grieving  over  the  loss  of  souls, 
had  sent  the  Spaniards  to  prevent  the  adoration  of  idols  and  the  revolting 
sacrifice  of  men  and  women.  The  ministers  of  the  good  and  all-powerful 
God,  he  concluded,  would  come  after  him  to  instruct  the  Mexicans  in  these 
holy  things. 

"I  have  had  a  perfect  understanding,"  replied  Montezuma,  "of  all  the 
discourse  and  reasonings  which  you  have  addressed  before  now  to  my  subjects 


74  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

upon  the  subject  of  your  God,  and  in  relation  to  the  cross.  We  have  not 
responded  to  any  of  these  things,  for  from  the  beginning  here  we  have 
adored  our  gods,  and  have  held  them  to  be  good  gods;  and  so,  no  doubt,  are 
yours.  But  do  not  take  the  trouble,  at  present,  to  say  anything  more  about 
them  to  us."  The  royal  pagan  then  concluded  with  a  most  courteous 
reference  to  the  Spanish  sovereign. 

Several  days  were  now  employed  in  viewing  the  city.  Its  appearance 
filled  the  Spaniards  with  surprise  and  admiration.  There  could  be  seen  the 
vast  market-place,  with  its  thousands  of  buyers  and  sellers.  Cortes  visited 
the  great  temple  of  the  Mexican  god  of  war,  at  the  entrance  of  which  he  was 
received  by  Montezuma  and  his  priests  and  nobles.  The  party  ascended  to 
the  pinnacle,  and  the  view  was  beautiful. 

While  enjoying  the  grandeur  of  the  scene,  Cortes  turned  to  his  venerable 
companion,  Father  de  Olmedo,  and  said :  "  It  appears  to  me,  Reverend 
Father,  that  we  might  just  make  a  trial  of  Montezuma,  and  see  if  he  would 
let  us  set  up  our  church  here."  The  wiser  Franciscan  replied  that  it  would 
be  very  well  to  make  the  request  if  there  were  any  hope  of  its  being  granted ; 
just  then  did  not  seem  to  be  an  opportune  moment,  and  the  Mexican  ruler 
would  most  likely  give  a  decided  refusal.  The  Spanish  general  abandoned 
the  idea,  and  merely  asked  Montezuma  to  permit  the  strangers  to  see  his  gods. 
For  the  first  time  a  Christian  entered  those  dread  abodes  of  idolatry. 

In  a  tower  they  beheld  two  hideous  figures  seated  on  an  altar  under  a 
canopy.  One  had  a  broad  face,  wide  mouth,  and  terrible  eyes;  the  other  had 
a  countenance  like  that  of  a  bear.  Before  these  idols  were  burning  eight  real 
hearts  of  men  who  had  that  day  been  sacrificed.  The  walls  were  black  with 
clotted  blood.  The  stench  was  sickening.  In  short,  it  was  a  sight  awful  and 
revolting,  and  Cortes  .did  not  attempt  to  conceal  his  just  and  Christian  indig- 
nation. The  Spaniards  marched  back  to  their  quarters,  sickened  and  saddened, 
but  somewhat  enlightened  as  to  the  nature  and  barbarous  customs  of  the  men 
by  whom  they  were  surrounded. 

Cortes  felt  the  peculiar  danger  and  delicacy  of  his  situation.  From  a 
concurrence  of  circumstances,  no  less  unexpected  than  favorable  to  his  progress, 
he  had  been  allowed  with  a  handful  of  soldiers  to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of 
a  powerful  empire,  without  having  once  met  with  open  opposition  from  its 
ruler.  He  was  now  lodged  in  its  capital.  The  Tlascalans,  however,  had 
earnestly  dissuaded  the  Spaniards  from  placing  such  confidence  in  Montezuma 
as  to  enter  a  city  so  singularly  situated  as  Mexico,  where  that  monarch  would 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  .MEXICO.  75 

have  them  at  his  mercy,  shut  up  as  it   were  in  a  snare,   from  which    it  was 
impossible  to  escape. 

They  assured  the  Spaniards  that  the  Mexican  priests  had — in  the  name 
of  the  gods — counseled  their  sovereign  to  admit  the  strangers  into  the  capital, 
that  he  might  cut  them  off  at  one  blow,  with  perfect  security.  Cortes  only 
too  plainly  perceived  that  the  apprehension  of  his  allies  was  not  destitute  of 
foundation  ;  that  by  breaking  the  bridges  placed  at  certain  distances  on  the 
causeways,  the  retreat  of  his  band  of  Castilians  would  be  next  to  impossible, 
and  that  he  would  have  to  remain  cooped  up  in  the  centre  of  a  hostile  city, 
surrounded  by  savage  multitudes  sufficient  to  overwhelm  his  forces. 

The  genius  of  Cortes  at  once  grasped  the  idea  that  the  success  of  his 
enterprise  entirely  depended  upon  supporting  the  high  opinicn  which  the 
people  of  Mexico  had  formed  with  respect  to  the  irresistible  power  of  his 
arms.  To  be  timid  was  to  be  lost.  The  least  sign  of  fear  might  bring 
Montezuma  to  let  loose  upon  him  the  whole  force  of  the  empire.  A  bold 
step  had  involved  him  in  difficulties,  but  he  ventured  on  a  still  bolder— 
perhaps,  the  boldest  in  all  history. 

He  resolved  to  seize  Montezuma,  in  his  own  palace  and  bring  him  as  a 
prisoner  to  the  Spanish  quarters.  Various  causes  urged  him  to  act  thus. 
From  the  superstitious  veneration  of  the  Mexicans  for  the  person  of  their 
monarch,  as  well  as  their  implicit  submission  to  his  will,  Corte"s  hoped  that 
by  having  Montezuma  in  his  hands,  he  would  have  a  sacred  pledge  which 
would  secure  him  from  their  violence.  He  moreover  thought  that  with  the 
emperor  once  in  his  power,  all  the  provinces  of  the  Mexican  empire  would 
be  easily  brought  under  Spanish  rule.  He  communicated  the  perilous  scheme 
to  his  troops,  and,  according  to  Bernal  Diaz,  they  passed  the  night  in  praying 
to  God,  "that  the  enterprise  might  be  so  conducted  as  to  redound  to  His  holy 
service." 

The  recent  killing  of  a  few  Spaniards  outside  the  city  was  made  the 
pretext.  Until  the  matter  was  cleared  up,  Cortes  declared,  Montezuma  must 
come  and  live  with  his  forces  in  their  quarters.  He  added  kind  and  soothing 
words,  but  the  Mexican  monarch  sat  stupefied  at  the  bold  demand.  "  I  am 
not  one  of  those  persons,"  he  replied,  "  who  are  put  in  irons.  Even  if  I  were 
to  consent,  my  subjects  would  never  permit  it."  The  Spanish  general 
persisted,  however,  in  his  demand,  and  Montezuma  finally  yielded.  In  deep 
silence  he  was  borne  out  of  his  palace — never  more  to  return.  He  was 
hurried  in  silent  pomp  to  the  Spanish  quarters.  "  This,"  says  Helps,  "  is  an 


76  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

unparalleled  transaction.     There  is  nothing  like  it,  I  believe,  in  the  annals  of 
the  world.'' 

Montezuma  was  received  in  the  Spanish  quarters  with  every  mark  of 
high  respect.  He  was  attended  by  his  own  domestics,  and  served  with  his 
usual  state.  His  principal  officers  had  free  access  to  him.  As  if  he  had  been 
at  perfect  liberty,  he  carried  on  every  function  of  government.  The  Cas- 
tiliansl  however,  kept  a  careful  watch  over  their  royal  prisoner-guest ;  but  at 
the  same  time  endeavored  to  soothe  and  reconcile  him  to  his  situation  by 
delicate  acts  of  regard  and  attachment.  Thus,  by  the  fortunate  temerity  of 
Cortes,  they  at  once  secured  to  themselves  more  extensive  authority  in  the 
Mexican  empire  than  it  would  be  possible  to  have  acquired  in  a  long  course 
of  time  by  open  force.  In  the  name  of  another  they  now  exercised  more 
absolute  sway  than  they  could  have  done  in  their  own. 

The  Spanish  general  did  not  hesitate  to  avail  himself  of  the  powers 
which  he  possessed  by  being  able  to  act  in  the  name  of  Montezuma.  He 
sent  some  of  his  best  qualified  officers  into  different  parts  of  the  empire, 
accompanied  by  perscrs  of  distinction,  whom  Montezuma  appointed  to  at- 
tend to  them,  both  as  guides  and  protectors.  They  visited  most  of  the 
provinces,  viewed  their  soil  and  productions,  they  surveyed  with  particular 
care  the  districts  which  yielded  gold  or  silver,  pitched  upon  several  places  as 
proper  points  for  future  colonies,  and  endeavored  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the 
Mexicans  for  submitting  to  Spanish  rule. 

With  the  eye  of  thoughtful  genius  Cortes,  however,  saw  there  was  one 
thing  still  wanting  to  complete  his  security.  He  looked  ahead.  He  wished 
to  have  command  of  the  lake  which  surrounded  the  great  city.  This  would 
open  a  means  of  retreat,  if,  either  from  levity  or  disgust,  the  Mexicans  should 
take  arms  against  him,  and  break  down  the  bridges  or  causeways.  With 
him,  to  plan  was  to  accomplish.  Having  frequently  entertained  Montezuma 
with  accounts  of  ships  and  the  art  of  navigation,  he  awakened  the  latter's 
curiosity  to  see  those  moving  palaces,  which  without  oars  made  their  way 
through  the  water. 

Under  the  pretext  of  gratifying  this  desire,  Cortes  requested  Montezuma 
to  appoint  some  of  his  subjects  to  bring  to  the  city  part  of  the  naval  stores 
which  the  Spaniards  had  left  at  Vera  Cruz,  and  to  employ  others  in  cutting 
down  and  preparing  timber.  It  was  done.  And  with  Mexican  assistance, 
the  Castilian  carpenters  soon  completed  two  brigantines.  A  new  source  of 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO. 


77 


amusement  was  thus  afforded  to  the  dusky  monarch,  and  a  means  of  escape 
to  Cortes,  if  he  should  be  obliged  to  retire. 

The  Spanish  commander  felt  that  the  time  had  arrived  to  persuade 
Montezuma  to  give  some  public  sign  of  fealty  to  the  king  of  Spain.  It  was 
certainly  a  trying  test.  The  Mexican  monarch's  elastic  power  of  submission 
was  now  to  be  stretched  to  the  utmost.  He  called  together  the  chief  men  of 
his  empire,  and  reminded  them  in  a  solemn  speech  of  the  traditions  and 
prophecies  which  led  them  to  expect  the  arrival  of  a  people  sprung  from  the 
same  stock  as  themselves  in  order  to  take  possession  of  the  supreme  power. 
He  declared  his  belief  that  the  Spaniards  were  this  promised  race.  He  said 
he  recognised  the  right  of  their  king  to  govern  the  Mexican  empire,  and 
that  he  would  lay  down  his  crown  and  obey  the  Spanish  sovereign  as  a 
tributary.  His  grief  was  visible,  for  he  wept.  This  act  of  submission  and 
homage  was  executed  with  all  due  formality.  What  a  sudden  change  in  the 
position  of  a  vast  empire! 


CORTES    DEMOLISHING    MEXICAN    IDOLS. 


But  the  grand  triumph  of  Corte's,  and  that  use  of  his  power  for  which 
he  has  been  likened  to  Judas  Maccabeus,  was  in  the  destruction  of  the  hideous 
Mexican  idols,  the  cleansing  of  their  foul  temples,  and  the  stern  forbidding 


j8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  human  sacrifices  any  more.     Montezuma  himself  and  many  of  his  chief 
men  were  present  at  the  downfall  of  the  idols. 

About  six  months  had  thus  passed  away  since  the  Mexican  monarch 
began  to  live  in  the  Spanish  quarters.  One  day  he  sent  for  Cortes.  They 
retired  to  a  room,  and  Montezuma  thus  addressed  the  Spanish  general  :  "  I 
pray  you,  take  your  departure  from  this  my  city  and  my  land,  for  my  gods 
are  very  angry  that  I  keep  you  here.  Ask  of  me  what  you  want,  and  I  will 
give  it  to  you.  Do  not  think  that  I  say  this  to  you  in  any  jest,  but  very 
much  in  earnest.  Therefore,  fulfill  my  desire,  that  so  it  may  be  done  what- 
ever may  occur." 

Cortes  was  a  man  whom  events  might  surprise,  but  never  discompose- 
"  I  have  heard  what  you  have  said,"  he  replied,  "  and  thank  you  much  for  it. 
Name  a  time  when  you  wish  us  to  depart,  and  so  it  shall  be." 

"  I  do  not  wish  you  to  hurry,"  said  the  politic  Montezuma.  "  Take  the 
time  that  seems  to  you  necessary ;  and  when  you  do  go  I  will  give  to  you, 
Cortes,  two  loads  of  gold,  and  one  to  each  of  your  companions." 

"  You  are  already  well  aware,"  remarked  the  Spanish  general,  "  how  I 
destroyed  my  ships,  when  I  first  landed  in  your  territory.  But  now  we  have 
need  of  others  to  return  to  our  own  country.  I  should  be  obliged  if  you 
would  give  us  workmen  to  cut  and  work  the  timber;  and  when  the  vessels 
are  built,  we  shall  take  our  departure.  Of  this  you  can  inform  your  gods 
and  your  subjects." 

Montezuma  assented.  Mexican  workmen  were  sent  to  Vera  Cruz  under 
Spanish  officers.  The  building  of  ships  was  begun  in  earnest. 

From  the  day  of  this  interview,  however,  the  tone  of  the  Mexican  ruler 
towards  Cortes  was  changed.  The  Spaniards  began  to  appreciate  the  danger 
of  their  position;  and  went  about  fully  prepared  for  a  sudden  attack  at  any 
moment.  Indeed,  this  little  body  of  men  lived  in  their  armor,  and  formed 
such  habits  of  wariness  that  years  of  peace  could  not  efface  the  watchful 
customs  which  they  had  acquired  at  this  eventful  period  of  their  lives,  so 
much  so,  that  one  of  them  afterwards  describes  how  he  could  never  pass  a 
night  in  bed,  but  must  get  up  and  walk  about  in  the  open  air,  and  gaze  at  the 
stars.  If  such  were  the  feelings  of  the  common  soldiers,  what  must  have 
been  the  sleepless  anxiety  of  their  commander? 

Only  a  few  of  those  days  of  fear  and  suspense  had  worn  away,  when 
Cortes  received  intelligence  of  a  most  perplexing  event.  Eighteen  ships  had 
arrived  in  the  Bay  of  San  Juan,  not  f nr  from  his  little  colony  of  Vera  Cruz. 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO  79 

It  was  alarming  news.  The  general  instantly  sent  messengers  in  various 
directions  to  glean  further  information  in  regard  to  the  ships.  At  last, 
Montezuma  informed  him  that  he  was  aware  of  the  arrival  of  the  new- 
comers. He  showed  Cortes  a  picture  of  the  force.  It  had  disembarked,  and 
consisted  of  eighty  horses,  eight  hundred  men,  and  ten  or  twelve  cannon. 
The  Mexican  ruler  also  intimated,  it  is  said,  that  there  was  now  no  excuse 
for  the  Spaniards  to  delay  their  return  home. 

This  formidable  armament  was  sent  by  his  former  master,  and  now 
bitter  enemy,  Governor  Velasquez  of  Cuba.  It  was  commanded  by  De 
Narvaez,  an  experienced  general;  and  his  instructions  were  to  seize  Cortes 
and  his  companions.  He  sent  a  flattering  message  to  Montezuma,  telling  him 
that  he  came  to  release  him.  He  also  sought  to  gain  the  little  garrison  at 
Vera  Cruz,  but  they  were  true  to  their  commander.  To  Cortes  the  danger 
was  imminent,  and  like  a  hero,  he  met  it  more  than  half-way. 

Leaving  a  brave  officer  named  Alvarado  in  command,  he  departed  from 
the  city  at  the  head  of  only  seventy  of  his  tried  and  trusted  followers,  and  by 
forced  marches  pushed  on  towards  Cempoalla.  On  the  way  he  learned  that 
Narvaez  occupied  the  great  temple,  and  at  once  determined  on  a  night 
assault.  His  plans  were  laid  with  amazing  skill.  The  sentinels  were  sur- 
prised at  their  posts.  The  attack  was  bold  and  sudden,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
Narvaez  and  all  his  men  were  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  Cortes. 

The  prisoners  soon  ranged  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the  con- 
queror; and  thus  a  great  danger  was  turned  into  a  welcome  succor.  Cortes 
received  the  vanquished  troops  in  the  most  winning  manner,  and  at  once 
created  an  enthusiasm  in  his  favor.  One  of  the  soldiers  of  Xarvaez — 
a  negro  and  a  comical  fellow — danced  and  shouted  for  joy,  crying:  "Where 
are  the  Romans  who  with  such  small  numbers  ever  achieved  so  great  a 
victory  ?  " 

Two  weeks  after  this,  a  travel- worn  courier  hurried  up  to  Cortes,  and 
communicated  most  unwelcome  intelligence.  The  Spanish  garrison  in 
Mexico,  he  said,  were  besieged  by  the  citizens,  and  were  in  extreme  peril. 
The  four  brigantines  on  the  lake  had  been  burned.  Fury  possessed  the 
barbarous  multitude.  In  short,  Alvarado  implored  his  general  for  the  love 
of  God  to  lose  no  time  in  hastening  to  his  assistance  ! 

This  revolt  was  excited  by  motives  which  rendered  it  very  alarming. 
On  the  departure  of  Cortes  for  Cempoalla,  the  Mexicans  flattered  themselves 
that  the  long-expected  opportunity  of  restoring  Montezuma  to  liberty,  and  of 


So  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

freeing  their  country  from  the  dominion  of  the  dreaded  strangers,  was  at 
length  arrived.  The  Spanish  forces  were  divided,  and  the  general  was 
absent.  Consultations  were  held.  Many  schemes  were  formed.  The  Spaniards 
knew  their  own  feebleness,  and  suspected  and  dreaded  a  conspiracy. 

Alvarado^  though  a  gallant  officer,  possessed  neither  that  wonderful 
capacity  nor  dignity  of  manners  by  which  Corte*s  had  acquired  such  an  ascend- 
ancy over  the  minds  of  the  Mexicans,  as  never  allowed  them  to  form  a  just 
estimate  of  his  weakness  or  of  their  own  strength.  Alvarado  knew  no  mode 
of  supporting  his  authority  but  force.  He  thought  of  no  means  of  persuasion 
but  his  sword.  Instead  of  employing  address  to  disconcert  the  plans,  or  to 
soothe  the  spirits  of  the  plotting  Mexicans,  he  waited  the  return  of  one  of 
their  solemn  pagan  festivals,  when  the  chief  persons  in  the  empire  were 
dancing,  according  to  custom,  in  the  court  of  the  great  temple.  He  attacked 
the  crowd  with  all  his  force,  and  the  massacre  was  fearful.  It  was  wild  and 
bloody  work.  The  news  of  this  event  filled  the  city  with  rage  and  fury. 
Vengeance  walked  the  streets.  The  Spaniards  were  besieged,  and  all  those 
acts  of  violence  were  committed  of  which  Corte"s  received  an  account. 

The  distant  general  lost  no  time,  but,  gathering  his  men  around  him,  he 
began  his  march  for  the  capital.  At  Tlascala,  all  was  friendly.  Reviewing 
his  troops  there,  he  found  that  they  amounted  to  thirteen  hundred  soldiers, 
ninety-six  of  whom  were  horsemen,  eighty  cross-bow  men,  and  about  eighty 
musketeers.  With  this  hardy  force  he  made  rapid  strides  towards  Mexico, 
and  reached  the  city  on  the  24th  of  June,  1520.  It  was  St.  John  the  Baptist's 
Day.  He  passed  over  the  great  causeway  by  which  he  first  entered.  But 
how  changed  was  the  scene!  No  crowds  now  lined  the  roads,  no  boats 
swarmed  on  the  lake.  Over  all  brooded  a  death-like  silence.  It  was  a  stillness 
that  spoke  louder  to  the  heart  than  the  acclamations  of  multitudes! 

When  Cortes  arrived  at  his  own  quarters  he  found  the  gates  barred,  so 
strict  had  been  the  siege.  He  had  to  demand  an  entry.  Alvarado  appeared 
upon  the  battlements,  and  asked  if  Corte"s  came  in  as  free  as  he  went  out,  and 
if  he  were  still  their  general.  The  commander  replied,  "  Yes,"  and  that  he 
came  with  victory  and  increased  forces.  The  gates  were  opened,  and  Corte"s 
and  his  veterans  rushed  in.  On  both  sides  the  greeting  was  most  affectionate. 

Cortes  eagerly  inquired  as  to  the  causes  of  the  revolt,  putting  many 
questions  to  Alvarado.  When  the  latter  had  concluded  his  answers,  the 
brow  of  the  commander  darkened  as  he  said  to  his  lieutenant:  "You  have 
done  badly.  You  have  been  false  to  your  trust.  Your  conduct  has  been  that 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  Si 

of  a  madman!"     And,   turning   abruptly  on  his  heel  he  left  him   in  undis- 
guised displeasure. 

Next  day  the  whole  city  was  in  arms.  A  messenger  informed  Cortes 
that  the  draw-bridges  were  raised.  In  a  few  hours  the  surging  multitude, 
headed  by  Montezuma's  brother,  advanced  on  the  Spanish  quarters,  and 
fiercely  began  the  assault.  It  was  a  spectacle  to  appall  the  stoutest  heart. 
The  stones  fell  like  hail,  and  the  arrows  came  in  showers.  Corte~s  made  two 
or  three  desperate  sallies,  but  himself  and  eighty  of  his  men  were  wounded. 
At  day -break  the  following  morning,  the  attack  was  renewed.  There 
was  no  occasion  for  the  gunners  to  take  any  particular  aim,  for  the  Mexicans 
advanced  in  such  dense  masses  that  they  could  not  be  missed.  The  gaps 
made  in  these  masses  were  instantly  rilled  up.  Veterans  in  the  Spanish  army 
who  had  served  in  Italy,  France,  and  against  the  Turks,  declared  that  they 
had  never  seen  men  close  up  their  ranks  as  did  these  Mexicans  after  each 
terrible  volley  of  artillery.  They,  indeed,  often  staggered  under  the  fire,  but 
they  would  rally,  and  rush  on  to  the  very  muzzle  of  the  cannon.  Again  and 
again  Corte"s  sallied  forth  against  the  bold  barbarians,  but  he  only  added  to 
the  list  of  his  wounded. 

On  the  third  day,  the  unfortunate  Montezuma,  either  at  the  request  of 
the  Spanish  general,  or  of  his  own  accord,  came  out  upon  a  battlement,  and 
addressed  the  angry  multitudes.  He  was  dressed  in  his  imperial  robes,  was 
surrounded  by  Castilian  soldiers,  and  was  at  first  received  with  honor  and 
respect  by  his  people.  He  spoke  to  them  in  loving  words,  advised  them  to  cease 
the  attack,  and  assured  them  that  the  Spaniards  would  depart  from  Mexico. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  parley,  a  murmur  ran  through  the  crowd,  and 
a  shower  of  stones  and  arrows  flew.  For  the  moment  the  Spanish  soldiers 
had  ceased  to  protect  the  monarch  with  their  shields;  and  he  was  severely 
wounded  in  the  head  and  in  two  other  places.  He  was  borne  away.  He 
had  received  his  death-stroke.  Whether  it  came  from  the  wounds  themselves, 
or  from  the  indignity  of  being  thus  treated  by  his  people,  remains  a  doubtful 
point.  Cortes,  his  chaplain  and  officers  did  all  they  could  to  heal  his  wounds 
and  soothe  his  anguish  of  mind,  but  in  a  little  while  Montezuma  was  no  more. 
Difficulties  were  daily  thickening.  New  dangers  menaced  the  garrison. 
Opposite  the  Spanish  quarters,  at  only  a  few  rods'  distance,  stood  a  great 
pyramidal  temple.  It  rose  to  the  height  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet, 
and  its  elevated  position  completely  commanded  the  palace  occupied  by  the 
Christians.  A  body  of  five  hundred  chosen  Mexican  nobles  and  warriors 


82  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

threw   themselves  into  this  lofty  structure,  and   galled   the   Spaniards  with 
tempests  of  arrows.     To  dislodge  this  new  enemy  was  absolutely  necessary. 

The  general  sent  one  of  his  best  officers  to  take  this  position,  but  the 
Spanish  soldiers  were  twice  repulsed.  Cortes,  though  wounded,  determined 
to  lead  the  attack  in  person.  He  placed  some  of  his  troops  at  the  base  of  the 
temple,  and  began  the  difficult  and  dangerous  ascent.  The  Spaniards,  after  a 
terrible  combat,  gained  the  summit,  dislodged  their  enemies  from  that  giddy 
height,  and  drove  them  down  upon  the  lower  terraces.  Then  might  be  seen 
the  Indian  priests  running  to  and  fro,  with  their  hair  clotted  and  bloody, 
and  wildly  streaming  over  their  sable  mantles.  Hovering  in  mid-air,  they 
seemed  like  so  many  demons  of  darkness  urging  on  the  work  of  slaughter. 
But  every  one  of  the  Mexicans  were  put  to  the  sword. 

The  victory  in  the  temple  was  a  momentary  gleam  of  success  for  the 
Spanish  arms.  It  afforded  Cortes  an  opportunity  to  resume  peace  negotia- 
tions. But  the  savage  determination  of  the  Mexicans  was  complete.  In  vain 
did  the  Spanish  general  press  them  to  consider  the  havoc  he  was  daily 
making  among  the  citizens.  They  were  aware  of  it,  was  the  reply,  but  they 
would  all  perish,  if  that  were  needful,  to  gain  their  point  of  utterly  destroying 
the  Spaniards. 

The  enraged  multitudes  bade  Cortes  to  look  at  the  streets,  squares  and 
terraces,  and  then,  in  a  business-like  way,  they  solemnly  assured  him  that  if 
25,000  Mexicans  were  to  die  for  each  Spaniard,  still  the  Spaniards  would 
perish  first.  These  furious  barbarians  jeeringly  called  his  attention  to  the 
fact  that  all  the  causeways  were  destroyed,  and  that  hunger  and  thirst  were 
already  staring  the  Spaniards  in  the  very  face.  "In  truth,"  writes  Cortes 
himself,  « they  had  much  reason  in  what  they  said,  for  if  we  had  no  other 
enemy  to  fight  against  but  hunger,  it  was  sufficient  to  destroy  us  all  in  a 
short  time!" 

It  generally  requires  as  much  courage  to  retreat  as  to  advance,  and  few 
leaders  have  the  ready  wisdom  to  retreat  in  time.  But  Cortes,  on  finding 
that  it  was  impossible  to  hold  his  position,  lost  no  time  or  energy  in  parleying 
with  danger.  That  very  night  he  resolved  to  quit  Mexico. 

At  midnight  the  troops  were  under  arms,  in  readiness  for  the  march. 
Mass  was  celebrated  by  the  venerable  Father  Olmedo,  who  invoked  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Almighty  on  the  little  army.  The  gates  were  thrown  open, 
and  July  i,  1520,  the  Spaniards  for  the  last  time  sallied  forth  from  the 
walls  of  the  ancient  fortress,  the  scene  of  so  much  suffering  and  such  indomi- 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  83 

table  courage.  The  force  began  to  move  in  three  divisions.  The  brave  and 
youthful  Sandoval  led  the  van.  Alvarado  brought  up  the  rear-guard.  Cortes 
himself  commanded  in  the  center,  where  he  placed  the  prisoners,  among 
whom  were  a  son  and  two  daughters  of  Montezuma,  together  with  several 
Mexicans  of  distinction,  the  artillery,  baggage,  and  a  portable  bridge  of  tim- 
ber, intended  to  be  thrown  over  the  breaches  in  the  causeway.  They  marched 
in  profound  silence  along  the  shortest  causeway,  and  had  reached  the  first 
breach  in  it  before  their  retreat  seemed  to  be  discovered.  In  a  moment  the 
alarm  was  given. 

Loud  shouts  and  blowing  of  horns  were  heard  in  all  directions.  "  Come 
out  quickly  in  your  canoes,"  yelled  the  frantic  Mexicans.  '•  The  teules  are 
going.  Cut  them  off  at  the  bridges!"  The  lake  was  soon  covered  with 
canoes.  It  rained,  and  the  misfortunes  of  the  night  began  by  two  horses 
slipping  from  the  pontoon  into  the  water.  Flights  of  arrows  and  showers  of 
stones  poured  in  upon  the  Spaniards  from  every  quarter.  The  wild  barbarians 
rushed  forward  to  the  charge  with  fearless  impetuosity,  as  if  they  hoped  in 
that  moment  to  take  full  vengeance  for  the  past. 

Unfortunately  the  wooden  bridge,  by  the  weight  of  the  artillery,  got 
wedged  so  fast  into  the  stones  and  mud,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  troops 
to  remove  it.  This  accident  caused  dismay,  and  the  Spaniards  advanced  with 
haste  towards  the  second  breach.  But  the  Mexicans  hemmed  them  in  on 
every  side,  and  though  they  defended  themselves  with  all  the  bravery  of 
skilled  and  desperate  soldiers,  yet,  crowded  together  as  they  were  on  a  narrow 
causeway,  their  discipline  and  military  science  were  of  little  avail;  nor  did 
the  darkness  of  the  night  permit  them  to  derive  any  great  advantage  from 
their  fire-arms,  or  the  superiority  of  their  other  weapons.  The  position  was 
truly  appalling! 

The  whole  city  was  now  in  arms,  and  so  eager  were  the  excited  multi- 
tudes for  the  destruction  of  the  Spaniards,  that  those  who  were  not  near 
enough  to  annoy  them  in  person,  impatient  of  delay,  pressed  forward  with 
such  ardor  as  drove  on  their  countrymen  in  the  front  with  irresistible  violence. 
Fresh  warriors  instantly  filled  the  place  of  such  as  fell.  The  Castilians  were 
weary  with  slaughter,  and,  unable  any  longer  to  sustain  the  weight  of  the 
torrent  that  poured  in  upon  them,  began  to  give  way.  In  a  moment  all  was 
confusion.  Horse  and  foot,  officers  and  soldiers,  friends  and  enemies  were 
mingled  together.  And  while  all  fought,  and  many  fell,  scarcely  any  could 
distinguish  from  what  hand  the  blow  came. 


84  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

In  a  very  short  time  the  water  was  full  of  dead  horses,  Indians,  Spaniards, 
baggage,  prisoners  and  artillery.  On  every  side  the  most  piteous  cries  were 
heard — "Help  me!  I  drown!"  "  Rescue  me!  they  are  killing  me!"  Prayers 
to  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  James  were  mingled  with  the  groans  of 
the  dying  and  shouts  of  desperate  warriors. 

At  the  second  bridge-way  a  single  beam  only  was  found.  It  was,  of 
course,  useless  for  the  horses;  but  the  watchful  genius  of  Corte's  found  a 
shallow  place  where  the  water  did  not  reach  further  than  up  to  the  saddle. 
Here  he  passed  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry,  and  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
main- land.  The  foot  soldiers  also  contrived  in  some  way  to  follow.  The 
general  left  the  van  guard  and  his  own  division  safe  on  shore,  and  returned 
to  give  what  assistance  he  could  to  the  unfortunate  men  who  were  still  behind. 

But  few  of  the  rear-guard  escaped.  It  is  told  as  a  wonder  of  Alvarado, 
that,  coming  t:  the  last  bridge,  he  made  a  leap — which  by  many  has  been 
deemed  impossible — and  cleared  the  vast  opening.  On  coming  up  to  him, 
Cortes  found  that  his  lieutenant  was  accompanied  by  only  seven  Spaniards 
and  eight  Tlascalans,  all  covered  with  blood  and  wounds.  They  told  their 
commander  that  it  was  useless  to  go  further.  All  who  remained  alive  were 
with  them! 

On  hearing  this  the  general  turned  back.  It  was  not  yet  day-break,  but 
the  small  and  melancholy  band  of  Spaniards  pushed  on,  Corte's  protecting 
the  rear.  Morning  soon  dawned,  and  he  reviewed  the  shattered  remains  of 
his  heroic  little  army.  The  remembrance  of  so  many  faithful  friends  and 
gallant  followers  who  had  fallen  in  that  night  of  sorrow  pierced  his  soul 
with  anguish.  It  is  said  that  he  sat  down  on  a  stone  and  wept  at  the  sad 
sight.  But  as  the  country  was  aroused  against  them,  the  exhausted  veterans 
did  not  rest  till  they  had  fortified  themselves  in  a  temple  on  a  hill  at  some 
distance  from  Mexico.  A  church  was  afterwards  built  here,  and  very  appro- 
priately dedicated  to  Nuestra  Senora  de  los  Remedies — Our  Lady  of  Refuge. 

In  this  disastrous  flight  all  the  artillery  and  forty-six  horses  were  lost, 
eight  hundred  and  seventy  Spaniards  perished,  and  four  thousand  of  the 
Indian  allies  were  killed,  including  one  son  and  two  daughters  of  Montezuma. 
A  loss  which  posterity  will  ever  regret  was  that  of  the  books,  memorials  and 
writings.  These,  it  is  said,  contained  a  narrative  of  all  that  had  happened 
since  Corte's  left  Cuba. 

The  Spaniards  now  took  the  road  for  Tlascala,  the  only  place  where 
they  could  hope  for  a  friendly  reception.  It  was  about  sixty-four  miles  east 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  CAROLL,  "  OUR  FIRST  SHEPHERD. 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  85 

of  the  city  of  Mexico.  Day  after  day  they  marched  on  through  a  savage  and 
hostile  country,  always  fighting  and  always  encumbered  with  enemies. 
Numerous  bodies  of  Mexicans  continued  to  hover  around  them,  sometimes 
harassing  them  at  a  distance  with  flights  of  stones  and  arrows,  and  sometimes 
attacking  them  closely  in  front,  in  rear,  in  flank,  and  always  with  great  bold- 
ness, as  they  knew  that  the  Castilians  were  not  invincible. 

Nor  were  the  fatigue  and  dangers  of  those  incessant  conflicts  the  worst 
evils  to  which  the  troops  were  exposed.  As  the  barren  country  through 
which  they  passed  afforded  scarcely  any  provisions,  they  were  reduced  to 
feed  on  berries,  roots,  and  stalks  of  green  maize;  and  at  the  very  time  that 
famine  was  thus  depressing  their  spirits  and  wasting  their  strength,  their 
situation  required  the  most  vigorous  and  unceasing  exertions  of  courage  and 
activity. 

But  amid  those  numberless  distresses,  one  circumstance  supported  and 
animated  the  sorely-tried  Spaniards.  It  was  the  genius  of  their  dauntless 
commander.  He  sustained  this  sad  reverse  of  fortune  with  unshaken  magna- 
nimity. His  presence  of  mind  never  forsook  him.  His  keen  sagacity  foresaw 
every  event,  and  his  vigilance  provided  for  it.  He  was  foremost  in  every 
danger,  and  endured  every  hardship  with  heroic  cheerfulness.  The  difficulties 
by  which  he  was  surrounded  seemed  to  call  forth  new  gifts;  and  his  soldiers, 
though  despairing  themselves,  continued  to  follow  him  wit1:  increasing  con- 
fidence in  his  matchless  abilities. 

On  the  sixth  day  they  arrived  near  Otumba,  a  valley  not  far  from  the 
boundary  line  between  Mexico  and  Tlascala.  Early  next  morning  they 
pushed  on,  flying  parties  of  the  enemy  still  hanging  on  the  rear,  and  occasion. 
ally  shouting:  "  Go  on,  robbers.  Go  to  the  place  where  you  shall  quickly 
meet  the  vengeance  due  to  your  crimes!" 

The  Spaniards  did  not  comprehend  the  meaning  of  this  threat  until  they 
reached  the  summit  of  the  mountain  steeps  which  shut  in  the  valley  of 
Otumba.  Below  was  a  sight  that  might,  in  truth,  arouse  fear  in  the  breast  of 
the  bravest  cavalier.  A  vast  army  of  Mexicans  extended  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach.  The  forces  of  the  empire  had  been  hastily  collected  at  this  spot 
to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  Christians.  Every  chief  of  note  had  taken  the 
field  with  his  whole  array  gathered  under  his  standard,  proudly  displaying  all 
ihe  pomp  and  rude  splendor  of  his  military  equipment. 

It  was  a  spectacle  to  fill  the  stoutest  heart  among  the  Spaniards  with 
dismay,  heightened  by  the  previous  expectation  of  soon  reaching  the  friendly 


86  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

land  which  was  to  terminate  their  weary  pilgrimage.  Even  Cortes,  as  he 
contrasted  the  tremendous  array  before  him  with  his  own  diminished  squad- 
rons, wasted  hy  disease,  and  enfeebled  by  hunger  and  fatigue,  could  not 
escape  the  conviction  that  his  last  hour  had  arrived.  But  his  was  not  the  heart 
to  quail  before  danger,  and  he  gathered  strength  from  the  very  extremity 
of  his  situation. 

He  addressed  a  few  words  to  his  troops.  He  reminded  them  of  the 
victories  they  had  won  against  fearful  odds;  and  remarked  that  numbers 
were  of  no  account  when  heaven  was  on  their  side.  All  then  earnestly 
commended  themselves  to  the  protection  of  God,  the  Immaculate  Virgin,  and 
St.  James;  and  Cortes  led  his  brave  battalions  straight  against  the  hosts  of 
Mexico.  Every  man  felt  that  it  must  now  be  death  or  victory. 

The  charge  of  the  cavalry  with  the  general  at  its  head  was  irresistible. 
It  penetrated  and  dispersed  the  most  numerous  divisions  of  the  enemy.  The 
infantry  fought  like  lions.  But  while  the  Mexicans  gave  way  in  one  quarter, 
fresh  combatants  advanced  from  another;  and  the  Spaniards,  though  success- 
ful in  every  attack,  were  ready  to  sink  under  these  repeated  efforts,  without 
seeing  any  end  to  their  toil,  or  any  hope  of  victory.  The  contest  had  now 
lasted  several  hours.  High  the  sun  rose  in  the  heavens,  and  shed  an  intoler- 
able heat  over  the  plain.  The  tide  of  battle  was  setting  rapidly  against  the 
Christians;  and  all  that  remained  for  them  seemed  to  be  to  sell  their  lives  as 
dearly  as  possible. 

At  this  critical  moment,  Cortes,  whose  restless  eye  had  been  roving 
around  the  field  in  quest  of  any  object  that  might  offer  him  the  means  of 
arresting  the  coming  ruin,  rising  in  his  stirrups,  descried  at  a  distance,  in  the 
midst  of  the  throng,  the  chief  who  from  his  dress  and  military  cortege,  he 
knew  must  be  the  commander  of  the  barbarian  forces.  The  eagle  glance  of 
the  general  no  sooner  fell  on  this  personage  than  a  glow  of  triumph  lit  up  his 
countenance. 

He  turned  quickly  to  the  cavaliers  at  his  side — among  whom  were  San- 
doval  and  Alvarado — and  pointed  out  the  chief,  exclaiming:  "  There  is  our 
mark!  follow  and  support  me!"  Then  crying  his  war-cry,  and  striking  his 
iron  heel  into  his  weary  steed,  he  plunged  headlong  into  the  thickest  of  the 
press.  His  enemies  fell  back,  taken  by  surprise  and  daunted  by  the  ferocity 
of  the  attack.  Those  who  did  not  were  pierced  through  with  his  lance  or 
borne  down  by  the  weight  of  his  charger.  The  cavaliers  followed  close  in 
the  rear.  On  they  swept  with  the  fury  of  a  thunderbolt,  cleaving  the  solid 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  87 

ranks  asunder,  strewing  their  paths  with  the  dying  and  the  dead,  and  hound- 
ing over  every  obstacle  in  their  way.  In  a  few  minutes  they  were  in  the 
presence  of  the  Indian  commander,  and  Cortes,  overturning  his  supporters, 
sprang  forward  with  the  strength  of  a  lion,  and  striking  him  through  with 
his  lance,  hurled  him  to  the  ground.  The  imperial  standard  was  captured. 
It  was  all  the  work  of  a  moment. 

When  the  Mexican  leader  fell,  and  the  standard,  towards  which  all 
directed  their  eyes,  disappeared,  a  general  panic  seized  the  Indians,  and,  as  if 
the  bond  which  held  them  together  had  been  dissolved,  every  ensign  was 
lowered,  each  dusky  warrior  threw  away  his  weapons,  and  all  fled  with  the 
utmost  precipitation  to  the  mountains.  The  Spaniards,  unable  to  pursue  them 
far,  returned  to  collect  the  spoils  of  the  field,  which  were  so  valuable  as  to  be 
some  compensation  for  their  toil  and  for  the  wealth  which  they  had  lost  in 
the  city  of  Mexico.  Next  day,  to  their  great  joy,  they  entered  the  Tlascalan 
territories. 

The  Tlascalan  chiefs  came  out  to  meet  the  hardy  veterans,  and  instead  of 
showing  any  coldness,  they  labored  to  console  Cortes  in  his  misfortune. 
"Oh,  Malinche,  Malinche" — which  was  the  name  the  Indians  gave  to  Cortes 
— they  said,  "how  it  grieves  us  to  hear  of  your  losses  and  your  sorrows. 
Have  we  not  told  you  many  times,  that  you  should  not  trust  in  those  Mexican 
people?  But  now  the  thing  is  done,  and  nothing  more  remains  at  present 
but  to  refresh  you  and  to  cure  you."  The  noble  kindness  of  these  good  allies 
fell  like  a  blessing  on  the  wounded,  way-worn  Spaniards. 

In  such  circumstances  almost  any  other  commander  but  Cortes  would 
have  been  thoroughly  cast  down.  But  the  elastic  spirit  of  this  modern  Han- 
nibal was  untouched,  and  he  beheld  the  star  of  hope  shining  as  brightly  as 
ever  on  his  checkered  pathway.  While  his  enemies,  and  even  many  of  his 
own  followers,  considered  the  disasters  which  had  befallen  him  as  fatal  to  the 
progress  of  his  arms,  and  imagined  that  nothing  now  remained  but  speedily 
to  abandon  a  country  which  he  had  invaded  with  unequal  force,  his  bold  and 
lofty  mind — as  eminent  for  perseverance  as  for  enterprise — was  still  bent  on 
accomplishing  his  original  purpose  of  subjecting  the  Mexican  empire  to  the 
crown  of  Castile,  and  of  planting  the  cross  on  the  pagan  towers  of  its  beauti- 
ful capital! 

In  the  face  of  countless  obstacles,  his  genius  formed  in  a  few  months  a 
great  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  against  the  Mexicans.  He  wished  to 
render  an  attack  on  that  nation  not  only  a  splendid  and  chivalrous  event,  but 


88  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

an  enterprise  entirely  consistent  with  the  rules  of  that  prudence  into  which 
the  valor  of  Cortes  was  welded  as  the  blade  of  the  sword  is  to  its  handle. 
He  created  and  equipped  a  new  army,  and  with  wonderful  foresight  he  gave 
orders  for  brigantines  to  be  constructed  in  separate  pieces  at  Tlascala. 

On  the  day  after  Christmas,  the  general  reviewed  his  troops.  He 
found  that  they  consisted  of  forty  horsemen  and  five  hundred  and  fifty  foot 
soldiers.  He  had  also  eight  or  nine  cannon,  but  very  little  gunpowder.  He 
made  a  touching  and  eloquent  address,  reminding  his  veterans  that  they  were 
going  on  a  war  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Catholic  Faith,  and  their 
native  land.  He  begged  them  to  observe  certain  rules  which  he  laid  down 
for  the  good  government  of  the  army,  one  of  which  was  that  no  man  should 
blaspheme  the  holy  name  of  God.  Two  days  after  this,  the  gallant  band 
of  Spaniards  set  out  on  the  march  for  the  city  of  Mexico,  accompanied  by 
100,000  Tlascalans. 

On  coming  near  the  capital,  Corte"s  sent  a  message  of  peace  to  the 
authorities.  He  assured  them  that  he  did  not  desire  war,  although  he  had 
much  cause  for  offense.  He  wished  to  be  their  friend,  as  he  had  been  in 
other  days.  "  Let  the  past  be  past,"  he  concluded,  "  and  do  not  give  me 
occasion  to  destroy  your  lands  and  cities,  which  I  should  much  regret." 
This  peaceful  offer,  however,  led  to  no  result,  and  he  resolved  to  be'siege  the 
city.  But  his  enemies  were  well  prepared. 

Nor  was  Cortes  the  leader  to  begin  such  a  dangerous  and  difficult  enter- 
prise unprepared.  He  at  once  dispatched  the  brave  Sandoval  to  Tlascala  for 
the  materials  of  the  brigantines.  The  men  appointed  to  carry  these  materials 
were  8,000.  Another  body  of  2,000  was  to  furnish  a  relief  for  the  bearers, 
and  to  carry  provisions.  The  whole  was  guarded  by  an  escort  of  20,000 
armed  men.  The  march  was  thus  arranged:  In  front  came  eight  Spanish 
horsemen  and  one  hundred  Spanish  foot,  then  10,000  Tlascalans  formed  an 
advance  guard,  with  wings  thrown  out  to  the  right  and  the  left.  The  center 
was  taken  up  by  the  bearers  of  the  rigging  and  cordage,  and  the  carriers  of 
the  timber  and  iron-work.  The  whole  line  of  march  was  closed  by  eight  more 
Spanish  horsemen,  a  hundred  Spanish  foot,  and  10,000  Tlascalans,  under  the 
command  of  a  noted  warrior.  From  the  van-guard  to  the  rear-guard 
was  six  miles  in  length.  This  vast  procession  advanced  leisurely,  but  in 
excellent  order;  and  in  a  few  days  Corte*s  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the 
materials  of  a  fleet  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  which  surrounded  the  city  of 
Mexico. 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  89 

Preparations  for  the  siege  were  now  pushed  on  vigorously.  The  brigan- 
tines  were  soon  completed,  and  the  day  for  launching  them  arrived.  Cortes 
resolved  that  so  auspicious  an  event  should  be  celebrated  with  due  solemnity. 
On  the  28th  of  April  the  troops  were  drawn  up  under  arms.  Mass  was 
celebrated,  and  the  general,  together  with  every  man  in  the  army,  went  to 
confession,  and  devoutly  received  Holy  Communion.  Prayers  were  offered 
up  by  Father  Olmedo,  and  a  benediction  invoked  on  the  little  navy,  the  first 
— worthy  of  the  name — ever  launched  on  American  waters.  The  signal 
was  given  by  the  firing  of  a  cannon ;  and  as  the  vessels,  one  after  another, 
rode  forth  on  the  ample  bosom  of  the  lake,  with  music  sounding,  and  the 
royal  ensign  of  Castile  proudly  floating  from  their  masts,  a  shout  of  admira- 
tion arose  from  the  countless  multitude  of  spectators,  whLh  mingled  with 
the  roar  of  artillery  and  musketry  from  the  vessels  and  the  shore.  To  the 
simple  natives  it  was  a  novel  spectacle.  It  even  touched  the  stern  hearts  of 
the  conquerors  with  a  glow  of  rapture,  and  as  they  felt  that  heaven  had 
blessed  their  undertaking,  they  broke  forth  by  general  accord  into  the  noble 
anthem  of  the  Te  Deum. 

Cortes  formed  his  troops  into  three  divisions,  for  the  attack  on  the  city 
was  to  be  made  from  three  different  quarters.  To  Alvarado  was  given  the 
command  of  thirty  horsemen,  eighteen  musketeers,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men  with  sword  and  buckler.  This  division  was  accompanied  by  20,000 
Tlascalan  warriors. 

Olid's  division  consisted  of  thirty-three  horsemen,  eighteen  musketeers, 
and  one  hundred  and  sixty  swordsmen.  A  body  of  20,000  Indian  allies 
accompanied  this  force. 

Sandoval  had  under  his  command  twenty-four  horsemen,  seventeen  mus- 
keteers, and  one  hundred  and  fifty  swordsmen.  Over  30,000  Indian  allies 
supported  this  division. 

About  three  hundred  men  were  left  to  man  the  brigantines — most  of 
them  good  seamen.  Each  vessel  had  twenty-five  men,  with  six  musketeers. 
Cortes  took  command  of  the  fleet  himself;  for,  as  he  afterwards  remarked, 
"  the  key  of  the  whole  war  was  in  the  ships." 

A  minute  description  of  this  historic  siege  may  not  here  be  expected. 
Its  incidents  by  flood  and  field  are  among  the  most  terrible  and  romantic  on 
record.  At  one  time  the  little  fleet  is  attacked  by  500  canoes;  but  the  defeat 
of  the  Mexicans  on  the  water  was  swift  and  signal.  From  that  day  Cortds 
remained  master  of  the  lake. 


go  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  Mexicans  exhibited  desperate  valor.  Each  morning  the  Spaniards 
began  the  attack  anew.  But  week  after  week  the  siege  continued.  On  land 
and  water,  by  day  and  night,  one  furious  conflict  succeeded  another.  Cortes, 
on  one  occasion,  stormed  the  city  with  his  whole  force,  but  was  repulsed 
with  heavy  loss,  and  came  near  being  captured,  as  he  was  severely  wounded. 
Six  Mexican  captains  suddenly  seized  him,  and  were  hurrying  him  off,  when 
two  of  his  bravest  officers  rescued  the  general  at  the  cost  of  their  own  lives. 
The  barbarians  were  flushed  with  triumph,  and  at  this  time  many  a  poor 
Spaniard  was  sacrificed  to  the  hideous  god  of  war. 

The  Spaniards,  after  bravery  perhaps  unmatched  in  the  annals  of  war, 
finally  succeeded  in  penetrating  to  the  vast  square  in  the  center  of  the  great 
city,  and  there  made  a  secure  lodgment.  The  fighting  was  truly  awful,  ana 
ghastly  were  the  sights  after  each  conflict.  On  one  occasion  12,000  Mexicans 
were  killed ;  and  the  day  before  the  last  of  the  siege,  it  is  stated  that  no  fewer 
than  40,000  Mexicans  were  slain,  or  taken  prisoners. 

The  final  day  of  Mexico  had  come.  The  situation  of  the  besieged  grew 
so  desperate  that  the  new  monarch  tried  to  escape,  but  was  captured  by  the 
Spaniards.  Corte"s  received  him  with  much  courtesy.  The  Mexican  ruler 
probably  knew  the  person  of  the  conqueror,  for  he  broke  silence  by  saying: 
"  I  have  done  all  that  I  could  to  defend  myself  and  my  people.  I  am  now 
reduced  to  this  state.  You  will  deal  with  me,  Malinche,  as  you  please." 

"  Fear  not,"  replied  the  great  and  kind-hearted  general.  "  You  shall  be 
treated  with  all  honor.  You  have  defended  your  capital  like  a  brave  warrior. 
A  Spaniard  knows  how  to  respect  valor  even  in  an  enemy." 

The  sovereign  being  captured,  all  further  opposition  ceased.  The  whole 
city  was  taken.  Sixty  thousand  Mexicans  laid  down  their  arms.  This 
memorable  day  in  the  annals  of  American  history  was  August  13,  1521. 
The  siege  lasted  seventy-five  days.  Its  fearful  results  cannot  be  better  given 
than  in  the  simple  words  of  an  eye-witness.  "  It  is  true,"  writes  Bernal 
Diaz,  "  and  I  swear,  Amen,  that  all  the  lake  and  the  houses  and  the  baracans 
were  full  of  the  bodies  and  heads  of  dead  men,  so  that  I  do  not  know  how  I 
may  describe  it.  For  in  the  streets  and  in  the  very  courts  there  were  no 
other  things,  and  we  could  not  walk  except  among  the  bodies  and  heads  of 
slain  Indians.  I  have  read  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem;  but  whether 
there  was  such  a  mortality  in  that  I  do  not  know." 

Thus  fell  the  great  city  of  Mexico. 

It  was,  in  truth,  a  time  for  thanksgiving.     A  procession  of  the  whole 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  01 

army  was  formed  with  Father  Olmedo  at  its  head.  The  soiled  and  tattered 
banners  of  Castile,  which  had  waved  over  many  a  field  of  battle,  now  threw 
their  shadows  on  the  peaceful  array  of  the  soldiery,  as  they  slowly  moved 
along,  rehearsing  the  Litany,  and  displaying  the  image  of  the  IIolv  Virgin, 
and  the  blessed  symbol  of  man's  redemption.  The  Reverend  Father  pro- 
nounced a  discourse,  in  which  he  briefly  reminded  the  troops  of  their  great 
cause  of  thankfulness  to  heaven,  and  ended  by  calling  on  them  to  "conduct 
themselves  like  Catholic  Christians,  that  so  God  might  continue  to  favor 
them."  Cortes  and  his  chief  officers  received  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  and  the 
services  concluded  with  a  solemn  thanksgiving  to  the  God  of  battles,  who 
had  enabled  them  to  carry  the  banner  of  the  cross  triumphant  over  this  bar- 
baric empire. 

We  can  merely  glance  at  the  subsequent  career  of  the  illustrious  con- 
queror of  Mexico.  In  Spain  he  had  bitter  enemies.  But  in  spite  of  everv 
opposition,  his  acts  were  confirmed  in  their  full  extent;  and  his  commission 
as  captain-general  and  chief  justice  of  Mexico,  was  signed  by  the  Empeior 
Charles  V,  in  October,  1522. 

In  less  than  four  years  from  the  destruction  of  Mexico,  a  new  city  had 
risen  on  its  ruins,  which,  if  inferior  to  the  ancient  capital  in  extent,  surpassed 
it  in  magnificence  and  strength.  Great  alterations,  of  course,  took  place  in 
the  fashion  of  the  architecture.  On  the  site  of  the  famous  temple  of  the  god 
of  war  arose  the  stately  cathedral;  and,  as  if  to  complete  the  triumphs  of  the 
cross,  the  foundations  were  laid  with  the  broken  images  of  the  Mexican  idols. 

The  conversion  of  the  natives  was  an  object  of  which  Cortes  never  lost 
sight.  In  one  of  his  reports  to  the  emperor,  dated  1524,  he  savs  that,  "as 
many  times  as  I  have  written  to  your  Sacred  Majesty,  I  have  told  your  High- 
ness of  the  readiness  which  there  is  in  some  of  the  natives  to  receive  our 
Holy  Catholic  faith,  and  become  Christians.  And  I  have  sent  to  supplicate 
your  Imperial  Majesty  that  you  would  have  the  goodness  to  provide  for  that 
end  religious  persons  of  good  life  and  example." 

In  obedience  to  these  suggestions,  twelve  Franciscan  fathers  embarked 
for  Mexico,  which  they  reached  early  in  1524.  The  presence  of  these  men 
of  God  in  the  country  was  greeted  with  general  rejoicing.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  towns  through  which  they  passed  came  out  in  a  body  to  welcome  them ; 
processions  were  formed  of  the  natives,  bearing  wax  tapers  in  their  hands, 
and  the  bells  of  the  churches  rang  out  a  joyous  peal  in  honor  of  their  arrival. 
On  entering  the  capital,  they  were  met  by  a  brilliant  cavalcade  of  the  princi- 


92  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

pal  cavaliers  and  citizens,  with  Cortes  at  their  head.  The  general,  dismount- 
ing, and  bending  one  knee  to  the  ground,  kissed  the  robes  of  Father  Martin 
of  Valencia,  the  superior  of  this  band  of  apostles.  The  natives  were  filled 
with  astonishment  at  the  viceroy's  profound  reverence  towards  men  whose 
naked  feet  and  tattered  garments  gave  them  the  aspect  of  mendicants,  and 
henceforth  regarded  them  as  beings  of  a  superior  nature.  The  Indian  chron. 
icier  of  Tlascala  does  not  conceal  his  admiration  at  this  edifying  condescension 
of  Cortes,  which  he  pronounces  "one  of  the  most  heroic  acts  of  his  life." 

The  missionaries  lost  no  time  in  the  good  work  of  conversion.  They 
began  their  preaching  through  interpreters,  until  they  had  acquired  a  com. 
petent  knowledge  of  the  language  themselves.  They  opened  schools  and 
founded  colleges,  in  which  the  native  youth  were  instructed  in  profane  as 
well  as  Christian  learning.  The  ardor  of  the  Indian  neophyte  emulated  that 
of  his  teacher.  In  a  few  years  every  vestige  of  the  primitive  teocallis  was 
effaced  from  the  land.  Father  Toribio  states  that  twenty  years  after  the 
conquest  there  were  9,000,000  of  Catholic  Indians  in  the  empire.  In  1527 
Mexico  received  her  first  bishop  in  the  person  of  Julian  Garces,  Bishop  of 
Tlascala.  The  city  of  Mexico  became  a  see  in  1530,  the  first  bishop  being 
the  Rt.  Rev.  John  de  Zumarraga,  who  has  had  a  long  line  of  zealous  and  holy 
successors. 

The  whole  Mexican  nation  was  now  completely  subjected,  for  though 
some  attempts  at  revolt  were  afterwards  made,  they  were  soon  crushed  by  the 
conqueror,  and  Cortes  abundantly  proved  that  he  could  govern  a  great  empire 
as  well  as  vanquish  it. 

In  1528,  Cortes  returned  to  Spain  to  meet  some  calumnies  against  him, 
and  was  received  with  marked  distinction.  On  his  return  to  Mexico,  how- 
ever, two  years  later,  he  was  divested  of  much  of  his  authority.  He  fitted 
out  several  expeditions  at  his  own  expense,  and  discovered  California.  In 
1540,  he  again  returned  to  his  native  land,  but  was  coldly  received  at  court, 
from  which  he  soon  retired,  and  prepared  for  his  end  at  a  little  village  near 
Seville.  He  received  the  last  sacraments  with  devotion,  and  died  on  the  2d 
of  December,  1547,  at  the  age  of  sixty -two  years. 

The  conqueror  of  Mexico  was  one  of  the  most  gifted  men  in  all  history. 
His  life  was  far  from  faultless,  but  his  career  is  marked  by  dazzling  splendor. 
He  was  certainly  a  great  general.  He  stands  without  a  peer  the  first  military 
genius  the  New  World  has  yet  seen.  He  was  a  great  explorer  and  discoverer. 
He  was  a  statesman  of  the  first  order.  His  letters,  written  with  manly 


CONQUEST  AND  CONVERSION  OF  MEXICO.  93 

strength  and  simple  elegance,  give  him  an  honorable  rank  in  literature.  lie 
was  charitable  and  sincerely  religious.  He  always  felt  that  he  was  a  Catholic 
soldier  of  the  Cross;  and  that  the  most  brilliant  of  his  achievements  consisted 
in  planting  the  blessed  sign  of  man's  redemption  over  the  blood-stained  tem- 
ples of  pagan  Mexico. 

"  He  preferred,"  writes  the  brave  Bernal  Diaz,  one  of  his  companions- 
in-arms;  "to  be  called  Cortes  by  us,  to  being  called  by  any  title;  and  with 
good  reason,  for  the  name  of  Cortes  is  as  famous  in  our  day  as  was  that  of 
Caesar  among  the  Romans,  or  of  Hannibal  among  the  Carthaginians." 

And  elsewhere  says  this  old  chronicler:  "  It  was  perhaps  intended  that 
he  should  receive  his  recompense  in  a  better  world,  and  I  fully  believe  it;  for 
he  was  a  good  cavalier,  most  true  in  his  devotions  to  the  Holy  Virgin,  to  the 
Apostle  St.  Peter,  and  to  all  the  other  Saints.  May  God  pardon  his  sins,  and 
mine,  too,  and  give  me  a  pious  end,  which  is  of  more  concern  than  the  con- 
quests and  victories  that  we  had  over  the  Indians." 


,>•** 


ONOGR  SOUTHERN  SKI6S. 


AMERICUS,  THE  FLORENTINE. — ILL-REWARDED  SERVICES. — TESTIMONIAL  FROM 
COLUMBUS.— EXPLORATION  AND  STORY  TELLING. — A  NAME  THAT  STICKS  FAST. 
— ONE  MORE  CATHOLIC  NAVIGATOR. — THE  NOTION  OF  CIRCLING  THE  WORLD. — 
AN  EXPEDITION  BEGUN  WITH  PRAYER. — MISTAKE  AT  LA  PLATA  RIVER. — SAIL- 
ING TOWARD  THE  SOUTH  POLE. — MAGELLAN  PaSSES  THE  STRAITS. — BAPTISM  OF 

THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN. — AMONG  THE  PHILLIPINE  ISLANDS. — DUSKY  AND  DECEIT- 
FUL KINGS. — MURDER  OF  THE  ADMIRAL. — INTRODUCING  ANOTHER  CONQUEROR. — 
THE  EXPEDITION  OF  PIZARRO. — DISCOVERY  OF  PERU. — GOLD  AND  JEWELS 
GALORE. — A  NEW  EXPEDITION. — MARCHING  TOWARD  THE  ANDES. — CAPTURE  OF 
A  KING. — ROUT  OF  THE  NATIVE  ARMY. — A  ROOMFUL  OF  TREASURE. — WHERE 
IGNORANCE  WAS  DEGRADING. — THE  CONQUEROR  BECOMES  RULER. — CONSPIRACY 
AND  MURDER. — GENIUS  WITHOUT  CHARACTER. — THE  CHURCH  IN  SOUTH 
AMERICA. 

URNING  our  attention  now  to  the  southern  portion  of  this  conti- 
nent— or  what  is  geographically  known  as  South  America — we 
find  that  discovery  and  conquest  here  followed  each  other  in  a 
similar  manner.  As  already  stated  in  the  sketch  of  Oje'da,  that 
adventurer  had  for  companion  on  his  fourth  voyage  one  Amerigo 
(or  Americus)  Vespucci,  who  was  a  Florentine  by  birth  and  a 
gentleman  of  some  means  and  education.  This  was  in  the  year  1499;  and  it 
is  supposed  that  Vespucci  aided  the  expedition  to  the  extent  of  fitting  out  one 
of  the  four  vessels.  After  coasting  along  the  northern  shores  of  South 
America,  he  returned  in  November  of  the  same  year,  but  immediately  took 
part  in  a  second  memorable  voyage  under  Vincent  Pinzon. 

On  returning  to  Spain,  however,  Americus  was  allured  by  promises  into 
the  service  of  Emmanuel,  King  of  Portugal,  and  undertook  two  more 
voyages  with  the  ships  of  that  monarch.  He  sailed  from  Lisbon  in  May, 
1501,  ran  along  a  portion  of  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  oassed  over  to  Brazil. 

94 


UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKIES.  95 

The  object  of  his  fourth  and  last  voyage  was  to  find  a  western  passage  to  Malac- 
ca. He  left  Lisbon  with  a  fleet  of  six  vessels,  in  May,  1503,  and  after  a  perilous 
passage  discovered  the  famous  Bay  of  All 
Saints,  in  Brazil.  After  many  adventures, 
he  arrived  in  Portugal  in  the  summer  of  the 
year  following.  The  king  gave  orders  that 
some  remains  of  the  ship  Victoria,  in  which 
Americus  had  made  his  last  voyage,  should 
be  suspended  in  the  cathedral  of  Lisbon, 
but  fulfilled  none  of  the  promises  which  he 
made. 

Indeed,  the  merits  and  services  of  Americus 
seem  to  have  been  poorly  rewarded  by  the  jj. 

Portuguese  monarch,  for  we  again  find  him,  \MERIGO' VESPUCCI. 

in  1505,  at  Seville.  He  was  on  his  way  to  the  Spanish  court,  in  quest  of 
employment,  and  carried  a  letter  of  introduction  from  the  aged  Columbus  to 
his  son  James.  The  letter  is  dated  February  5th,  and  runs  thus: 

"  My  Dear  Son. — James  Mendez  departed  hence  on  Monday,  the  third 
of  this  month.  After  his  departure  I  conversed  with  Americus  Vespucius, 
the  bearer  of  this,  who  goes  there,  summoned  on  affairs  of  navigation. 
Fortune  has  been  adverse  to  him,  as  to  many  others.  His  labors  have  not 
profited  him  as  much  as  they  reasonably  should  have  done.  He  goes  on  my 
account,  and  with  much  desire  to  do  something,  if  in  his  power,  that  may 
result  to  my  advantage.  I  cannot  ascertain  here  in  what  I  can  employ  him 
that  will  be  serviceable  to  me ;  for  I  do  not  know  what  may  be  there  required. 
He  goes  with  the  determination  to  do  all  that  is  possible  forme;  see  in  what 
he  may  be  of  advantage  and  co-operate  with  him,  that  he  may  say  and  do 
everything,  and  put  his  plans  in  operation;  and  let  all  be  done  secretly,  that 
he  may  not  be  suspected.  I  have  said  everything  to  him  that  I  can  say 
touching  the  business;  and  have  informed  him  of  the  pay  I  have  received, 
and  what  is  due,  etc." 

This  letter  was  penned  but  little  more  than  a  year  before  the  death  of 
Columbus.  How  sad  to  think  that  the  great  discoverer  of  the  New  World, 
and  the  famous  man  who  was  destined  to  give  his  name  to  it,  should  each  be 
reduced  to  such  needy  circumstances  by  the  meanness  and  black  ingratitude 
of  monarchs  who  rolled  in  wealth  ! 

At  a  later  period,  Americus  obtained  the  Spanish  government  office  of 
chief  pilot,  which  he  retained  for  the  brief  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died  at 
Seville,  on  the  22d  of  February,  1512,  at  the  age  of  nearly  sixty-one  years. 

The  fame  of  Americus  Vespucius  had  its  origin  in  his  writings.  Of  his 
first  voyage,  he  drew  up  an  interesting  narrative  which  he  transmitted  to  a 


96  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

friend  in  Germany.  He  describes  the  Carib  Indians  and  their  immense 
houses  built  in  the  shape  of  bells — houses  of  such  magnitude  as  to  contain  six 
hundred  persons.  In  one  place  there  were  eight  vast  houses,  capable  of 
sheltering  nearly  ten  thousand  inhabitants.  Every  seven  or  eight  years,  the 
savages  were  obliged  to  change  their  places  of  residence  on  account  of  the 
maladies  engendered  by  the  heat  of  the  climate  in  their  crowded  habitations. 
As  this  was  long  before  the  days  of  quinine  and  medical  education  in  the  New 
World,  the  Indian  mode  of  treating  a  fever  is  worthy  of  mention.  In  the 
very  height  of  the  disease,  the  patient  was  plunged  in  a  bath  of  cold  water, 
after  which  he  was  obliged  to  run  around  a  large  fire,  until  he  was  in  a 
violent  heat,  when  he  retired  to  bed  for  a  sleep — a  kind  of  treatment  by 
which  Americus  declares  he  saw  many  cured. 

Shortly  after  his  return  from  his  last  expedition  to  Brazil,  he  wrote  a  let- 
ter addressed  to  an  old  fellow-student,  Rend,  Duke  of  Lorraine.  It  contained 
a  summary  account  of  all  his  voyages.  It  claimed  considerable  credit  for  its 
author  as  a  discoverer,  and  soon  found  its  way  over  all  Europe.  He  was, 
beyond  all  doubt,  a  skilled,  energetic  navigator,  and  a  man  of  superior  literary 
and  scientific  attainments.  It  is  greatly  to  his  credit  that  he  retained  the  con- 
fidence and  friendship  of  Columbus  to  the  last.  How  America  came  to  re- 
ceive its  name  from  him  is  not  quite  clear;  but  it  is  certain  from  the  investi- 
gations of  Humboldt  that  Americus  himself  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

The  hemisphere  discovered  by  Columbus  was  first  called  Land  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  or  New  World.  It  is  so  named  in  maps  drawn  in  the  early  part 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  word  America  came  from  Germany.  A  se- 
lection from  the  narratives  of  Americus  found  its  way  into  that  country,  and 
was  translated  by  one  Waldseemuller.  As  the  first  printed  account  of  the 
wonderful  discovery,  the  book  sold  rapidly  and  made  a  great  sensation.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  the  daily  paper  was  then  unborn,  and  the  telegraph 
a  thing  of  the  future. 

The  delighted  Waldseemuller,  who,  it  seems,  had  never  heard  of  Co- 
lumbus, proposed  that  the  new  continent  should,  in  honor  of  his  favorite  author, 
Americus,  be  called  America,  since  it  is  the  custom  in  most  languages  to  make 
Europe  and  Asia  of  the  feminine  gender,  and  America  is  the  feminine  of 
Americus,  just  as  Julia  is  the  feminine  of  Julius,  or  Augusta  the  feminine  of 
Augustus.  The  name  America  is  first  found  on  an  old  map  of  1522,  and  on  a 
globe  of  1570.  Thus,  less  than  a  century  after  the  great  discovery,  this  was 
the  name  generally  received.  It  was  first  given  to  portions  of  South  America, 


UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKIES. 


97 


as  can  be  seen  inVerrazano's  map  of  the  world,  drawn  in  1529;  but  was  after- 
wards extended  to  the  whole  Western  world.  «  The  name  of  Americus,"  says 
Robertson,  "  has  supplanted  that  of  Columbus;  and  mankind  may  regret  an 
act  of  injustice,  which,  having  received  the  sanction  of  time,  it  is  now  too  late 
to  redress." 

Americus  was  a  Catholic,  of  course,  but  even  a  warmer  Catholic  than  he 
was  soon  on  the  path  of  discovery  in  the  same  southern  latitudes.  Fernando 
Magellan  belonged  to  an  ancient  and  noble  family,  and  was  born  at  Oporto, 


COLUMBUS    MAPPING    OUT    HIS    ENTERPRISE. 

in  Portugal,  about  the  year  1480.  From  boyhood  he  was  noted  for  his  piety, 
bravery  and  enterprise.  He  spent  some  years  at  the  court  of  his  native  coun- 
try, and  afterwards  served  with  distinction  in  the  East  Indies  under  the  famous 
General  Albuquerque.  He  thought,  however,  that  his  faithful  services  were 
ill-rewarded  by  the  Portuguese  monarch,  and  directed  his  steps  to  Spain  in 


Magellan's  mind  was  now  filled  with  the  idea  of  a  noble  enterprise.    Co- 
lumbus had  discovered  the  New  World  and  Balboa  found  an  ocean  washing 


98  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

its  western  shores.  If  this  continent  had  an  opening  anywhere  to  the  south- 
ward, and  he  could  navigate  beyond  the  land  already  discovered,  what  was 
there  to  hinder  him  from  sailing  around  the  world  !  This  splendid  idea,  it 
will  be  remembered,  owed  its  origin  to  the  genius  of  Columbus;  but  it  re- 
mained for  another  great  Catholic  pioneer  to  carry  it  into  execution. 

Magellan  at  once  made  his  plans  known  to  Cardinal  Ximenes  and  King 
Charles,  and  met  with  every  encouragement.  An  agreement  was  drawn  up 
to  the  effect  that  Magellan  was  to  be  admiral  of  the  exploring  fleet,  and  gov- 
ernor of  all  the  lands  that  he  might  discover.  He  was  also  to  have  one-twen- 
tieth part  of  all  revenues  arising  from  his  discoveries,  besides  many  other 
privileges. 

Having  bade  a  last  loving  farewell  to  his  young  wife,  Magellan  stepped 
on  board  his  ship  at  Seville.     The  fleet  dropped  down  the  river,  and  soon 
reached  the  old  seaport  of  San  Lucar.     Here  the  ship's  stores  were  completed 
Mass  was  celebrated  for  the  success  of  the   enterprise,  and  the  admiral  at  the 
head  of  his  crews  received  Holy  Communion. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  little  squadron  before  it  departs.  It  was  the  2Oth  of 
September,  1519.  The  vessels  were  five  in  number,  and  carried  eighty  cannon. 
Magellan's  flag-ship  was  named  the  Trinity;  then  there  were  the  Immacu- 
late Conception,  the  St.  Anthony,  the  Victoria,  and  the  St.  James.  The 
crews  numbered  two  hundred  and  fifty  men.  Among  the  most  noted  of  the 
officers  were  Magellan's  brother-in-law,  Edward  Barbosa;  John  Serrano,  cap- 
tain of  the  St.  James;  Anthony  Pigafetta,  who  afterwards  wrote  an  account 
of  the  voyage,  and  John  Sebastian  Elcano,  a  distinguished  pilot.  Several 
priests  accompanied  the  expedition. 

Magellan  stood  to  the  southwest,  and  after  buffeting  the  waves  of  the 
Atlantic  for  over  two  months,  he  reached  the  shores  of  what  is  now  Southern 
Brazil  in  South  America.  His  first  act  was  to  land,  and  have  a  little  altar 
erected  on  the  beach.  Officers  and  men  knelt  around  devoutly,  and  Mass 
was  celebrated  for  the  first  time  in  that  wild  region,  which  seemed  to  be  the 
favorite  abode  of  demons,  parrots,  monkeys,  and  cannibals. 

The  admiral  skirted  along  the  coast  towards  the  south,  keeping  a  careful 
watch  for  every  bay  and  inlet.  "  He  did  not  reach  the  River  de  la  Plata," 
says  Robertson,  "till  the  I2th  of  January,  1520.  The  spacious  opening 
through  which  its  vast  body  of  water  pours  into  the  Atlantic  allured  him  to 
enter,  but  after  sailing  up  it  for  some  days,  he  concluded,  from  the  shallow- 


UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKIES.  99 

ness  of  the  stream  and  the  freshness  of  the  water,  that  the   \vished-for  strait 
was  not  situated  there,  and  continued  his  course  towards  the  South. 

"On  the  3ist  of  March  he  arrived  at  the  port  of  St.  Julian,  about  forty- 
eight  degrees  south  of  the  line,  where  he  resolved  to  winter.  In  this  uncom- 
fortable station  he  lost  one  of  his  squadron;  and  the  Spaniards  suffered  so 
much  from  the  excessive  rigor  of  the  climate,  that  the  crews  of  three  of  his 
ships,  headed  by  their  officers,  rose  in  open  mutiny,  and  insisted  on  relinquish- 
ing the  visionary  project  of  a  desperate  adventurer,  and  returning  directly 
to  Spain. 

"  This  dangerous  insurrection  Magellan  suppressed,  by  an  effort  of 
courage  no  less  prompt  than  intrepid,  and  inflicted  exemplary  punishment  on 
the  ringleaders."  He  held  his  course  towards  the  South  in  the  midst  of 
blinding  tempests.  The  weary,  disheartened  sailors  again  grew  clamorous, 
and  the  admiral  was  obliged  to  exhibit  a  stern  front,  and  exert  all  his 
authority. 

"  I  shall  go  on,"  he  said,  "  even  till  we  reach  the  ice-seas  of  the  Southern 
pole.  The  land  of  this  continent  must  end  somewhere;  and  when  we  reach 
this  limit  we  shall  have  achieved  our  object.  We  still  have  food,  water,  cloth- 
ing, and  sound  ships.  Why,  then,  should  we  despair?" 

The  2ist  of  October,  1520,  a  bright,  sunny  morning,  was  the  festival  of 
the  Eleven  Thousand  Virgins.  The  vessels  were  making  brisk  time,  and 
Mass  was  just  finished,  at  a  little  altar  on  the  poop,  when  a  sailor  from  the 
look-out  cried  that  he  saw  a  cape  in  the  distance.  It  was  soon  visible  to  all. 
Magellan  called  it  Cape  of  the  Virgins,  the  name  by  which  it  is  yet  known, 
and  on  rounding  it  a  vast  expanse  of  water,  which  proved  to  be  the  long- 
sought- for  strait,  was  seen  to  extend  inland. 

Mingled  hope  and  fear  filled  the  heart  of  Magellan  as  he  steered  into 
the  strange  opening.  He  cautiously  crept  along  the  winding,  unknown 
channel,  which  at  some  points  narrowed  to  five  miles  in  width,  and  at  others 
expanded  to  thirty.  The  navigation  was  as  difficult  as  it  was  dangerous. 

Towering  snow-crested  mountains,  with  cloven  peaks,  guard  the  strait 
like  so  many  hoary  sentinels.  Bays,  shady  inlets,  and  small  sheltered  harbors 
break  the  base  of  these  mountain  walls  on  each  side,  while  above  the  sombre 
forests,  above  the  line  of  vegetation,  lie  vast  fields  of  snow  and  ice— glaciers 
in  which  the  voyager  can  count  every  rift  and  deep  crevice  as  he  sails 
past  them,  and  from  which  countless  cascades  descend  and  mingle  with 
the  waters  below. 


100  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

After  sailing  for  twenty  days  in  this  lonely,  labyrinthine,  but  picturesque 
strait — to  which  he  gave  his  own  name — which  is  three  hundred  miles  in 
length,  and  where  one  of  his  ships  deserted  him,  Magellan  beheld  the  bound- 
less expanse  of  the  Southern  Ocean.  The  illustrious  navigator  thanked 
Heaven  for  seeing  what  he  had  so  long  sought.  The  Te  Deum  was  chanted, 
and  the  joyful  booming  of  the  cannon  was  echoed  for  miles  around  by  the 
wild,  hilly  shores. 

Having  made  some  repairs,  and  taken  in  a  fresh  supply  of  wood,  water, 
and  provisions,  Magellan  steered  towards  the  northwest,  determined  to  push 
his  way  to  the  far-famfd  Molucca,  or  Spice  Islands,  and  thence  homeward, 
thus  encircling  the  globe. 

This  was  really  the  course  of  the  voyage  pursued,  and  in  which  were 
discovered  the  famous  Phillipine  Islands,  to  this  day  a  possession  of  the  Span- 
ish monarchy.  While  cruising  among  these  picturesque  islands,  admiring  the 
perfumed  air,  luxuriant  foliage,  and  countless  beauties  which  nature  had  scat- 
tered around  with  a  lavish  hand,  Magellan  came  to  the  island  of  Mazzava, 
where  he  was  warmly  welcomed.  The  dusky  monarch  of  that  island  was  very 
friendly.  He  dined  more  than  once  on  board  the  flag-slvp;  and  it  is  said  that 
he  used  the  royal  fingers  at  table  with  such  skill  as  to  make  a  knife  and  fork 
unnecessary. 

When  Easter  Sunday  came,  Magellan  resolved  to  have  it  celebrated  with 
becoming  splendor.  The  king,  his  brother,  and  their  officers,  were  invited 
to  be  present  at  the  sacred  ceremonies  It  was  a  scene  for  a  painter.  An 
a!tar  was  erected  on  shore.  Weather-beaten  sailors  and  brave  officers  gath- 
ered around  this  lone  center  of  Catholic  devotion.  Magellan,  in  his  admiral's 
uniform,  w'th  a  swarthy  king  on  each  side,  knelt  with  dignity  and  reverence; 
and  as  the  priest  raised  the  Holy  Host  to  Heaven,  every  worshiper  bowed 
('own  to  the  earth,  and  the  cannon  from  the  ships  pealed  forth  one  salute  after 
another  in  honor  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  thus  was  cele- 
brated the  first  Mass  in  that  region  of  untutored  barbarism,  whose  inhabitants 
were  given  to  the  worship  of  idols  and  demons.  A  few  days  after  this,  the 
admiral  erected  a  large  cross  on  a  lofty  neighboring  hill,  and  explained  to  the 
pagan  king  that  it  was  the  symbol  of  the  true  God. 

From  Mazzava  the  admiral  sailed  for  the  beautiful  neighboring  island 
of  Sebu,  accompanied  by  his  royal  friend.  The  Spaniards  were  kindly  re- 
ceived. Magellan  and  the  priests  began  the  work  of  conversion.  It  was  in- 
deed a  glorious  work  to  plant  the  first  seeds  of  faith  in  that  wild  archipelago. 


i  UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKIES.  101 

When  the  young  princes  expressed  their  belief  in  the  truths  of  the  Catholic 
Religion,  Magellan  said: 

"You  must  not  accept  our  Faith  from  any  fear  of  us,  or  in  order  to  please 
us.  If  you  wish  to  become  Christians  you  must  do  so  willingly.  No  harm 
will  be  done  you  if  you  do  not  embrace  our  religion;  but  those  who  do  will 
be  more  loved,  and  better  treated  than  the  others.  Moreover,  if  you  become 
Christians,  I  will  leave  you  arms,  as  my  king  has  commanded ;  and  then  you 
can  defend  yourselves  from  your  enemies." 

The  day  for  baptism  was  fixed,  and  when  the  hour  came  the  admiral, 
accompanied  by  the  two  royal  converts — the  kings  of  Mazzava  and  Sebu — 
mounted  a  platform  prepared  for  the  occasion.  The  dusky  rulers  were  asked 
the  necessary  questions,  and  the  sacrament  that  made  them  children  of  the 
Catholic  Church  was  administered  with  impressive  ceremonies.  About  fifty 
of  the  chief  men  of  the  island  followed  their  example.  Mass  was  then  cele- 
brated, and  a  cross  erected  in  the  center  of  the  town. 

Magellan  was  about  to  bid  adieu  to  Sebu  and  its  friendly  monarch,  when 
he  received  a  startling  item  of  information.  The  people  of  Matan,  a  neigh- 
boring island,  headed  by  a  bold  chief,  had  risen  in  rebellion  against  the  King 
of  Sebu  on  account  of  his  becoming  a  Christian,  and  were  about  to  declare 
hostilities.  Magellan  resolved  to  punish  the  heathen  rebels  himself.  He 
landed  at  Matan  with  three  boats  and  sixty  veterans,  and  found  fifteen  hun- 
dred half-naked  warriors  drawn  up  on  a  hill.  The  admiral,  through  an 
interpreter,  promised  forgiveness  to  all  who  would  lay  down  their  arms  and 
return  to  their  allegiance.  He  was  answered  by  yells  of  defiance. 

The  wild  barbarians  rushed  down  on  the  Spaniards,  but  were  well 
received  by  these  hardy  swordsmen.  Magellan  fought  like  a  lion  at  the  head 
of  his  men.  His  long  sword  made  havoc  in  the  ranks  of  the  foe,  but  it  was 
in  vain  that  skill  and  valor  battled  for  supremacy.  The  conquest  was  too 
unequal.  The  natives  pressed  to  the  fight  in  overwhelming  numbers;  and,  at 
length,  the  admiral  fell,  mortally  wounded,  by  a  poisoned  javelin.  This  mis- 
fortune decided  the  conflict.  The  infuriated  savages  fell  upon  the  fearless 
but  exhausted  discoverer  with  staves  and  clubs,  and  he  expired  under  their 
blows,  murmuring  a  prayer  to  God  and  his  Blessed  Mother,  on  Saturday,  the 
iyth  of  April,  1521,  at  the  age  of  forty-one  years. 

The  name  of  Magellan  is  one  of  the  brightest  in  the  history  of  discovery. 
He  was  a  true  Catholic.  He  had  the. zeal  of  a  missionary.  He  burned  to  see 
the  ancient  Faith  extend  its  conquests.  Like  the  great  discoverer  of  Amerca, 


I02  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

he  observed  the  festivals  of  the  Church  in  the  wildest  situations.  His  char- 
acter was  firm,  noble,  generous,  and  enterprising.  In  vain  did  disease,  fam- 
ine, hardship,  and  treachery  oppose  him.  Till  surrounded  by  the  shadow  of 
art  untimely  death,  he  triumphed  over  the  rage  of  man  and  the  fury  of  the 
elements.  His  voyage  was  a  brilliant  achievement  that  threw  a  new  light  on 
the  size  of  the  globe,  and  completed  the  unfinished  work  of  Columbus.  He 
not  only  named  the  Pacific  Ocean  —  that  vast  expanse  of  water  which  covers 
two-fifths  of  the  whole  earth — but  was  the  first  European  to  sail  across  its 
briny  bosom.  He  is  best  known  by  the  stormy  straits  which  gave  him  a 
passage  around  America. 

"  Forever  sacred  to  the  hero's  fame, 
These  foaming  Straits  shall  bear  his  deathless  name." 

But  we  must  retrace  our  way  to  the  South  American  continent.  A 
more  daring  even  than  Magellan,  though  of  far  meaner  mould,  was  now 
about  to  stamp  it  with  the  iron  heel  of  conquest.  And  yet,  among  the 
Catholic  pioneers  of  the  New  World  who  rose  to  distinction,  and  chiseled 
their  names  in  the  marble  of  history,  none  began  life  in  such  poverty,  ignor- 
ance, and  degradation  as  Francis  Pizarro, 

The  illegitimate  son  of  a  military  officer,  he  was  born  at  Truxillo,  in 
Spain,  about  the  year  1471.  The  child,  it  seems,  was  wholly  neglected  by  his 
parents,  never  taught  to  read  or  write,  and  spent  his  time  in  taking  care  of 
pigs.  But  as  he  grew  up,  this  humble  employment  became  intolerable.  His 
bold,  aspiring  mind  longed  for  fields  of  adventure;  and  he  enlisted  as  a  com- 
mon soldier,  serving  through  various  campaigns  in  Spain  and  Italy. 

Pizarro's  roving  spirit  led  him  to  the  New  World.  In  1509,  he  joined 
the  ill-fated  expedition  of  Oje'da,  in  which  John  de  la  Cosa  was  killed,  and 
the  attempt  to  found  a  colony  at  San  Sebastian  ended  in  failure.  He  then 
followed  the  fortunes  of  Balboa,  was  present  at  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  displayed  great  bravery  and  resolution  in  various  contests  with  the 
Indians.  A  little  later  on,  he  arrested  his  noble  chief,  and  led  him  to  a  death 
of  violence. 

He  next  engaged  in  trafficking  with  the  natives  on  the  shores  of  the 
newly-discovered  ocean.  In  a  few  years  more  he  joined  the  victorious  ban- 
ner of  Cortes,  and  served  in  the  conquest  of  Mexico.  Speaking  of  the 
famous  night  attack  on  the  forces  sent  by  Velasquez,  Bernal  Diaz  writes: 
"  Cortes  ordered  that,  in  the  attack,  the  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  seize  the 
artillery.  For  this  duty  he  selected  seventy  soldiers,  of  which  number  I  was 


UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKIES.  103 

one,  and  put  us  under  the  command  of  Pizarro,  an  active  lad,  whose  name 
however,  was  at  that  time  as  little  known  as  that  of  Peru/' 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Balboa  had  heard  of  Peru,  and  formed  the 
design  of  conquering  it;  but  after  his  untimely  death,  all  thought  of  that 
mysterious  land  of  gold  and  dusky  civilization  seemed  to  have  faded  from  the 
popular  mind.  Some  considered  it  a  dazzling  fiction.  There  resided  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  however,  three  men  who  had  a  firm  belief  in  its  existence — 
namely,  Francis  Pizarro,  James  de  Almagro,  and  Hernando  de  Luque,  a  priest. 

When  the  splendid  achievement  of  Cortes  resounded  through  the  world, 
giving  fresh  impulse  to  adventure,  these  three  friends  put  their  heads  together, 
formed  a  kind  of  solemn  partnership,  ratified  at  the  altar,  and  fitted  out  a 
small  expedition  for  the  discovery  and  conquest  of  Peru. 

Pizarro  took  command.  In  1524,  about  four  years  after  Magellan's 
squadron  had  entered  the  Pacific,  he  spread  his  sails,  and  bore  away  towards 
the  South  on  the  same  boundless  ocean.  He  crept  down  the  coast,  and  landed 
from  time  to  time,  only  to  find  a  rugged  and  barren  country.  Hunger  came, 
and  many  of  the  men  died.  Nor  was  that  all.  The  Indians  fought  with 
poisoned  arrows,  the  climate  was  unwholesome,  and  the  forests  were  dense 
beyond  description. 

Almagro  brought  a  reinforcement;  but  the  hopeless  toil  became  intoler- 
able, and  most  of  the  men  returned  to  Panama.  Pizarro,  with  only  fourteen 
followers,  sought  shelter  on  the  uninhabited  island  of  Gorgona,  "  which 
those  who  have  seen  it  compare  to  the  infernal  regions."  Here  they  spent 
five  miserable  months,  living  on  shell-fish,  and  anything  else  the  sharpened 
eye  of  hunger  could  discover. 

At  length  fresh  supplies  from  Almagro  enabled  the  dauntless  commander 
to  set  forth  once  more,  and  achieve  the  discovery  of  Northern  Peru.  The 
Spaniards  landed,  and  their  eyes  beheld  a  country  rolling  in  wealth  and  bar- 
barous splendor.  The  precious  metals  were  everywhere.  Pizarro  returned 
to  Panama,  carrying  with  him  numbers  of  costly  and  beautiful  ornaments  of 
gold  and  silver,  specimens  of  woollen  cloth  of  silken. texture  and  brilliant 
hue,  and  some  llamas,  or  alpacas — all  of  which  he  had  received  from  the  rich 
and  generous  natives. 

In  1528,  the  indomitable  Pizarro  sailed  for  Spain,  and  landed  at  Palos, 
where  he  accidentally  met  his  old  chief,  Cortes,  who  was  then  spending  a  few 
days  of  repose,  after  his  voyage,  at  the  hospitable  Monastery  of  La  Rabida. 
"  The  meeting  of  these  two  extraordinary  men,"  says  Prescott,  "  the  con- 


104  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

querors  of  the  North  and  of  the  South  in  the  New  World,  as  they  set  foot, 
after  their  eventful  absence,  on  the  shores  of  their  native  land,  and  that,  too, 
on  the  spot  consecrated  by  the  presence  of  Columbus,  has  something  in  it 
striking  to  the  imagination." 

Pizarro  appeared  at  court  with  the  dignity  and  frank  manners  of  a 
soldier,  and  recounted  to  Charles  V.  the  thrilling  story  of  his  wonderful  dis- 
covery. He  was  appointed  governor  and  captain-general  of  Peru.  Return- 
ing to  Panama,  he  set  sail  for  Peru  with  a  small  but  well-equipped  force 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  men  and  37  horses.  He  landed  at  St.  Mat- 
thew's Bay  in  1531,  marched  towards  the  South,  and  was  joined  by  small 
reinforcements  under  the  gallant  Hernando  de  Soto  and  other  officers. 

He  began  to  advance  cautiously  into  the  interior,  and  soon  learned  the 
real  state  of  the  country.  The  golden  empire  of  Peru,  which  stretched  along 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  from  north  to  south,  for  over  fifteen  hundred  miles,  was 
convulsed  in  civil  war.  A  quarrel  had  arisen  between  Huascar  and  Atahualpa, 
the  two  sons  of  the  late  monarch.  Atahualpa,  triumphant  in  battle,  had 
taken  his  brother  prisoner,  and  was  encamped  beyond  the  Andes  with  a 
victorious  army  of  fifty  thousand  men. 

Just  at  this  point  Pizarro  appeared  o'n  the  scene,  and  decided  to  meet  the 
victor.  "  Let  every  one  of  you,"  he  said  to  his  men,  "  take  heart,  and  go 
forward  like  a  good  soldier — nothing  daunted  at  the  smallness  of  your 
numbers.  For  in  the  greatest  extremity  God  ever  fights  for  his  own;  and  no 
doubt  He  will  humble  the  pride  of  the  heathen,  and  bring  him  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  Faith — the  great  end  and  object  of  the  conquest." 

"Lead  on!"  shouted  the  troops,  u  wherever  you  think  best.  We  will 
follow  with  good  will,  and  you  shall  see  that  we  can  do  our  duty  in  the  cause 
of  God  and  the  king." 

He  took  up  his  line  of  march  for  the  Andes,  whose  vast  summits  soon 
"cast  their  shadows  on  the  little  army,  and  the  toilsome  ascent  began.  The 
path  was  so  steep  that  the  cavalry  dismounted  and  with  difficulty  led  their 
horses  upward — so  narrow  that  there  was  barely  room  for  a  horse  to  walk. 
In  many  places  it  overhung  abysses  thousands  of  feet  in  depth,  into  which 
men  and  horses  looked  with  fear.  As  they  rose,  the  opulent  vegetation  of 
the  tropics  was  left  behind,  and  they  passed  through  dreary  forests  of  stunted 
pine-wood.  The  cold  was  piercing.  But  the  summit  was  reached  in  safety, 
and  the  descent  of  the  eastern  slope  began.  As  they  followed  the  downward 
path,  each  step  disclosed  some  new  scene  of  grandeur  or  of  beauty." 


UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKIES.  105 

The  hardy  battalions  passed  down  to  the  city  of  Cassamarca,  and- were 
courteously  received  by  Atahualpa.  Pizarro,  however,  well  knew  the  peril 
of  his  position.  He  thought  of  Cortes  and  Montezuma,  and,  during  a  public 
interview,  he  boldly  seized  the  king,  and,  by  a  few  swift  and  well  directed 
charges,  routed  the  panic  stricken  Peruvian  army.  It  was  all  the  work  of 
less  than  an  hour. 

Atahualpa,  now  a  captive  in  his  own  country,  in  the  hands  of  strange 
and  terrible  warriors,  sought  to  regain  his  liberty  by  offers  whose  magnifi- 
cence astonished  Pizarro  and  his  soldiers.  "  He  offered,"  says  Mackenzie, 
"  to  fill  with  gold,  to  a  height  of  nine  feet,  a  room  whose  area  was  seventeen 
feet  in  breadth  and  twenty-two  feet  in  length.  A  room  of  smaller  dimensions 
was  to  be  twice  filled  with  silver;  and  he  asked  only  two  months  to  collect 
this  enormous  ransom.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  Inca  —  which  was 
the  title  given  to  monarchs  of  Peru — sent  messengers  to  all  his  cities,  com- 
manding that  temples  and  palaces  should  be  stripped  of  their  ornaments. 

"  In  a  few  weeks,  Indian  carriers  began  to  arrive  at  Cassamarca,  laden 
to  their  utmost  capacity  with  silver  and  gold.  Day  by  day,  they  poured  in, 
bearing  great  golden  vessels,  which  had  been  used  in  the  palaces  —  great 
plates  of  gold,  which  had  lined  the  walls  and  roofs  of  temples  —  crowns  and 
collars  and  bracelets  of  gold,  which  the  chieftains  gave  up  in  the  hope  that 
they  would  procure  the  liberty  of  their  master.  At  length,  the  room  was 
filled  up  to  the  red  line  which  Pizarro  had  drawn  upon  the  wall  as  his  record 
of  this  extraordinary  bargain." 

This  immense  mass  of  gold  and  silver — equal,  it  has  been  computed,  to 
fifteen  or  twenty  millions  of  dollars — was  melted  down;  one  fifth  was  set 
aside  for  the  king  of  Spain,  and  a  small  portion  was  given  to  Almagro,  who 
had  just  arrived  with  reinforcements.  The  general  reserved  the  rest  for 
himself,  his  officers  and  soldiers.  It  is  said  that  each  horseman  received 
about  forty  thousand  dollars. 

"  There  is  no  example  in  history,"  says  Robertson,  «  of  such  a  sudden 
acquisition  of  wealth  by  military  service;  nor  was  ever  sum  so  great  divided 
among  so  small  a  number  of  soldiers." 

But  though  it  was  proclaimed  by  sound  of  trumpet  that  Atahualpa  had 
paid  his  ransom  like  a  king,  he  still  continued  a  prisoner.  It  is  related  that 
the  captive  monarch  found  pleasure  in  the  visits  of  the  knightly  Hernando  de 
Soto,  who  knew  how  to  treat  him  with  becoming  respect.  But  in  the 
presence  of  Pizarro,  "  he  was  always  uneasy  and  overawed.  This  dread  soon 


106  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

came  to  be  mingled  with  contempt.  Among  all  the  European  arts,  what  he 
admired  most  was  that  of  reading  and  writing;  and  he  long  deliberated  with 
himself,  whether  he  should  regard  it  as  natural  or  acquired  talent.  In  order 
to  determine  this,  he  desired  one  of  the  soldiers  who  guarded  him  to  write 
the  name  of  God  on  the  nail  of  his  thumb. 

"  This  he  showed  successively  to  several  Spaniards,  asking  its  meaning; 
and  to  his  amazement  they  all,  without  hesitation,  returned  the  same  answer- 
At  length  Pizarro  entered;  and  on  presenting  it  to  him,  he  blushed  and  with 
some  confusion  was  obliged  to  acknowledge  his  ignorance.  From  that 
moment  Atahualpa  considered  him  as  a  mean  person,  less  instructed  than  his 
own  soldiers;  and  he  had  not  address  enough  to  conceal  the  sentiments  with 
which  this  discovery  inspired  him." 

The  illiterate  governor  was  mortified  to  be  "  the  object  of  a  barbarian's 
scorn,"  and  it  is  said  the  foregoing  incident  hastened  the  doom  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Inca.  It  was  soon  rumored  that  he  had  ordered  a  rising  of  the 
Peruvians.  He  was  at  once  tried  before  Pizarro  and  Almagro,  who  sat  as 
judges,  and  unjustly  accused  of  a  number  of  crimes.  The  unhappy  monarch 
was  condemned  to  death,  and  after  receiving  baptism,  he  was  cruelly 
strangled.  De  Soto  was  absent  from  the  camp  at  the  time  of  this  horrible 
transaction,  but  on  returning  he  reproached  his  chief,  and  expressed  his  firm 
belief  that  Atahualpa  had  been  basely  slandered. 

Pizarro  now  marched  and  took  possession  of  the  Peruvian  capital — "  the 
great  and  Holy  city  of  Cusco."  It  contained  a  population  of  about  three  hun- 
dred thousand.  The  streets  crossed  each  other  at  right  angles,  and  the  houses 
were  built  chiefly  of  stone.  It  was  adorned  with  numerous  and  splendid 
palaces,  and  guarded  by  a  mighty  fortress  built  on  a  lofty  eminence.  "  This 
noble  city  was  the  pride  of  all  Peruvians.  It  was  to  them  what  Jerusalem 
was  to  the  Jews,  or  Rome  to  the  Romans." 

In  less  than  ten  years  Pizarro  made  himself  master  of  the  Peruvian 
empire.  He  erected  churches,  cast  down  idols,  and  set  up  crosses  on  the 
highways.  He  founded  the  city  of  Lima  in  1535.  But  the  demon  of  strife 
appeared  among  the  conquerors.  An  open  rupture  between  Pizarro  and 
Almagro  led  to  new  scenes  of  blood  and  appalling  slaughter.  Almagro  was 
defeated,  taken  prisoner  and  mercilessly  condemned  to  be  strangled.  Though 
in  feeble  health,  and  pressed  down  with  the  burden  of  seventy-five  years,  he 
died  with  the  dignity  and  fortitude  of  a  veteran. 

Almagro  perished,  but  he  left  behind  him   a  strong  party  that  hated 


UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKIES.  107 

Pizarro,  and  plotted  his  destruction.  About  noon,  on  Sunday,  the  26th  of 
June,  1541,  a  band  of  conspirators  rushed  into  the  residence  of  the  governor, 
exclaiming:  "Long  live  the  king!  Down  with  the  tyrant!"  Pizarro  was  in 
his  apartment,  surrounded  by  only  a  few  followers.  On  becoming  aware  of 
his  danger  he  ordered  the  door  to  be  shut,  grasped  his  sword  and  said : 
"Courage,  companions, we  are  yet  many  enough  to  make  these  traitors  repent 
of  their  audacity." 

When  the  door  opened  the  struggle  grew  desperate.  Pizarro  threw  him- 
self on  his  enemies  like  a  lion  aroused  in  his  lair.  "Traitors!"  he  cried, 
"have  you  come  to  kill  me  in  my  own  house!"  and  his  sword  fell  with  fatal 
force  on  numbers  of  his  enemies.  But  all  his  followers  were  soon  killed  or 
wounded,  and  at  length  the  fearless  old  man  received  a  mortal  stab  in  the 
throat  and  fell.  "Jesus!"  exclaimed  the  dying  general,  and  tracing  across 
with  his  finger  on  the  bloody  floor,  he  bent  down  his  head  to  kiss  it,  when  a 
stroke  more  friendly  than  the  rest  put  an  end  to  his  existence. 

And  thus  perished  Francis  Pizarro,  the  stern  conqueror  of  Peru,  who 
had  surmounted  so  many  stupendous  difficulties  on  land  and  water,  who  had 
served  under  Oje"da  and  Balboa  and  Cortes,  who  had  braved  hunger  and 
thirst  and  disease,  who  had  smiled  at  the  wrath  of  man  and  the  fury  of  the 
tempest,  who  had  broken  through  the  lofty  barrier  of  the  Andes,  and  tri- 
umphed at  the  head  of  his  veterans  on  countless  battle-fields.  He  was  about 
seventy  years  of  age.  He  was  never  married.  Simple  in  dress  a :.d  manners, 
he  was  tall  in  stature  and  well  proportioned,  with  an  air  of  soldierly  distinc- 
tion. He  rose  early,  and  was  temperate  in  eating  and  drinking.  Far  from 
hoarding  up  the  vast  wealth  that  poured  in  upon  him  as  Governor  of  Peru, 
he  generously  employed  it  in  promoting  great  public  enterprises.  He  was  a 
warrior  of  dauntless  courage,  iron  nerve,  and  rare  power  of  patient  endur- 
ance, but  in  many  of  his  boldest  actions  he  simply  imitated  Cortes,  and  trusted 
to  luck  for  success.  Though  often  guided  by  noble  and  generous  impulses, 
his  wonderful  career  is  marked  by  deeds  of  cunning,  cruelty  and  treachery. 
The  conquest  of  Peru  is  a  long  and  bloody  drama,  in  which  he  was  the  chief 
actor,  but  it  is  only  right  to  remember  that  this  terrible  genius  was  a  poor, 
unlettered  "son  of  sin  and  sorrow."  To  judge  him  fairly  we  must  judge 
with  charity. 

Very  soon  after  the  date  of  Pizarro's  conquest,  Central  America  had 
bishops  at  Nicaragua,  Guatemala  and  Panama,  and  as  the  Spanish  power 
advanced,  episcopal  sees  were  erected  at  Carthagena  and  at  Cuzco,  the  seat 


io8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  the  Inca  power,  and  before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  there  were 
bishops  at  Paraguay,  La  Plata,  Santiago  de  Chile,  and  Buenos  Ayres.  The 
nominations  to  these  sees  were  all  made  by  the  Spanish  kings,  to  whom  the 
Holy  See  granted  extensive  powers  in  America.  The  early  bishops  were 
almost  all  remarkable  men — full  of  zeal,  laboring  earnestly  to  bring  to  orderly 
lives  both  rulers  and  people,  who  were  alike  in  those  wild  times  disposed  to 
excess.  They  preached  the  gospel  fearlessly,  and  not  without  danger.  One 
of  them,  the  holy  Bishop  Valdiviose,  of  Nicaragua,  actually  died  by  the  hand 
of  a  governor  whom  he  rebuked.  The  Spanish  monarchs  assigned  part  of 
their  revenues  from  mines  for  the  erection  of  churches;  the  religious  orders 
sent  colonies  to  the  various  provinces,  establishing  seminaries,  colleges,  hos- 
pitals ;  and  a  new  order,  that  of  Bethlehem,  for  the  care  of  the  sick,  arose  in 
Guatemala,  founded  by  the  venerable  Peter  Betancurt. 

By  the  missions  now  established  millions  of  the  aborigines  were  won  to 
the  Christian  faith,  not  only  in  the  half  civilized  state  of  Peru,  but  among  the 
wildest  and  fiercest  tribes  of  the  southern  wilderness.  The  great  Jesuit  mis- 
sions of  Paraguay  remain  in  history  as  monuments  of  the  zeal  that  spread 
itself  over  the  continent,  bearing  with  it  the  gospel  of  peace. 

The  bishops  founded  seminaries,  held  provincial  councils  and  diocesan 
synods;  and  one,  St.  Turribius  Mogrobejo,  Bishop  of  Lima  ( 1578-1606),  is 
already  canonized.  Led  by  such  examples,  clergy  and  religious  showed  simi- 
lar fervor.  St.  Louis  Bertrand  labored  for  years  in  Columbia;  St.  Francis 
Solano  in  La  Plata  and  Peru;  the  Blessed  John  Masias,  Martin  Porras  and 
Sebastian  of  the  Apparition,  lay  brothers  of  the  Orders  of  St.  Dominic  and 
St.  Francis,  edified  all  by  their  holy  life;  St.  Rose  of  Lima  and  Blessed 
Mariana  of  Quito  became  models  for  holy  virgins. 

The  introduction  of  negro  slaves  into  America  gave  the  Church  a  new 
flock  to  save.  The  Blessed  Peter  Claver  devoted  his  life  to  them,  becoming 
the  slave  of  the  slave. 

Brazil,  settled  by  the  Portuguese,  followed  the  system  of  the  Spanish 
colonies,  and  had  an  episcopal  see  at  Bahia  in  1550;  and  for  a  time  religion 
flourished  in  the  settlements  and  in  the  Indian  mission,  where  the  Ven. 
Father  Anchieta  led  his  wonderful  life. 

When  Protestantism  gained  a  foothold  in  some  states  of  Europe,  the 
missionaries  on  their  way  to  America  wer*e  exposed  to  fearful  dangers  before 
they  reached  the  field  where  they  were  to  labor.  Piratical  cruisers,  veiling 
their  cruel  rapacity  under  a  pretext  of  religion,  murdered  all  Catholic  mis- 


UNDER  SOUTHERN  SKI  EX.  1O9 

sionaries  found  on  vessels  that  fell  into  their  hands.  In  this  way  the  Blessed 
Peter  Azevedo  and  thirty-nine  companions  were  martyred  on  their  voyage 
to  Brazil. 

Religion  continued  to  he  maintained  and  extended  in  South  America  till 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  when  it  received  a  severe  hlow  in  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Jesuits.  Missions  were  then  everywhere  broken  up  and  scattered, 
colleges  and  seminaries  were  closed  and  churches  left  desolate.  The  state  in 
vain  endeavored  to  supply  the  void  thus  created.  Some  of  the  other  religious 

O 

orders  had  grown  wealthy,  and  had  lost  their  early  fervor,  the  system  of  lay 
patronage  had  placed  many  unworthy  persons  in  the  benefices  of  the  secular 
clergy,  and  a  general  decline  of  religion  followed.  When  the  French  Revo- 
lution broke  out,  the  infidel  doctrines  that  produced  it  spread  in  books  to  Span- 
ish America,  and  did  more  to  wreck  the  faith  of  that  once  Catholic  people. 

Revolution  began  in  the  provinces  from  Darien  to  Patagonia,  and  grad- 
ually the  Spanish  authorities  and  forces  were  expelled,  and  new  governments, 
nominally  republican,  were  set  up.  Brazil  followed  a  similar  course,  but 
became  an  Empire  under  a  prince  of  the  royal  family  of  Portugal. 

In  these  revolutions  most  of  the  bishops  were  driven  out  as  adherents  of 
Spain,  and  for  years  religion  was  at  a  low  ebb.  Gradually,  Freemasonrv, 
introduced  into  Mexico  from  the  United  States,  spread  over  Spanish  America 
and  Brazil,  and  most  of  the  leading  men  becoming  its  dupes  and  tools,  no 
longer  concealed  their  hostility  to  religion.  In  all  these  countries  the  Church 
has  been  i  jr  many  years  at  the  sport  of  impious  men.  Bishops  are  impris- 
oned or  exiled  for  doing  their  duty,  religious  Orders  and  convents  are  sup- 
pressed, all  attempts  at  reform  are  checked;  even  the  pious  sodalities  and 
confraternities  attached  to  the  churches  are  made  an  instrument  to  oppress 
and  insult  the  Church. 

The  Holy  See  has  been  unceasing  in  its  vigilance  and  efforts  to  revive 
religion,  and  has  repeatedly  sent  pious  and  able  men  to  operate  the  needed 
reform.  With  one  of  these,  Monsignor  Musi,  sent  by  Pope  Pius  VII.,  came 
the  Abbate  Mastai  Ferretti,  afterwards  the  famous  Pius  IX.,  who  spent  two 
years  in  Buenos  Ayres,  Chili,  and  Peru. 

Yet  the  faith  is  not  dead.  There  are  many  learned  and  pious  bishops 
and  priests,  and  under  better  auspices,  religion  may  revive  and  regain  in 
South  America  its  early  and  happier  influence.  We  have  purposely  summed 
up  the  situation  down  to  date,  as  hereafter  our  retrospect  will  confine  itself 
to  the  North  American  continent. 


TH6  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS. 


GOD'S  HAND  IN  THE  DISCOVERY. — MILLIONS  IN  HEATHEN  DARKNESS. — THE  GENUINE 
LORDS  OF  THE  SOIL. — PECULIARITIES  OF  THE  TRIBES. — MANNERS  AND  MODES 
OF  LIFE. — INDIAN  DANCERS  AND  ATHLETES. — Low  CONDITION  OF  THE  FEMALES. 
— LACK  OF  CRAFT  AND  INDUSTRY. — CANOES  AND  SNOW  SHOES. — WAR  THE 
GENERAL  PURSUIT. — MEN  BORN  ONLY  TO  FIGHT. — THE  NINE  GREAT  INDIAN 
FAMILIES. — HUNTING  AND  BATTLE  EXPEDITIONS. — OUT  FOR  A  BLOODY  CAM- 
PAIGN.— TORTURING  AND  DEVOURING  OF  CAPTIVES. — INDIAN  NOTIONS  OF  THE 
DEITY. — THE  HAPPY  HUNTING  GROUNDS. — SUPERSTITION  AND  DEVIL  WORSHIP. 
— ABORIGINAL  LANGUAGES  AND  LEARNING. — CALUMET,  THE  PIPE  OF  PEACE.  - 
"  OUR  FATHER"  IN  SOME  STRANGE  TONGUES. — THE  Music  OF  NATIVE  NAMES. 
FAMILIAR  TERMS  EXPLAINED. — MISSIONARY  LINGUISTS  AND  SCHOLARS. — THE 
DOMINICAN  "  PROTECTOR  OF  THE  INDIANS." — A  BISHOP,  MISSIONARY  AND 
CHRONICLER. — THE  FIRST  PRIEST  ORDAINED  IN  AMERICA. 

• 

HE  discovery  of  America,  like  every  other  event  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  had,  in  the  design  of  God,  the  great  object  of  the  salva- 
tion of  mankind.  In  that  event,  more  clearly  than  is  often 
permitted  to  us,  we  can  see  and  adore  the  Providence  which  thus 
extended  to  millions,  long  sundered  from  the  rest  of  man  by  path- 
less oceans,  the  light  of  the  Savior's  gospel  and  the  proffered  boon 
of  redemption.  The  manners  and  condition  of  these  native  American  millions, 
when  first  made  known  to  the  civilized  world,  are  of  deep  interest  to  all  who 
would  read  intelligently  of  the  efforts  made  to  convert  them. 

The  primitive  inhabitants  of  the  New  World  were  the  races  of  red  men 
who  have  been  called  Indians.  The  name  Indian  was  given  to  them  from 
their  supposed  identity  with  the  people  of  India.  Columbus  and  his  com- 
panions, as  already  stated,  believed  that  they  had  reached  the  islands  of  the  far 
East,  and  that  the  natives  were  of  the  same  race  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 

no 


THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS. 


II  l 


Indies.  The  mistake  of  the  Spaniards  was  soon  discovered;  but  the  name 
Indian  has  ever  since  remained  to  designate  the  native  tribes  of  the  western 
continent. 

These  tribes  of  natives  differed  very  much  in  some  respects  as  to  their 
mode  of  life.  Some  were  warlike,  others  peaceful.  Some  lived  only  by 
hunting,  others  had  fields  of  waving  corn,  and  raised  also  beans,  pumpkins, 
tobacco,  American  hemp  and  sunflowers, — these  last  for  the  oil  in  the  seeds. 
Some  had  only  little  tents  of  skin  or  bark,  called  "wigwams;"  others  built 
permanent  villages,  with  streets,  and  rows  of  houses.  These  houses  were  of 
bark,  supported  by  wooden  posts;  they  had  a  slit,  about  a  foot  wide,  the 
whole  length  of  the  roof,  to  let  the  light  in,  and  the  smoke  out.  The  fires 
were  built  on  the  ground,  in  a  row,  under  the  long  opening,  when  the  house 

or  wigwam  hap- 
pened  to  be  a 
large  one. 

But,  however 
carefully  they 
may  have  built 
their  houses,  all 
these  Indian? 
were  alike  in  be- 
ing a  roving  race, 
living  in  the  open 
air  most  of  their 
time,  and  very 
unwilling  to  be 
long  confined  to 
one  place.  They 

were  always  moving  about,  changing  their  abode  at  different  seasons  of  the 
year,  or  when  they  wished  to  pursue  a  different  kind  of  game.  One  of 
their  commonest  reasons  for  removing  was  that  they  had  burned  the  woods 
immediately  around  them.  So  when  the  first  white  settlers  came,  and  the 
Indians  were  puzzled  to  know  why  these  strangers  arrived,  some  of  them 
thought  that  it  must  be  because  they  had  burned  up  all  the  wood  in  the 
country  from  which  they  came,  and  that  they  visited  the  American  conti- 
nent merely  to  find  fuel. 

The  Indians  were    not  commonly    equal    to  the    Europeans  in  bodily 


THE    TRUE    NATIVE    AMERICANS. 


1I2  -   THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

strength;  they  were  not  so  strong  in  the  arms  and  hands,  nor  could  they 
strike  such  heavy  blows.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  their  endurance  was 
wonderful.  They  were  very  light  of  foot,  so  that  their  best  runners  could 
run  seventy  or  eighty  miles  in  a  day ;  and  they  could  bear  the  greatest  torture 
without  uttering  a  groan.  In  the  woods  they  could  hear  sounds  and  observe 
signs  which  no  white  man  could  perceive;  and  they  had  the  power  of 
travelling  for  miles  in  a  straight  line  through  the  thickest  forest,  being 
guided  by  the  appearance  of  the  moss  and  bark  upon  the  trees. 

When  the  discoverers  arrived,  they  found  the  Indians  dressed  chiefly  in 
the  skins  of  animals,  which  they  prepared  by  smoking  them,  instead  of  by 
tanning,  as  is  now  the  practice.  But  in  time  they  obtained  blankets  from  the 
colonists,  and  decorated  them  with  beads,  shells  and  feathers.  On  great 
occasions,  such  as  councils  and  war-dances,  the  chiefs  wore  a  great  quantity  of 
these  decorations,  and  also  painted  their  faces  with  bright  colors.  The 
women  or  "  squaws,"  as  they  were  called,  had  this  same  practice,  but  were 
more  plainly  dressed  than  the  men,  and,  like  them,  sometimes  tattooed  their 
bodies.  But  the  women  wore  their  hair  long,  while  the  men  commonly 
shaved  theirs  off,  except  one  lock  called  the  "scalp-lock,"  which  was  left  as  a 
point  of  honor;  so  that,  if  one  Indian  killed  another,  he  could  cut  off  the 
scalp,  lifting  it  by  this  lock. 

The  food  of  the  Indians  was  very  simple;  it  consisted  of  what  they 
obtained  by  hunting  and  fishing,  with  pounded  corn,  acorns,  berries,  and  a 
few  vegetables.  They  used  tobacco;  but  had  no  intoxicating  drinks  till  they 
got  them  from  Europeans.  They  knew  how  to  make  rush  mats  and  wooden 
mortars  and  earthen  vessels.  They  made  fish-hooks  of  bone,  and  nets  out  of 
the  fibres  of  hemp.  They  made  pipes  of  clay  and  stone,  often  curiously 
carved  or  moulded.  They  made  stone  axes  and  arrow-heads;  and  these  are 
often  found  in  the  ground  to  this  day,  wherever  there  is  the  site  of  an  Indian 
village.  They  made  beads  called  "  wampum,"  out  of  shells.  After  the 
Europeans  came,  they  supplied  the  Indians  with  their  own  beads,  and  with 
iron  axes  and  arrow-heads,  and,  at  last,  with  fire-arms. 

But  the  most  ingenious  inventions  of  the  Indians  were  the  snow  shoe 
and  birch  canoe.  The  snow-shoe  was  made  of  a  maple-wood  frame,  three 
or  four  feet  long,  curved  and  tapering,  and  filled  in  with  a  net-work  of  deer's 
hide.  This  net-work  was  fastened  to  the  foot  by  thongs,  only  a  light,  elastic 
moccasin  being  worn.  Thus  the  foot  was  supported  on  the  surface  of  the 
snow ;  and  an  Indian  could  travel  forty  miles  a  day  upon  snow-shoes,  and 


THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS.  1 13 

could  easily  overtake  the  deer  and  moose,  whose  pointed  hoofs  cut  through 
the  crust.  The  peculiar  pattern  varied  with  almost  every  tribe,  as  did  also 
the  pattern  of  the  birch  canoe.  This  was  made  of  the  bark  of  the  white 
birch,  stretched  over  a  very  light  frame  of  white  cedar.  The  whole  bark  of 
a  birch  tree  was  stripped  off  and  put  round  the  frame,  without  being  torn. 
The  edges  were  sewed  with  thongs  cut  from  the  roots  of  the  cedar,  and  were 
then  covered  with  pitch  made  from  the  gum  of  trees.  If  torn,  the  canoe  could 
be  mended  with  pieces  of  bark,  fastened  in  the  same  way.  The  largest  of  these 
canoes  were  thirty  feet  long,  and  would  carry  ten  or  twelve  Indians  ;  they 
were  very  light,  and  could  be  paddled  with  ease.  They  were  often  very  grace- 
fully shaped,  and  drew  very  little  water.  The  birch  canoe  and  the  snow-shoe 
are  still  much  in  use,  even  among  white  men,  in  certain  sections  of  the  country. 

The  Indians  generally  had  great  courage,  self-control,  and  patience. 
They  were  grave  and  dignified  in  their  manners,  on  important  occasions;  in 
their  councils  they  were  courteous  to  one  another,  and  discussed  all  important 
questions  at  great  length.  They  were  often  kind  and  generous,  and  some- 
times even  forgiving;  but  they  mostly  regarded  sternness  as  a  virtue,  and 
forgiveness  as  a  weakness.  They  were  especially  cruel  to  captives,  putting 
them  to  death  with  all  manner  of  tortures,  in  which  women  took  an  active 
part.  It  was  the  custom  among  them  for  women  to  do  the  most  of  the  hard 
work,  in  order  that  the  bodies  of  the  men  might  be  kept  supple  and  active 
for  the  pursuits  of  the  chase  and  war.  When  employed  on  these  pursuits,  the 
Indian  seemed  incapable  of  fatigue;  but  in  the  camp,  or  in  traveling,  the 
women  carried  the  burdens,  and  when  a  hunter  had  carried  a  slain  deer  on 
his  shoulders  for  a  long  distance,  he  would  throw  it  down  within  sight  of 
the  village,  that  his  squaw  might  go  and  bring  it  in. 

The  Indian  tribes  that  once  ruled  over  the  present  limits  of  this  country 
are  generally  grouped  into  nine  nations  or  families.  The  Algonquin  or  Algic 
family  occupied  the  whole  basin  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  lakes,  the 
western  valley  of  the  Mississippi  down  to  the  fifty-fifth  degree  of  latitude, 
and  the  whole  Atlantic  shore  to  about  the  same  parallel.  Below  them  lay 
the  Mobilian  or  Muscolgee  tribes,  reaching  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Encir- 
cled by  these  two  great  families  lay  two  isolated  groups,  peculiar  in  all  their 
institutes  and  destined  to  attain  a  greater  eminence  than  the  rest;  these  were 
the  Huron-Iroquois,  extending  from  Lakes  Huron  and  Ontario,  in  a  solid  body 
or  in  scattered  clans,  to  North  Carolina,  and  south  of  them  the  Cherokees, 
"  the  mountaineers  of  aboriginal  America." 


tl^  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Of  the  Algonquin  tribes,  all  on  the  borders  of  Canada  were  gained  in 
process  of  time  to  the  faith.  A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  their  chief 
divisions.  Above  the  St.  Lawrence,  bordering  on  the  Esquimaux  of  Labra- 


MAP  DF 

ABORIGINAL  AMERICA 


dor,  and  stretching  off  towards  Hudson's  Bay,  were  the  Montagnais ;  below 
the  gulf  lay  the  Gaspesians  and  Micmacs,  or  Souriquois,  occupying  the  present 
colonies  of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  Maine  was  occupied  by  the 


THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS.  115 

tribes  of  the  Abnakis,  the  headwaters  of  the  Connecticut  by  the  Sokokis, 
while  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ottawa  lay  the  Algonquins,  properly  so 
called,  with  the  Nipissings  dwelling  on  their  own  lake,  and  the  Attikamegues 
above  Three  Rivers.  Westward  still,  the  Ottawas  and  Chippewas  lay  near 
the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  while  below  roamed  the  Menomonee,  the  Sac, 
the  Fox,  the  Kikapoo,  the  Mascouten;  and  around  the  circling  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan  were  the  numerous  clans  of  the  Illinois  and  Miamis,  who  have  left 
their  names  to  the  territories  which  they  possessed. 

Of  these  tribes  we  shall  frequently  speak;  they  were  all  mission  ground. 
In  the  part  occupied  by  the  English  and  Dutch,  other  tribes  of  the  Algonquin 
stock  existed,  to  whom,  with  few  exceptions,  the  gospel  was  never  preached, 
and  who  have  now  mostly  perished.  New  England  was  inhabited  by  the 
Narragansetts,  Pequods,  and  other  tribes  of  similar  origin ;  the  Mohegans  lay 
on  the  Connecticut  and  Hudson,  the  Lenni  Lenape  on  the  Delaware  and 
Susquehanna,  while  Virginia  was  occupied  by  the  Powhatan  clans,  and  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio  by  the  roving  Shawnees. 

The  Huron-Iroquois,  more  agricultural  and  sedentary  than  the  Algonquin 
tribes,  with  whom  they  were  ever  at  war,  occupied  a  territory  in  the  midst  of 
them.  Northmost  of  all,  the  Wyandots,  traders  of  the  west,  lay  in  their 
densely  peopled  villages,  well  fortified  by  ditch  and  palisade  on  a  small  penin- 
sula in  Lake  Huron;  southwest  lay  their  allies,  the  Tionontates,  whose  luxu- 
riant fields  of  tobacco  won  for  them  and  their  fertile  hills  the  name  of  Petuns; 
and  south  and  east  of  these,  stretching  beyond  the  Niagara  and  its  marvellous 
cataract,  lay  the  many  clans  of  the  Atiwandaronk,  friends  to  the  Huron  and 
Algonquin,  friends  too  to  the  Iroquois,  and  called  by  the  French  the  Neutral 
Nation.  East  of  these  in  New  York,  stretching  from  the  Genesee  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Mohawk,  lay  the  five  clans,  who  are  now  known  collectively  by  the 
French  name,  Iroquois.  West  of  these,  on  the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Erie, 
lay  the  far-famed  archers,  the  Eries  or  Cat  tribe,  who  have  melted  away  like 
a  dream;  on  the  Susquehanna  were  the  Conestogues,  friends  of  the  Huron 
and  the  Swede,  few  but  brave;  and  below  them,  amid  the  Powhatans,  the 
traveler  would  find  the  wigwam  of  the  Meherrin,  the  Tutelo,  and  the  clan 
whom  the  Algonquins  called  Nottoway;  and  still  further  south  in  modern 
Carolina,  ruled  the  fiery  Tuscarora,  last  of  the  clans  of  the  Huron-Iroquois. 

Close  on  the  last  of  this  great  family  came  the  mountain  home  of  the 
Cherokee,  and  its  sands  laden  with  gold.  Below  them  still  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Mississippi,  were  found  the  clans  of  the  Muscolgee  — the  Creek,  the 


u6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Yamassee,  the  Apalache,  the  Coosa,  the  Choctaw,  the  Chickasaw  with  the 
Natchez  and  other  tribes  who  claimed  another  lineage. 

West  of  the  Mississippi,  from  its  source  to  the  Arkansas,  spread  tribes  of 
the  Dakota  family — the  Sioux,  the  Assiniboins,  the  Kappas  ;  while  on  the 
southwest  lay  the  New  Mexican  tribes,  and  beyond  the  mountains  the  many 
tribes  which  still  people  California  and  Oregon. 

Among  all  the  tribes  thus  catalogued  war  was  esteemed  the  most  honor- 
able employment,  and  next  to  it  ranked  hunting  and  fishing.  The  weapons 
of  the  Indians  were  bows  and  arrows,  spears,  clubs,  and  tomahawks.  The 
arrows  and  spears  were  pointed  with  horn,  or  sharp  pieces  of  flint  stone.  The 
clubs  consisted  of  heavy  pieces  of  knotted  wood  hardened  in  the  fire;  while 
the  tomahawks  were  simply  stone  hatchets,  with  hickory  branches  twisted 
around  them  for  handles  and  smoothed  down  to  a  sharp  edge.  The  Indian's 
skill  in  the  use  of  his  arms  was  proverbial.  In  his  hands  the  bow  and  arrow 
were  no  mean  weapons.  Pitched  battles,  or  general  engagements  were  un- 
known until  the  natives  learned  of  the  white  man  to  make  war  on  a  large 
scale.  Their  hostile  movements  were  generally  skillful  dashes  of  a  few  war- 
riors into  the  enemy's  country,  taking  some  scalps,  doing  all  the  mischief  they 
could,  and  returning  with  as  little  injury  as  possible  to  themselves.  The  great 
point  of  their  tactics  was  surprise.  Comparative  rank  of  chiefs  and  warriors 
often  depended  on  the  number  of  scalps  they  had  taken.  If  made  prisoner, 
the  Indian  brave  was  subjected  to  the  most  cruel  treatment,  being  burned  at 
the  stake  by  a  slow  fire.  Sometimes,  as  a  tribute  of  respect  to  manly  forti- 
tude, mercy  took  the  place  of  ferocity,  and  the  half-murdered  warrior  was 
adopted  as  a  brother  by  his  enemies.  Often,  as  a  religious  ceremony,  the  flesh 
of  the  unhappy  victim  was  eaten,  his  heart  being  divided  into  small  pieces, 
and  given  to  the  young  men  and  boys,  that  it  might  communicate  its  courage 
to  them.  Cannibalism  to  this  extent  was  practiced  both  by  the  Hurons  and 
Iroquois.  The  dying  warrior  made  it  a  point  of  honor  to  endure  these  awful 
torments  with  unshaken  heroism.  To  his  last  breath  he  taunted  his  savage 
tormenters,  and  boldly  shouted  his  death-song  from  among  the  flames. 

Women,  among  the  Indians,  was  a  degraded  being — a  slave.  To  her 
life  there  was  no  bright  side.  She  did  all  the  drudgery  of  the  wigwam,  raised 
the  crops  of  corn,  and,  in  their  wanderings,  bore  the  heavy  burdens.  In  the 
words  of  Champlain,  "their  women  were  their  mules."  Catholicity  first  taught 
the  Indian  that  the  squaw  was  equal  to  the  warrior ;  and  that  the  sex  which  our 
divine  Lord  honored  by  making  one  of  them  His  mother,  must  he  respected. 


VERY  REV.  FATHER  SORIN,  FATHER  GENERAL,  C.  S.  C. 


THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS.  117 

The  Indian  system  of  government  was  exceedingly  simple,  and,  in  many 
respects,  worthy  of  serious  study. 

The  fifty  sachems  of  the  famous  Iroquois  formed  the  government  of  that 
confederacy.  The  learned  Jesuit  missionary,  Lafitau,  tells  us  that  this  great 
Council  of  Fifty  would,  in  wisdom  and  eloquence,  compare  very  favorably 
with  the  Roman  Senate  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic.  lie  thus  describes 
that  singular  legislative  body:  "It  is  a  greasy  assemblage,  sitting  sur  leur 
derriere,  crouched  like  apes,  their  knees  as  high  as  their  ears,  or  lying  some 
on  their  bellies,  some  on  their  backs,  each  with  a  pipe  in  his  mouth,  discussing 
affairs  of  state  with  as  much  coolness  and  gravity  as  the  Spanish  Junta  or  the 
Grand  Council  of  Venice."  In  fact,  the  code  that  obtained  among  the  Five 
Nations  was  the  masterpiece  of  Indian  jurisprudence.  Both  as  law-givers 
and  as  warriors  they  towered  above  all  other  tribes  within  the  limits  of  our 
country. 

The  general  form  of  government  common  among  the  Indians,  is  thus 
tersely  and  correctly  stated  by  a  late  writer:  "  The  head  of  each  tribe  was  a 
chief,  or  sachem,  sometimes  so  by  birth,  but  generally  chosen  on  account  of 
his  bravery,  or  wisdom,  or  eloquence.  His  opinion,  if  supported  by  a  counsel 
of  the  elders,  was  the  only  law.  But  he  had  no  means  of  enforcing  it  on 
those  who  were  unwilling  to  obey.  His  influence  depended  wholly  on  his 
personal  character.  The  warriors  followed  him  on  a  war  party  only  if  they 
chose.  There  could  be  no  compulsion.  Proud  as  the  Indian  was  in  many 
things  that  of  which  he  was  most  proud  was  his  personal  freedom." 

It  is  a  popular  notion  that  the  primitive  Indians  worshiped  God  under 
the  name  of  the  Great  Spirit.  Nothing  could  be  further  from  the  truth : 
The  fact  is,  the  primitive  Indian  was  as  ignorant  of  Almighty  God  as  he  was 
of  Christian  morality  and  the  elegancies  of  life.  And  as  he  first  obtained 
firearms  from  the  white  man,  so  he  first  learned  this  greatest  of  all  truths — 
the  existence  of  one  God — from  the  lips  of  the  Catholic  missionary.  No 
Indian  dialect  had  an  equivalent  term  for  our  word  God,  which  had  to  be 
translated  in  a  roundabout  manner  by  saying  the  "  Great  Spirit  that  lives 
above,"  the  "  Great  Chief  of  Men,"  "  the  Great  Ruler  of  the  Skies,"  or 
something  to  that  effect.  If  they  had  anything  in  common  with  Christianity, 
ft  was  their  belief  in  the  existence  of  the  soul,  and  of  a  spirit-land,  or  future 
state.  For  all  there  was,  however,  but  one  spirit-land,  yet  all  were  not  to  be 
equally  happy  when  they  reached  that  bourne  whence  no  traveler  returns. 
«  Skillful  hunters  and  brave  warriors  went  to  the  happy  hunting  ground ;  while 


ng  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  slothful,  the  cowardly,  and  the  weak  were  doomed  to  eat  serpents  and 
ashes  in  dreary  regions  of  mist  and  darkness.  According  to  some  Algonquin 
traditions,  heaven  was  a  scene  of  endless  festivity,  the  ghosts  dancing  to  the 
sound  of  the  rattle  and  the  drum,  and  greeting  with  hospitable  welcome  the 
occasional  visitor  from  the  living  world ;  for  the  spirit-land  was  not  far  off, 
and  roving  hunters  sometimes  passed  its  confines  unawares. 

As  a  whole,  the  Indian's  belief  was  really  a  ridiculous  medley  of  super- 
stition and  idolatry.  "  Pure  unmixed  devil-worship,"  says  Shea,  "  prevailed 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land."  Some  tribes  paid  honors 
to  the  calumet.  Father  Marquette  tells  us  that  the  Illinois,  who  dwelt  on 
the  upper  Mississippi,  "  adored  the  sun  and  thunder."  Father  Doury,  who 
accompanied  La  Salle's  expedition,  found  the  Indians  of  Lower  Mississippi 
paying  divine  honors  to  the  sun.  Fathers  Dablon  and  Allouez  tell  us  of  an 
Indian  idol  which  they  discovered  on  the  banks  of  Fox  River,  near  Green 
Bay,  Wisconsin.  It  was  "  merely  a  rock  bearing  some  resemblance  to  a 
man,  and  hideously  painted.  With  the  help  of  their  attendant  they  threw  it 
into  the  water." 

The  Indian  fancied  that  manitous  were  in  everything — men,  animals, 
lakes,  rivers,  hills,  and  valleys.  To  his  rude  and  narrow  mind  these  manitous 
had  it  in  their  power  to  cause  disaster  or  triumph,  health  or  sickness,  life  or 
death.  Besides,  there  were  good  and  bad  manitous,  great  and  small  manitous. 
Their  bad  manitous  answer  to  our  devil.  But  it  may  be  proper  to  call  to  our 
assistance  one  of  the  old  missionaries  in  order  to  explain  this  complicated  sub- 
ject of  Indian  worship;  and  to  exhibit  the  rascality  of  that  most  accomplished 
of  red-skin  rogues — the  medicine-man,  or  Indian  conjurer. 

"  It  would  be  difficult,"  writes  Father  Marest,  S.J.,  "  to  say  what  is  the 
religion  of  our  Indians.  It  consists  entirely  of  some  superstitions  with  which 
their  credulity  is  amused.  As  all  their  knowledge  is  limited  to  an  acquaint- 
ance with  brutes,  and  to  the  necessities  of  life,  so  it  is  to  these  things  that  all 
their  worship  is  confined.  Their  medicine-man,  who  have  a  little  more  intel- 
lect than  the  rest,  gain  the  respect  of  the  Indians  by  their  ability  to  deceive 
them.  These  jugglers  persuade  the  others  that  they  honor  a  kind  of  spirit  to 
whom  they  give  the  name  of  manitou;  and  teach  them  that  it  is  this  spirit 
which  governs  all  things,  and  is  master  of  life  and  death.  A  bird,  a  buffalo, 
a  bear,  or  rather  the  plumage  of  these  birds,  and  the  skins  of  these  beasts — 
such  is  their  manitou.  They  hang  it  up  in  their  wigwams,  and  offer  it 
sacrifices  of  dogs  and  other  animals.  ....  .... 


THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS.  119 

These  medicine-men  have  recourse  to  their  manitous  when  composing  their 
remedies,  or  when  attempting  to  cure  the  diseased.  They  accompany  their 
invocations  with  chants,  and  dances,  and  frightful  contortions  to  induce  the 
belief  that  they  are  inspired  by  their  manitous.  .  .  .  During  these  dif- 
ferent contortions,  the  medicine-man  names  sometimes  one  animal  and  some- 
times another,  and  at  last  applies  himself  to  suck  that  part  of  the  body  in 
which  the  sick  person  complains  of  pain.  After  having  done  so  for  some 
time  he  suddenly  raises  himself  and  throws  out  to  the  sick  person  the  tooth  of 
a  bear  or  of  some  other  animal,  which  he  had  kept  concealed  in  his  mouth. 
'Dear  friend,'  he  cries,  'you  will  live!  See  what  it  was  that  was  killing 
you!'  After  which  he  says  in  applauding  himself:  'Who  can  resist  my 
manitou?  Is  he  not  the  one  who  is  the  master  of  life?'  If  the  patient  hap- 
pens to  die,  he  immediately  has  some  deceit  ready  prepared  to  ascribe  the 
death  to  some  other  cause,  which  took  place  after  he  had  left  the  sick  man. 
But  if,  on  the  contrary,  he  should  recover  his  health,  it  is  then  that  the  medi- 
cine-man receives  consideration,  and  is  himself  regarde  1  as  a  manitou!  After 
being  well  rewarded  for  his  labors,  the  best  that  the  vi.lage  produces  is  spread 
out  to  regale  him. 

"  These  jugglers  are  a  great  obstacle  to  the  conversion  of  the  Indians. 
In  every  way  in  their  power  they  persecute  and  torment  the  Christians. 

"  One  of  them  was  about  to  shoot  a  young  girl  who  passed  by  his  wig- 
wam door.  Seeing  a  pair  of  beads  in  her  hands,  he  wickedly  thought  they 
had  caused  his  father's  death;  and  was  on  the  point  of  firing  at  her,  when 
some  other  Indians  prevented  him. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  often  I  have  received  gross  insults  from  them, 
nor  how  many  times  I  should  have  expired  under  their  blows,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  particular  protection  of  God.  On  one  occasion,  among  others,  one  of 
them  would  have  split  my  head  with  his  hatchet,  had  I  not  turned  at  the  very 
time  his  arm  was  raised  to  strike  me." 

As  the  most  singular  of  the  objects  worshiped  by  some  of  the  tribes 
and  venerated  by  all  of  them,  must  be  mentioned  the  all- mysterious  Calumet. 
Father  Marquette  thus  writes  of  it:  "Men  do  not  pay  to  the  crowns  and  scep- 
tres of  kings  the  honor  they  (the  Indians)  pay  to  the  Calumet;  it  seems  to  be 
the  god  of  peace  and  war,  the  arbiter  of  life  and  death.  Carry  it  about  you  and 
show  it,  and  you  can  march  fearlessly  amid  enemies,  who  even  in  the  heat  of 
battle  lay  down  their  arms  when  it  is  shown.  They  use  it  for  settling  dis- 
putes, strengthening  alliances,  and  speaking  to  strangers."  The  same  father 


120  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

describes  a  Calumet  which  the  Illinois  presented  him  when  descending  the 
great  river  as  "  made  of  polished  red  stone,  like  marble,  so  pierced  that  one 
end  serves  to  hold  the  tobacco,  while  the  other  is  fastened  on  the  stem,  which 
is  a  stick  two  feet  long,  as  thick  as  a  common  cane,  and  pierced  in  the  middle. 
It  is  ornamented  with  the  head  and  neck  of  different  birds  of  beautiful  plum- 
age; they  also  add  large  feathers  of  green,  red,  and  other  colors,  with  which 
it  is  all  covered." 

The  Indian  languages  most  widely  diffused  were  those  spoken  by  the 
great  tribes  already  mentioned.  Nearly  all  had  quite  limited  vocabularies. 
The  northern  dialects  were  exceedingly  harsh  and  guttural.  In  the  Algonquin 
tongue — the  most  extensively  spoken  of  them  all — the  words  had  few  vowels, 
and  were  "often  of  intolerable  length,  occasioned  by  complicated  grammatical 
forms — a  whole  sentence  by  means  of  suffixes  and  affixes  being  often 
expressed  in  a  single  word."  This  was  a  marked  characteristic  of  nearly 
all  the  Indian  dialects.  The  Wyandot  language,  spoken  by  the  Hurons  and 
Iroquois,  was  more  sonorous  than  the  Algonquin.  The  Mobilian  included 
the  kindred  dialects  of  the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Creeks,  Seminoles,  Yazoos 
and  others.  "  Compared  with  the  northern  languages,  the  Cherokee  and 
Mobilian  are  soft  and  musical,  thus  indicating  the  long-continued  influence  of 
a  southern  climate." 

As  specimens  of  the  languages  once  spoken  on  the  banks  of  the 
Kennebec,  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Great  Lakes,  and  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  may  prove  both  curious  and  interesting  to  the  American  reader 
of  to-day,  a  few  are  here  given.  They  consist  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  trans- 
lated into  the  various  dialects  mentioned  below.  For  these  linguistic  curiosi- 
ties we  are  indebted  to  the  learning  of  Catholic  missionaries — the  only  white 
men  who  ever  thoroughly  mastered  the  Indian  tongues. 

1.  The  Lord's  Prayer,  in  the  Abnaki  dialect,  the   most  ancient  of  the 
Algonquin  family  of  languages,  is  as  follows: 

•'Kemitanksena  spomkik  ayan  waiwaielmoguatch  ayiliwisian  amantai  paitriwai 
witawaikai  ketepelta  mohanganeck  aylikitankonak  ketelailtamohangan  spomkik  tali 
yo  nampikik  paitchi  kik  tankouataitche  mamilinai  yo  paimi  ghisgak  daitaskiskouai 
aiponmena  yopa  katchi  anaihail  tama  wihaikai  kaissikakan  wihiolaikaipan  aliniona 
kisi  anihailtamakokaik  kaikauwia  kaitaipanik  mosak  kaita  lichi  kitawikaik  tampamo- 
hontchi  saghi  houeneminamai  on  lahamistakai  saghihousouaminai  mamait  chikil, 
Nialest." 

2.  The  same  in  the  Huron  or  Wyandot  language: 

"  Onaistan  de  aronhiae  istare.  Sasen  tdhondachiendatere  sachiendaonan.  Ont 
aioton  sa  cheonandiosta  endind6.  Ont  ainton  senchien  sarasta  ohoiient  soone  ach<5  toti 


THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS.  12 1 

ioti  Aronhiaone.  Ataindataia  sen  nonenda  tara  cha  ecantate  aoiiantehan.  Onta 
taoiiandionrhens,  sen  atonarrihoiianderaco£,  to  chienne  iotinendi  onsa  onendionrhens 
de  oua.  Onkirrihouanderai.  Enon  chechana  alakhionindashas  d'oucaota.  Ca  senti  ioti." 

3.  The  same  in  one  of  the  chief  dialects  of  the  California  Indians: 

"Ghana  ech  tupana  ave  onech,  otune  a  cuachin,  chame  om  reino  libi  yb  chosonec 
esna  tupana  cham  nechetepe,  micate  torn  cha  chaom,  pepsum  yg  car  caychamo  y  i 
julugcalme  cai  ech.  Depupnn  opco  chamo  chum  oyote.  Amen." 

4.  The  same  in  the  present  language  of  the  Caughnawagas,who  inhabit 
a  village  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  at  the  head  of  St.  Louis  Rapids, 
near  Montreal : 

"Takwaienka  ne  karonhiake  tesiteron,  aiesasennaien,  aiesawenniiostake,  aies- 
awennarakwake  nonwentsiake  tsiniiot  ne  karonhiake  tiesawennarakwa.  Takwanout 
ne  kenwente  iakionnhekon  niahtewenniserake ;  sasanikonrheus  nothenon  ionkinikouhr- 
aksaton  non  kwe;  tosa  aionkwasenni  ne  kariwaneren,  akwekon  eren  sawit  ne  iotaksens 
ethonaiawen." 

The  English  language  is  indebted  to  the  Indians  for  a  number  of  com- 
mon words.  Among  them  are  canoe,  potato,  tobacco,  tomahawk,  wigwam, 
hammock,  squaw,  sachem,  and  others.  They  have  also  bequeathed  to  us 
nearly  all  the  really  beautiful  names  of  our  states,  lakes  and  rivers.  An 
American  poet,  Mrs.  L.  H.  Sigourney,  has  clothed  this  fact  in  some  exquisite 

stanzas: 

You  say,  they  all  have  passed  away, 

That  noble  race  and  brave, 
That  their  light  canoes  have  vanished 

From  off  the  crested  wave; 
That  'mid  the  forests  where  they  roamed, 

There  rings  no  hunter's  shout; 
But  their  name  is  on  your  waters, 

You  may  not  wash  it  out. 

'Tis  where  Ontario's  billow 

Like  ocean's  surge  is  curled, 
Where  strong  Niagara's  thunders  wake 

The  echo  of  the  world; 
Where  red  Missouri  bringeth 

Rich  tributes  from  the  West, 
And  Rappahannock  sweetly  sleeps 

On  green  Virginia's  breast. 

You  say,  their  cone-like  cabins, 

That  clustered  o'er  the  vale, 
Have  fled  away  like  withered  leaves 

Before  the  autumn  gale; 
But  their  memory  liveth  on  your  hills, 

Their  baptism  on  your  shore, 
Your  everlasting  rivers  speak 

Their  dialect  of  yore. 


122 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


Old  Massachusetts  wears  it 

Within  her  lordly  crown, 
And  broad  Ohio  bears  it 

Amid  her  young  renown; 
Connecticut  hath  wreathed  it 

Where  her  quiet  foliage  waves, 
And  bold  Kentucky  breathes  it  hoarse 

Through  all  her  ancient  caves. 

We  have  but  to  vocalize  some  of  these  names  and  the  dullest  ear  is 
pleased  with  the  sweet  music  of  the  sound.  I  here  give  a  few,  accompanied 
by  their  signification  in  English: 


Indian  Names. 
Ohio, 
Ontario, 
Idaho, 
Cayuga, 
Alabama, 
Chicopee, 
Mohawk, 
Tennessee, 
Niagara, 
Wisconsin, 
Saratoga, 
Rappahannock, 
Mississippi, 
Missouri, 
Manhattan, 
Merrimac, 
Kennebec, 
Acadia, 
Tuscaloosa, 
Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, 
Onondaga, 
Kentucky, 
Toronto, 
Minnehaha, 


Meaning  in  English. 
Beautiful. 

Village  on  a  mountain. 
The  gem  of  the  mountains. 
Long  lake. 
Here  we  rest. 
Cedar  tree. 
Eaters  of  live  food. 
River  of  the  big  bend. 
Neck  of  water. 
Rushing  channel. 

Place  of  miraculous  waters  in  a  rock. 
River  of  rising  waters. 
The  Father  of  Waters,  or  Great  River. 
Muddy. 

Town  on  the  island. 
Swift  water. 
Long  river. 
Where  we  dwell. 
Black-warrior. 
Around  the  great  hills. 
Land  on  the  long  river. 
Place  of  the  hills. 
Dark  and  bloody  ground. 
Place  of  meeting. 


Laughing  waters — a  waterfall. 
As  the  Indians  had   no  written  language,  they  did  not  possess  any 
learning.     A  few  rude  drawings  on  skins  or  bark  formed  their  sole  record. 


THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS.  123 

The  Franciscan,  Dominican,  and  Jesuit  missionaries  were  the  first  Europeans 
who  set  about  the  extremely  difficult  task  of  acquiring  the  Indian  languages. 
Father  Pareja,  O.S.F.,  published  an  Indian  catechism  as  early  as  1593. 
Father  Brebeuf,  S.J.,  wrote  a  Huron  catechism,  Father  Chaumonot,  S.J.,  a 
Huron  dictionary,  and  Father  Bruyas,  S.J.,  an  Iroquois  dictionary;  while 
Father  White,  S.J.,  did  the  same  for  the  Maryland  Indians,  and  Father 
Rale,  S.J.,  for  the  Abnaki  of  Maine.  Numerous  Catholic'  prayer-books, 
catechisms,  and  other  works  of  devotion  have,  at  various  times,  appeared  in 
different  Indian  dialects.  Of  the  present  century,  the  best  known  Indian 
scholars  are  Bishop  Baraga,  Father  De  Smet,  S.J.,  Rev.  Dr.  Vetromile,  Rev. 
Joseph  Marcoux  and  the  late  Dr.  John  Gilmary  Shea. 

Besides  claiming  the  honor  of  having  discovered  America,  the  Church 
rightly  lays  claim  to  the  honor  of  civilizing  its  interesting  people.  She  was 
the  first  to  succeed  in  obtaining  gentle  treatment,  and  indeed  freedom  itself, 
for  these  aborigines.  In  1537  Pope  Paul  the  Third  declared  in  an  apostolic 
brief  that  the  native  Indians  of  America  were  really  and  truly  free  men  who 
should  not  be  reduced  to  slavery. 

Throughout  the  four  hundred  years  that  have  well  nigh  elapsed  since 
the  cross  of  Christ  was  first  planted  in  American  soil,  the  Church  has  con- 
tinued to  send  forth  from  European  lands,  heroes  of  faith  and  charity  to 
bring  the  Indians,  as  well  as  the  bold  European  pioneers,  into  a  state  of 
civilization.  Who  does  not  know,  honor,  and  bless  the  name  of  that  noble 
son  of  the  Church,  the  illustrious  Dominican  monk,  Father  Las  Casas,  of 
whom  a  brief  history  may  here  be  fitly  presented. 

Bartholomew  Las  Casas,  the  renowned  missionary  and  friend  of  the  poor 
Indians,  was  born  in  the  year  1474*  a*  Seville,  in  Spain.  He  belonged  to  a 
family  of  French  origin.  While  the  young  man  was  pursuing  his  studies  at 
the  University  of  Salamanca,  his  father — who  had  accompanied  Columbus  in 
his  second  voyage  to  the  New  World — made  him  a  gift  of  an  Indian,  who 
acted  for  some  time  as  his  servant.  But  the  generous  Isabella  soon  published 
a  decree,  giving  freedom  to  all  Indians  in  Spain.  The  pious  student  at  once 
joyfully  liberated  his  dusky  servant,  "and  sent  him  back  to  his  native  land 
loaded  with  presents."  Thus  it  happened  that  the  unflinching  advocate  of 
human  freedom  had  once  been  the  owner  of  a  slave  himself,  and  that  he  had 
made  the  familiar  acquaintance  of  a  simple  son  of  the  forest  at  that  happy 
period  of  life  when  the  mind  is  open  to  receive  deep  and  lasting  impressions. 

In  1502,  Las  Casas  accompanied  Ovando  in  his  expedition  to  Hispaniola, 


134 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


and  eight  years  later  he  was  ordained  priest — the  first,  it  is  said,  who  was 
raised  to  that  sacred  dignity  in  the  New  World.  When  the  Spaniards  con- 
quered Cuba  he  was  appointed  to  a  parish  in  a  small  settlement.  It  was  here 
that  he  began  to  signalize  himself  in  favor  of  the  oppressed  Indians,  and  to 
raise  his  voice  in  accents  of  holy  indignation  against  the  crimes  of  his  own 
countrymen. 

At  this  period,  under  the  title  of  repartimientos  or  distributions,  whole 
districts  of  the  newly-found  countries  were  held  by  Spanish  noblemen  or 
adventurers.  The  poor  savages  were  divided  with  the  lands,  which  they  were 


LAS  CASAS,  "PROTECTOR  OF  THE  INDIANS." 

compelled  to  cultivate.  They  had  also  to  dig  in  the  mines,  or  hunt  the  rivers 
for  precious  stones.  So  hard  were  their  cruel  taskmasters  that  the  native 
race  began  to  wither  away.  It  was  a  diabolical  system. 

"  The  Indians  were  coupled  together  like  beasts  of  burden,"  says  Charle- 
voix,  "  and  when  forced  to  carry  loads  wholly  beyond  their  strength  they  were 
urged  forward  by  the  lash.  On  falling  from  exhaustion,  a  vigorous  use  of  the 
whip  obliged  them  to  rise.  A  colonist,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  rarely  went 
any  distance  from  his  house  except  when  borne  in  a  litter  by  two  Indians. 


THE  TRUE  NATIVE  AMERICANS.  125 

"  There  was  no  scruple  made  of  separating  husband  and  wife — the  man 
being  sent  to  the  mines,  from  which  he  seldom  returned,  and  the  woman 
being  employed  in  the  cultivation  of  the  lands.  While  engaged  in  this 
severe  labor  they  were  all  forced  to  live  on  roots  and  herbs.  To  see  them  die 
of  such  violence  and  of  pure  fatigue  was  an  ordinary  spectacle." 

"I  have  found  many  dead  on  the  road,"  says  Las  Casas,  "  others  gasp- 
ing under  the  trees,  and  others  in  the  pangs  of  death,  faintly  crying,  hunger  ! 
hunger  !" 

The  good  priest  was  touched  to  the  heart  at  the  sight  of  such  shameful 
scandals  and  appalling  injustice.  How  could  religion  make  any  progress  ? 
It  was  mockery  indeed  to  expect  that  the  Indians  would  sincerely  embrace 
the  Christian  religion — the  faith  of  their  heartless  and  tyrannical  oppressors. 

To  oppose  the  cruel  system  of  repartimientos,  Father  Las  Casas  went  to 
Spain,  where  he  prevailed  on  Cardinal  Ximenes  to  send  a  commission  of 
inqu:ry  to  the  West  Indies;  but  the  work  of  the  commission  was  far  from 
satisfying  his  zeal,  and  he  revisited  Spain  to  procure  the  adoption  of  still 
stronger  measures  for  the  protection  of  the  natives.  He  was  honored  with 
the  title  of  Protector  General  of  the  Indians,  and  his  exertions  in  their  behalf 
were  unceasing. 

He  carried  his  cause  before  Charles  V,  and  as  he  had  warm  opponents, 
the  emperor  first  heard  the  spokesman  of  the  opposition.  When  the  turn  of 
Las  Casas  came,  he  arose  with  dignity  and  presented  the  rights  of  the 
Indians  in  a  discourse  of  great  vigor  and  eloquence. 

"•The  Christian  religion,"  he  concluded,  "is  equal  in  its  operation,  and 
is  accommodated  to  every  nation  on  the  globe.  It  robs  no  one  of  his  freedom, 
violates  none  of  his  inherent  rights  on  the  ground  that  he  is  a  slave  by  nature, 
as  pretended;  and  it  well  becomes  your  majesty  to  banish  so  monstrous  an 
oppression  from  your  kingdoms  in  the  beginning  of  your  reign,  that  the 
Almighty  may  make  it  long  and  glorious." 

Las  Casas  gained  his  point.  In  1520  he  attempted  to  form  a  settlement 
of  Castilian  peasants  in  the  West  Indies,  with  a  view  of  giving  more  com- 
plete effect  to  his  designs  in  behalf  of  the  Indians;  but  unhappily,  he  had  to 
contend  against  such  a  host  of  difficulties  that  his  plan  ended  in  failure.  He 
had  hitherto  been  a  secular  priest.  He  now  retired  to  the  Dominican  convent 
in  Hispaniola,  and  became  a  son  of  St.  Dominic.  His  well-spent  time  was 
divided  between  spiritual  duties,  missions,  and  the  composition  of  various 
famous  works  relating  to  the  New  World  and  the  cause  of  his  dear  Indians. 


I26  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

He  traversed  Mexico,  Peru,  Guatemala,  and  other  vast  countries,  everywhere 
exercising  the  double  functions  of  missionary  apostolic  and  protector  of  the 
Indians. 

The  venerable  priest  refused  the  rich  bishopric  of  Cusco,  in  Peru ;  but, 
at  length,  he  was  persuaded  to  accept  the  poor  see  of  Chiapa,  in  a  wild  prov- 
ince of  Mexico.  He  was  near  seventy  years  of  age  when  he  began  his  epis- 
copal labors.  How  he  toiled  and  suffered,  and  battled  for  the  rights  of  the 
red  man,  and  pointed  out  the  road  to  Heaven  with  dauntless  courage,  cannot 
be  told  here. 

In  1551,  the  great  bishop  resigned  his  see.  He  crossed  the  Atlantic  for 
the  last  time,  retired  to  the  Monastery  of  Atocha,  at  Madrid,  where  he  spent 
many  years  in  preparing  his  soul  for  that  blessed  end  which  came  in  July, 
1566.  He  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two,  and  his  faculties  were 
unimpaired  to  the  last. 

Las  Casas  was  a  sainted  Catholic  missionary,  who  loved  justice  and 
abhorred  iniquity.  He  was  inspired  by  one  great  and  glorious  idea.  He  crossed 
the  Atlantic  sixteen  times,  and  toiled  for  over  half  a  century,  in  the  midst  of 
danger,  hardship,  and  soul-trying  opposition,  to  ameliorate  the  unhappy  con- 
dition of  the  Indians,  and  to  spread  the  light  of  the  gospel  in  the  dark  wilder- 
ness of  the  New  World.  Nor  was  his  pen  less  active  and  eloquent  than  his 
tongue.  He  is  one  of  the  great  writers  of  Spain.  "  In  the  course  of  his  work," 
says  Irving,  "when  Las  Casas  mentions  the  original  papers  lying  before  him, 
from  which  he  drew  many  of  his  facts,  it  makes  one  lament  that  they  should 
be  lost  to  the  world.  Besides  the  journals  and  letters  of  Columbus,  he  says, 
he  had  numbers  of  the  letters  of  Don  Bartholomew,  who  wrote  better  than 
his  brother,  and  whose  writings  must  have  been  full  of  energy.  Above  all, 
he  had  the  map,  formed  from  study  and  conjecture,  by  which  Columbus 
himself  sailed  on  his  first  voyage.  What  a  precious  document  would  this  be 
for  the  world  !" 


SPANISH  MISSIONS. 


VOICE  OF  THE  ROMAN  SHEPHERD. — FIRST  MISSIONARIES  TO  THE  SOUTH. — THE  FRAN- 
CISCAN TWELVE. — NARVAEZ'  BLUNDERING  EXPEDITION. — FRIAR  MARK  AND  HIS 
WANDERINGS  — A  DELUSIVE  EMPIRE. — BRAVE  FATHER  PADILLA.— LOST 
BROTHER  JOHN. — DE  SOTO'S  EXPEDITION. — FIRST  ENCOUNTER  WITH  SAVAGES. — 
A  FRIGHTFUL  MARCH  TO  THE  SEA. — THREE  YEARS  OF  HARDSHIPS.— FROM 
FLORIDA  TO  THE  MISSISSIPPI. — DISCOVERY  OF  THE  GREAT  RIVER. — DEATH  OF 
THE  EXPLORER.— A  TOMB  IN  THE  FLOWING  WATERS. — RETREAT  OF  THE  SUR- 
VIVORS.—FATHER  CANCER  INVADES  FLORIDA. — DEATH  ON  THE  THRESHOLD. — 
MORE  DOMINICANS  FOR  MARTYRDOM. — FATHER  FERRER  AND  HIS  PROPHECY. — 
THE  SURVIVOR  OF  THE  MASSACRE. — EXPEDITION  OF  DON  TRISTAN. — THE  GREAT 
ADMIRAL  MELENDEZ. — SEARCH  FOR  A  LOST  SON. — THE  NEW  EXPEDITION.— 
FOUNDING  OF  ST.  AUGUSTINE.— JESUITS  ON  THE  MISSION. — LETTER  OF  POPE  ST. 
Pius. — FATHER  MARTINEZ  WINS  His  CROWN.— OUR  FIRST  JESUIT  MARTYR. 

ITHIN  two  months  after  the  return  of  Columbus  from  that 
momentous  first  voyage,  on  May  9,  1493,  the  Holy  Father  at 
Rome,  Pope  Alexander,  issued  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns  his 
famous  bull,  Inter  cetera,  in  which  he  refers  to  the  late  discovery 

in  these  words: 

"  We  have  heard  to  our  great  joy  that  you  have  proposed  to  labor  and 
use  every  exertion  that  the  inhabitants  of  certain  islands  and  continents  re- 
mote and  hitherto  unknown,  and  of  others  yet  undiscovered,  be  reduced  to 
worship  our  Redeemer  and  profess  the  Catholic  faith.  You  sent,  not  with- 
out the  greatest  exertions,  dangers,  and  expense,  our  beloved  son,  Christopher 
Colon,  a  man  of  worth  and  much  to  be  commended,  fit  for  such  business, 
with  vessels  and  cargoes,  diligently  to  search  for  continents  and  remote  and 
unknown  islands  on  a  sea  hitherto  never  navigated;  who,  finally,  with  the 
divine  assistance  and  great  diligence,  navigated  the  vast  ocean  and  discovered 

127 


I28  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

certain  most  distant  islands  and  continents  which  were  previously  unknown, 
in  which  very  many  nations  dwell  peaceably,  and,  as  it  is  said,  go  naked  and 
abstain  from  animal  food,  etc." 

Further  on  His  Holiness  enjoins  it  as  a  duty  on  the  sovereigns,  to  send 
out  to  the  newly  discovered  countries  u  tried  men,  who  fear  God,  and  skillful 
and  expert,  to  instruct  the  inhabitants  in  the  Catholic  faith,  and  teach  them 
good  morals." 

Catholic  priests  were  accordingly  sent  out  on  almost  every  voyage  with 
the  early  explorers,  and  the  planting  of  the  Cross  was  co-incident  with  their 
settlement  of  the  various  islands  of  the  West  Indies,  and  of  the  conquests 
made  in  Mexico  and  Peru.  Within  the  actual  limits  of  our  own  country — 
to  which  we  refer  distinctively  the  name  America — we  find  that  the  first 
Spanish  missionaries  set  foot  in  Florida  in  1528,  in  company  with  the  expedi- 
tion of  Narvaez.  The  latter  expected  to  found  an  empire  rivaling  in  wealth 
and  extent  that  of  Mexico,  so  recently  subjected  to  the  Spanish  arms  by 
the  prowess  of  Corte"z.  The  limits  of  the  new  empire  were  already  marked 
out  for  a  see,  which  took  its  title  from  the  Rio  de  las  Palmas — its  southern 
boundary — a  river  in  Mexico  between  Vera  Cruz  and  Tampico,  and  extended 
to  the  Cape  of  Florida. 

The  new  bishop  himself,  Juan  Juarez,  headed  the  band  of  missionaries. 
As  Father  Juarez,  he  had  been  one  of  the  twelve  Franciscans  who  were 
invited  to  Mexico  by  Corte"z  to  be  its  first  apostles,  and  whom  he  received 
with  great  honor  in  1524,  five  years  after  his  landing.  Father  Juarez  here 
distinguished  himself  by  his  zeal  and  his  love  and  care  for  the  Indians,  and 
his  appointment  as  the  new  bishop,  which  was  made  on  the  occasion  of  a 
subsequent  visit  to  Spain,  was  therefore  most  fitting. 

The  expedition  of  Narvaez  proved,  however,  a  failure,  and  in  its  failure 
was  involved  that  of  the  missionary  scheme  connected  with  it.  No  rich 
empire  met  the  commander's  expectant  gaze,  no  dusky  monarch  clad  in 
barbaric  splendor  and  surrounded  by  assiduous  courtiers  crossed  his  path  to 
question  his  purposes  or  withstand  his  advance.  He  encountered  only  strag- 
gling Indians  who  treacherously  led  him  on  to  his  ruin.  At  last,  weary,  dis- 
appointed, pinched  with  want,  and  decimated  by  disease  or  the  arrows  of 
ambushed  savages,  the  troops  of  Narvaez  forced  their  way  back  through  the 
jungle  to  the  shore  they  had  left.  Narvaez  had  injudiciously,  and  against 
the  advice  of  Bishop  Juarez,  ordered  his  ships  elsewhere,  and  the  only 
resource  of  the  party  was  to  escape  to  sea  as  best  they  might  in  the  rude 


,      EARLY  SPANISH  MISSIONS.  129 

boats  they  constructed  for  the  purpose.  Four  only  remained  behind,  and 
these  saved  themselves  by  a  perilous  journey  across  the  continent.  The 
remainder  were  lost  at  sea,  or  were  cast  away  to  die  a  more  lingering  death 
by  starvation,  disease,  or  the  attacks  of  the  natives.  Among  the  latter  was 
the  party  of  Bishop  Juarez,  which  had  been  driven  ashore  on  Dauphin 
Island,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  of  which  nothing  further  was 
ever  heard. 

The  four  survivors  of  the  expedition  of  Narvaez  traversed  Texas  and 
New  Mexico,  and,  reaching  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  California,  reappeared 
to  the  gaze  of  their  astonished  friends.  The  accounts  they  gave  of  the  king- 
doms and  cities  they  had  passed  on  their  journey — accounts  that  were  doubt- 
less somewhat  colored  by  their  imagination — came  to  the  ears  of  an  Italian 
friar  named  Mark,  and  excited  his  zeal  for  the  glorious  spiritual  conquest 
that  seemed  to  lie  before  him.  Placing  himself  under  the  guidance  of 
Stephen,  a  negro,  one  of  the  four  survivors  alluded  to,  and  attended  by  some 
friendly  Indians,  he  boldly  plunged  into  the  wilderness  which  skirted  the 
river  Gila.  Crossing  it,  he  continued  his  march  until  he  came  within  sight 
of  Cibola,  a  city  of  the  Zuni  tribe.  Here  he  sent  forward  Stephen  with  a 
party  of  the  Indian  attendants  to  prepare  the  way,  but  the  natives  drove 
them  back,  and  even  killed  Stephen  and  some  of  his  companions.  The  friar 
could  only  look  with  longing  eyes  towards  the  city  where  he  had  hoped  to 
garner  a  harvest  of  souls,  and  then  sorrowfully  began  to  retrace  his  steps. 
Ere  descending  the  hill  from  which  he  bade  farewell  to  the  city,  he,  however, 
planted  the  cross,  the  object  of  his  journey  and  the  emblem  of  his  mission. 

The  chieftain,  Coronado,  stimulated  by  the  representations  made  of  the 
supposed  riches  of  Cibola,  headed  an  expedition  fitted  out  by  the  government 
to  reduce  it.  He  followed  the  route  previously  traversed  by  Friar  Mark, 
who  accompanied  him,  together  with  a  number  of  other  Franciscans.  Cibola 
was  reached,  and  soon  yielded  to  the  invader,  but  so  barren  was  the  prize, 
that  Coronado  resolved  to  press  on  to  the  conquest  of  another  fabled  empire 
in  the  interior,  leaving  the  poor  friar,  overwhelmed  with  reproaches,  to 
return  home  in  shattered  health.  He  ended  his  days  shortly  after. 

When  Coronado,  weary  of  his  fruitless  journey,  resolved  to  return, 
Father  John  de  Padilla,  one  of  the  Franciscans,  in  his  younger  days  a  soldier, 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  remain  at  the  Indian  town  of  Quivira,  west  of  the 
Rio  Grande.  Brother  John  of  the  Cross  proffered  a  similar  request  in  regard 
to  the  neighboring  village  of  Cicuye,  now  Pecos,  Bestowing  upon  them  a 


I3o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

supply  of  live  stock,  and  some  Mexican  Indians  as  guides  and  assistants,  they 
were  left  about  midway  between  both  points.  Pecos  being  still  before  them, 
Brother  John  of  the  Cross  was  sent  on  with  an  escort  and  reached  it  safely. 
Father  Padilla  took  leave  of  his  countrymen  and  retraced  his  steps  to  Quivira 
with  his  Indian  converts.  Here  for  some  time  he  labored  assiduously,  but,  as 
it  would  seem,  almost  in  vain.  Hearing  of  a  tribe  more  docile  in  character, 
he  set  out  for  their  town,  but  on  the  road  was  suddenly  surrounded  by  a  con- 
siderable force  of  roving  Indians.  Conscious  of  his  danger,  he  urged  his 
companions  to  fly,  and  kneeling  down  prepared  to  die.  In  a  few  moments 
he  fell,  pierced  by  a  shower  of  arrows,  and  sealed  his  mission  with  his  blood . 
His  comrades  fled  down  the  river,  and  after  many  a  danger,  reached  Tampico 
to  announce  his  martyr  triumph.  Of  Brother  John  of  the  Cross,  and  his 
mission  at  Pecos,  no  tidings  were  ever  obtained. 

The  territory  east  of  the  Rio  Grande  had  meanwhile  been  the  scene  of 
an  expedition  which,  in  its  pomp  and  power,  its  cruelties  and  its  misfortunes, 
has  few  parallels  in  our  annals.  Like  Coronado,  the  illustrious  Hernando  de 
Soto  sought  the  mighty  kingdom  of  the  interior  which  previous  adventurers 
had  reported.  After  serving  in  Peru  with  Pizarro  he  was  appointed  by 
Charles  V  as  governor  of  both  Cuba  and  Florida.  A  well-equipped  arma- 
ment stood  across  the  Atlantic,  touched  at  Cuba,  and  in  May,  1539,  De  Soto 
landed  at  Tampa  Bay,  Florida,  with  six  hundred  and  twenty  chosen  men,  a 
band  as  gallant  and  well  appointed,  as  eager  in  pursuit  and  audacious  in  hope, 
as  ever  trod  the  shores  of  the  New  World.  The  clangor  of  trumpets,  the 
neighing  of  horses,  the  fluttering  of  pennons,  the  glittering  of  helmet  and 
lance,  startled  the  ancient  forest  with  unwonted  greeting. 

Amid  this  pomp  of  chivalry,  religion  was  not  forgotten.  The  sacred 
vessels  and  vestments,  with  bread  and  wine  for  the  Eucharist,  were  carefully 
provided ;  and  De  Soto  himself  declared  that  the  enterprise  was  undertaken 
for  God  alone,  and  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  his  especial  care.  The  conver- 
sion of  the  savages  was  considered  a  matter  of  the  first  importance,  and 
twelve  priests  accompanied  the  expedition. 

The  governor  took  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  It  is  said  he  dreamed  of  nothing  but  success,  and,  moved  by  the  ex- 
ample of  Cortes,  sent  most  of  his  ships  back  to  Havana.  The  savages  did  not 
like  the  new-comers,  ani  gave  vent  to  their  wrath  in  hideous  yells  and  showers 
of  arrows.  But  a  well-directed  charge  of  the  cavalry  gave  fleetness  to  the 
heels  of  the  noisy  warriors.  The  loss  of  a  fine  charger,  however,  warned 


EARLY  SPANISH  MISSIONS. 


the  Spaniards  that  the  Indian  arrow  was  no  mean  weapon.  The  fatal  shaft 
had  flown  with  such  force  as  to  pass  through  the  saddle  and  bury  itself 
between  the  ribs  of  the  horse. 

The  work  of  exploration  began,  but  from  the  outset  it  was  a  toilsome  and 
perilous  enterprise. 
The  little  army 
pushed  patiently 
along  towards 
the  north.  The 
line  of  march  lay 
through  a  trackless 
wilderness  covered 
by  dense  forests, 
and  intersected  by 
muddy  rivers  and 
vast  swamps.  On 
every  side  the  sava- 
ges proved  hostile. 
The  Spaniards 
were  obliged  to 
fight  and  push  on 
while  burdened 
down  with  a  large 
stock  of  provisions 
and  ammunition. 
A  cannon  was 
hauled  through 
treacherous  bogs 
and  tangled  under-  FIRST  MASS  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

wood  with  immense  labor,  and  the  care  of  scores  of  headstrong  pigs  must 
have  added  enormously  to  the  difficulties  of  the  dangerous  journey. 

When  Sunday  or  some  festival  came,  a  halt  was  ordered.  A  temporary 
altar  was  erected,  perhaps  beneath  some  lordly  tree  which  towered  to  the  skies, 
like  the  steeple  of  a  Gothic  cathedral.  Mass  was  celebrated,  and  the  gallant 
De  Soto  and  his  cavaliers  devoutly  knelt  on  the  grass  around.  Every  religious 
practice  was  observed,  and  as  the  little  army  cut  its  way  through  the  wilderness 
of  Florida,  the  beautiful  ceremonies  of  the  Church  were  duly  performed. 


1 32  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  governor  used  every  effort  to  gain  the  friendship  of  the  Indians. 
He  assured  them  that  his  mission  was  peaceful,  and  that  all  he  desired  was  a 
passage  through  their  territories.  But  in  vain  were  his  assurances.  -  Full  cf 
hatred  and  suspicion,  the  dusky  warriors  would  lie  in  ambush,  discharge  a 
volley  of  arrows,  and  then  fly  to  the  thickets  of  the  woods.  Thus  the  army 
was  ever  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  lurking  savages,  and  unceasing  vigilance 
was  necessary.  The  moment  a  Spaniard  strayed  from  the  camp,  he  was 
likely  to  be  shot  down  and  instantly  scalped. 

Ever  skirmishing,  and  always  on  the  march,  De  Soto  held  on  his  course 
towards  the  north  of  Florida.  At  one  point  an  immense  morass  stopped  his 
progress.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  thick  forest  of  lofty  trees  and  tangled 
underwood,  and  all  points  were  guarded  by  hostile  Indians.  Bridges  of  trees, 
made  with  great  labor,  enabled  the  way-worn  Spaniards  to  cross  such 
portions  as  came  above  their  middle.  But  every  inch  of  this  muddy  route 
had  to  be  won  at  the  point  of  the  sword;  and  it  was  only  after  a  dreadful 
conflict  of  four  days,  in  which  all  fought  and  many  fell,  that  the  troops  found 

themselves  safely  across  the  great  swamp. 

i 
After   months  of  such  toilsome  marching,  the  cold  weather  came  on. 

A  halt  was  ordered  at  an  Indian  village  called  Apalachee,  which  stood  on 
the  site  of  Tallahassee,  the  present  capital  of  Florida.  And  there,  "  in  the 
midst  of  the  wilderness,  this  band  of  adventurous  Spaniards  passed  the  winter 
together."  The  natives  of  this  region  proved  to  be  large,  fierce  warriors; 
and  in  spite  of  the  strict  discipline  of  the  camp,  many  a  careless  cavalier  lost 
his  life  and  scalp  at  the  hands  of  prowling  war-parties. 

De  Soto  left  his  winter  quarters  in  March,  1540,  and  proceeded  towards 
the  north,  earnestly  bent  on  finding  a  rich  region- — some  imaginary  Peru  or 
Mexico.  "  For  month  after  month,  and  year  after  year,"  writes  Parkman, 
"  the  procession  of  priests  and  cavaliers,  cross-bowmen,  arquebusiers,  and 
Indian  captives  laden  with  the  baggage,  still  wandered  on  through  wild  and 
boundless  wastes,  lured  hither  and  thither  by  the  ignis-fatuus  of  their  hopes." 

They  traversed  great  portions  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi, 
everywhere  inflicting  and  enduring  misery,  but  never  approaching  their 
phantom  El  Dorado.  At  length,  in  the  third  year  of  their  journeying,  they 
reached  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  a  hundred  and  thirty-two  years  before 
its  second  discovery  by  Marquette.  One  of  their  number  describes  the  great 
river  as  almost  half  a  league  wide,  deep,  rapid,  and  constantly  rolling  down 
trees  and  driftwood  on  its  turbid  current. 


EARLY  SPANISH  MISSIONS.  133 

The  Spaniards  crossed  over  at  a  point  above  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas. 
They  advanced  westward,  but  found  no  treasures — nothing,  indeed,  but  hard- 
ships and  an  Indian  enemy — "Furious,"  writes  one  of  their  officers,  "  as  mad 
dogs."  They  heard  of  a  country  towards  the  north  where  maize  could  not 
be  cultivated  because  the  vast  herds  of  wild  cattle  devoured  it. 

They  penetrated  so  far  that  they  entered  the  range  of  the  roving  prairie- 
tribes;  for,  one  day,  as  they  pushed  their  way  with  difficulty  across  great 
plains  covered  with  tall,  rank  grass,  they  met  a  band  of  savages  who  dwelt 
in  lodges  of  skin  sewed  together,  subsisting  on  game  alone,  and  wandering 
perpetually  from  place  to  place.  Finding  neither  gold  nor  the  South  Sea,  for 
both  of  which  they  had  hoped,  they  returned  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

A  short  time  before  this,  an  interesting  religious  ceremony  occurred. 
The  army  halted  at  an  Indian-village,  and  the  chief  with  a  band  of  picked 
warriors  came  forth.  "  Sefior,"  said  he  to  De  Soto,  "  as  you  are  superior  to 
us  in  prowess  and  surpass  us  in  arms,  we  likewise  believe  that  your  God  is 
better  than  our  god.  These  you  behold  before  you  are  the  chief  warriors  of 
my  dominions.  We  implore  you  to  pray  to  your  God  to  send  us  rain,  for  our 
fields  are  parched  for  want  of  water." 

De  Soto  replied  that  he  and  all  his  followers  were  sinners,  but  they 
would  supplicate  the  God  of  mercy.  A  large  pine  cross  was  made,  and 
raised  on  a  high  hill.  The  whole  army  formed  in  line,  and  marched  in 
solemn  procession  towards  the  sacred  emblem  of  man's  salvation.  The  priests 
walked  before,  chanting  the  Litany  of  the  Saints,  while  the  soldiers  responded. 
The  chief  took  his  place  beside  the  governor,  and  thousands  of  Indians 
crowded  around.  Prayers  were  offered  up  at  the  cross,  and  the  imposing  cere- 
mony closed  with  the  lofty  strains  of  the  Te  Deum.  Rain  fell  the  next  night, 
to  the  great  joy  of  the  Indians. 

Three  years  of  unceasing  toil,  hardship,  and  disappointment  now  began 
to  tell  on  the  rugged  frame  and  lofty  spirit  of  De  Soto.  Assailed  by  fresh 
disasters,  he  was  touched  to  the  heart  at  the  suffering  of  his  diminished  but 
faithful  followers.  A  raging  fever  seized  him,  and  his  days  drew  rapidly  to 
a  close.  But  he  met  death  like  a  fearless  Catholic  soldier.  He  made  his  will, 
bade  an  affectionate  adieu  to  his  officers  and  men,  and  having  made  a  last 
humble  confession,  his  soul  calmly  passed  away,  amid  the  tears  of  the  whole 
army,  on  the  2ist  of  May,  1542. 

"  And  thus  died  Hernando  de  Soto,"  writes  the  historian  of  early 
Florida "  o^e  of  the  boldest  and  bravest  of  the  many  brave  leaders  who 


I34  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

figured  in  the  first  discoveries,  and  distinguished  themselves  in  the  wild  war- 
fare of  the  Western  World.  How  proud  and  promising  had  been  the  com- 
mencement of  his  career — how  humble  and  helpless  its  close!  Cut  off  in  the 
vigor  and  manhood  of  his  days,  he  was  but  forty-two  years  old  when  he 
expired."  He  was  a  true  knight,  "  without  fear  and  without  reproach." 

As  the  hostile  savages  might  dishonor  the  body  of  the  governor,  if  buried 
on  land,  his  officers  formed  a  new  design.  An  immense  oak  was  cut  down. 
A  space  large  enough  for  the  body  was  scooped  out  of  the  trunk,  and  planks 
nailed  over  the  opening.  This  was  De  Soto's  coffin.  At  the  dead  of  night, 
in  the  midst  of  silence,  a  few  boats  were  rowed  to  the  centre  of  the  river,  and 
slowly  and  sadly  the  rude  coffin  was  lowered  to  its  strange  resting-place.  As 
it  sank,  the  sorrowing  stream  took  the  precious  remains  in  pity  to  its  breast. 
The  discoverer  of  the  great  river  slept  beneath  its  waters.  His  successor, 
Muscoso,  after  trying  in  vain  to  reach  Mexico  by  land,  fled  down  the  river, 
hotly  pursued  by  the  natives.  A  small  party  reached  Tampico,  but  every 
clergyman  had  perished,  and  no  mention  is  made  of  any  attempt  to  found  a 
mission. 

Another  attempt  to  christianize  the  Indians  of  Florida  was  made  by  a 
Dominican,  Father  Louis  Cancer.  He  was  a  native  of  Saragossa,  Spain,  and 
began  his  labors  in  America  as  a  missionary  in  Mexico.  While  there  he 
heard  much  of  the  fierce  tribes  of  Florida,  and  ardently  desired  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  them.  Proceeding  to  Spain  he  obtained  the  grant  of  a  vessel  from 
the  King  for  his  pious  mission.  In  this  he  embarked  from  Mexico  for  Tampa 
Bay,  with  two  associates,  Fathers  Beteta  and  Garcia;  and  one  other,  Father 
Diego  de  Penalosa,  who  had  joined  them.  The  vessel  missed  the  intended 
port,  but  reached  the  coast  of  Florida  in  about  the  twenty-ninth  degree  of 
latitude  on  the  eve  of  Ascension  Day.  After  seeking  the  port  for  some  davs 
and  landing  from  time  to  time,  Father  Diego  went  ashore,  followed  by  Can- 
cer, an  interpreter,  and  one  other,  in  order  to  confer  with  the  Indians.  Amid 
the  dusky  children  of  the  everglades  they  knelt  and  commended  the  enterprise 
to  God,  then  rose  and  began  their  intercourse  with  the  natives.  Presents 
soon  won  esteem  and  friendship,  and  as  the  long-sought  harbor  was  now 
ascertained  to  be  only  a  day's  sail  distant,  it  was  agreed  that  Father  Diego, 
with  a  Spaniard,  and  the  Indian  woman  who  had  acted  as  interpreter,  should 
remain  on  shore,  while  the  rest  proceeded  to  the  port  by  sea. 

So  slowly,  however,  did  their  vessel  move  that  they  did  not  reach  the 
desired  haven  till  the  festival  of  Corpus  Christi.  Here,  too,  friendly  relations 


EARLY  SPANISH  MISSIONS. 


'35 


were  opened  with  the  natives  by  Father  Cancer;  and  the  interpreter  arrived, 
announcing  that  Father  Diego  was  at  the  cacique's  hut.  On  his  returning  to 
the  vessel  Cancer  found  all  thrown  into  perplexity  by  the  arrival  of  a  Spaniard 
who  proved  to  be  a  survivor  of  De  Soto's  expedition,  and  who  had  been  for 
many  years  a  slave  among  the  Indians.  He  warned  the  missionaries  to 
beware  of  the  Indians,  and  to  their  amazement  declared  that  Father  Diego  and 
his  companion  had  been  already  butchered  by  the  savages,  with  all  kinds  of 
ceremony  and  addresses.  "All  this  was  indeed  terrible,"  says  Cancer,  "and 
very  afflicting  to  us  all,  but  not  surprising;  such  things  cannot  but  happen  in 
enterprises  for  the  extension  of  the  faith.  I 
expected  nothing  less.  How  often  have  I 
reflected  on  the  execution  of  this  enterprise, 
and  felt  that  we  could  not  succeed  in  it  with- 
out losing  much  blood.  So  the  Apostles 
did,  and  at  this  price  alone  can  faith  and  re- 
ligion be  introduced." 

Many  were  now  in  favor  of  abandoning 
the  project,  but  Cancer  resolved  to  remain 
alone,  if  necessary,  hoping  by  mildness  and 
presents  to  win  the  favor  of  the  Indians. 
On  the  24th  of  June  he  remained  on  board 
to  draw  up  an  account,  which  is  still  extant, 
and  to  prepare  what  he  deemed  necessary  for 
his  new  mission.  Storms  for  a  day  prevented 
his  landing,  but  on  the  26th  he  quitted  the 
vessel,  accompanied  by  Fathers  Garcia  and 
Beteta,  and  when  near  the  shore  sprang  out,  and,  not  heeding  their  entreaties 
and  remonstrances,  proceeded  up  the  steep  bank.  The  Indians  looked  on,  but 
gave  no  sign  of  welcome.  Then,  doubtless,  Cancer  realized  all  his  danger; 
he  knelt  for  a  moment  in  prayer,  but  an  Indian  approached,  and,  seizing  him 
by  the  arm  led  him  off.  A  crowd  soon  gathered  around,  his  hat  was  torn  off, 
and  a  heavy  blow  of  a  club  stretched  him  lifeless  on  the  shore.  He  uttered  but 
one  cry,  "  Oh  !  my  God  !  "  for  in  an  instant  the  savages  had  covered  him  with 
mortal  wounds,  and  rushing  to  the  water's  edge  drove  back  the  rest  with  a 
shower  of  arrows.  Sadly  the  surviving  missionaries  drew  off,  and  as  they 
beheld  the  bleeding  scalp  of  their  devoted  brother  held  aloft,  lamented  that  his 
glorious  plan,  crowned  with  success  in  Vera  Paz,  had  failed  in  Florida.  Cooler 


THE    MARTYR   MISSIONARY. 


I36  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE, 

minds  may  treat  as  madness  the  conduct  of  Cancer,  but  in  the  whole  history  of 
our  missions  there  is  not  a  nobler  episode  than  the  attempt  of  this  true  Domini- 
can, willing  to  shed  no  blood  but  his  own  in  winning  sinners  from  error,  and 
seeking  in  an  unarmed  vessel,  and  with  an  unarmed  company,  to  achieve  the 
peaceful  conquest  of  land  already  deluged  in  blood. 

The  next  missionaries  in  Florida  were  a  number  of  Dominicans  thrown 
on  the  coast  by  shipwreck  in  1553.  A  large  vessel  carrying  no  less  than  a 
thousand  souls,  sailed  from  Vera  Cruz,  and  after  leaving  Havana  was  driven 
on  the  shore  of  Florida.  Seven  hundred  perished ;  three  hundred  reached 
the  hostile  coast;  among  them,  five  Dominicans,  Fathers  Diego  de  la  Cruz, 
Ferdinand  Mendez,  and  John  Ferrer,  with  two  lay-brothers,  John  and  Mark 
de  Mena.  The  survivors  had  an  able  and  energetic  commander,  who  saved 
a  cannon  with  ammunition,  and  immediately  began  his  march  for  Tampico, 
then  the  frontier  town  of  Mexico.  His  way  lay  through  hostile  tribes,  but  as 
long  as  he  retained  his  cannon  he  kept  them  at  bay;  at  last,  however,  he 
unfortunately  lost  it  and  much  of  his  ammunition  by  the  upsetting  of  a  raft 
while  crossing  a  rapid  river.  From  that  time  their  numbers  were  rapidly 
thinned.  When  they  reached  the  Del  Norte,  the  prior,  Father  Diego,  had 
died  of  his  wounds,  Father  Ferdinand  of  hardship,  Brother  John  de  Mena 
nad  been  shot  through  the  body,  and  Brother  Mark ,  pierced  by  seven  arrows, 
had  been  left  for  dead.  Father  John  Ferrer  had  disappeared,  having  been 
taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians.  To  this  religious,  a  man  of  eminent  piety  and 
sanctity,  common  report  had  long  attributed  prophetic  power.  Before  they 
sailed  from  Mexico  he  had  said:  "Almost  all  of  us  will  die,  and  I  shall  remain 
hidden  in  distant  parts,  where  I  shall  live  for  several  years  in  complete  health." 
This  now  occurred  to  all,  and  as  his  prediction  of  the  fearful  loss  had  been 
realized,  it  was  generally  believed  that  he  remained  some  years  among  the 
Indians,  where  he  doubtless  lost  no  occasion  of  instilling  into  their  minds  the 
truths  of  Christianity;  but  no  tidings  of  him  ever  reached  the  Spanish  colony. 

Strange,  too,  was  the  fate  of  Brother  Mark  de  Mena.  He  had,  we  have 
seen,  been  left  for  dead;  but  recovering  from  the  loss  of  blood,  he  drew  out 
the  arrows,  and  dressing  his  wounds  as  well  as  he  could,  pursued,  and  at  last 
overtook  the  fugitives.  The  exertion  was,  however,  too  great;  he  soon  sank, 
and  his  companions,  unable  to  carry  him,  buried  him  to  the  neck  in  the  sand 
and  continued  their  flight,  but  soon  after  were  all  cut  to  pieces.  Brother 
Mark,  meanwhile,  had  rallied  again;  he  rose  from  his  grave,  and  at  last,  with 
wounds  corrupted  and  swarming  with  worms/reached  Tampico,  sole  survivor 


EARLY  SPANISH  MISSIONS.  137 

of  the  numbers  who  crowded  the  deck  of  the  noble  vessel  that  had  left  San 
Juan  de  Ulua  so  short  a  time  before,  radiant  with  hope. 

This  severe  loss  induced  the  government  to  think  seriously  of  subduing 
and  colonizing  the  northern  shore  of  the  Mexican  gulf,  and  in  1559,  Don 
Tristan  de  Luna  was  sent  with  1500  men  in  thirteen  vessels  to  accomplish  it. 
As  usual,  missionaries  attended  the  expedition.  This  time,  too,  they  were 
Dominicans,  Father  Pedro  de  Feria  being  vicar- provincial.  The  others  were 
Father  Domingo  de  la  Annunciation,  Father  Dominic  de  Salazar,  who  died 
first  bishop  of  Manilla  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  Father  John  Mazuel  .s, 
Father  Dominic  of  St.  Dominic,  and  Father  Bartholomew  Matheos,  once 
commander  of  the  artillery  under  Pizarro,  and  a  close  prisoner  in  the  subse- 
quent troubles,  who,  escaping,  turned  his  back  on  an  ungrateful  world,  and 
entering  a  convent  became  a  fervent  religious.  As  Don  Tristan's  fleet 
approached  the  fated  shore  a  storm  arose  by  which  the  vessels  were  driven  on 
the  shoals,  and  many  were  lost.  Among  those  who  perished  in  the  ship- 
wreck was  Father  Bartholomew.  The  survivors  landed,  and  Tristan,  collect- 
ing what  had  escaped,  sent  back  a  vessel  for  aid,  and  with  a  stout  heart 
resolved  to  begin  his  colony.  His  troops  revolted,  and  he  himself  hearing 
flattering  accounts  of  Coosa,  a  kingdom  in  the  interior,  marched  to  the  country 
of  the  Creeks,  attended  by  Father  Dominic  of  the  Annunciation  and  Father 
Salazar.  The  Creeks  received  the  new-comers  as  friends,  and  an  alliance 
was  soon  formed.  To  aid  his  new  allies,  the  Spanish  commander  marched 
westward  to  attack  the  Natchez  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  The  mis- 
sionaries accompanied  him,  and  on  his  return  to  Coosa  labored  earnestly  to 
convert  the  friendly  Creeks,  but  their  efforts  were  not  crowned  with  success, 
and  only  a  few  baptisms  of  dying  infants  and  adults  rewarded  their  zeal. 

Meanwhile  the  other  missionaries  who  had  been  left  at  the  coast  returned 
to  Mexico  to  urge  expeditious  relief.  The  remainder  of  the  party  at  the  coast 
had  become  divided  into  factions,  and  these  increased  after  the  commander's 
return, as  he  on  his  part  showed  astern  unbending  spirit;  but  the  missionaries, 
true  to  their  calling,  restored  peace,  by  a  touching  appeal  to  the  faith  and 
religious  feeling  of  Don  Tristan  on  Palm  Sunday  in  1561.  Two  days  after 
the  reconciliation  the  long  expected  relief  arrived,  with  the  new  governor  of 
Florida  and  three  new  missionaries,  Father  John  de  Contreras,  the  lay- 
brother,  Matthew  of  the  Mother  of  God,  and  Father  Gregory  de  Beteta,  the 
companion  of  Cancer,  who,  after  having  renounced  the  see  of  Carthagena, 
was  hastening  to  Spain,  when  he  heard  of  the  Florida  expedition,  and  at  once 


I38  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

joined  it  to  labor  in  the  field  of  his  early  choice.  But  when  the  new  governor 
beheld  how  little  had  been  done,  he  resolved  to  abandon  Florida,  to  the  great 
joy  of  those  who  had  long  urged  Tristan  to  adopt  that  course.  Angel, 
accordingly,  soon  set  sail,  taking  with  him  most  of  the  Spaniards  and  several 
of  the  missionaries,  who,  disheartened  by  their  fruitless  labors  among  the 
Creeks,  despaired  of  success.  Don  Tristan,  unbroken  by  disaster,  remained 
with  a  few  resolute  men,  and  the  intrepid  Father  Salazar  and  Brother  Mat- 
thew, who  both  resolved  to  labor  on.  Tristan  wrote  a  pressing  letter  to  the 
viceroy  to  urge  him  to  proceed  with  the  projected  settlement,  but  the  reports 
spread  by  the  disaffected  members  of  the  expedition  were  such  that  a  vessel 
was  sent  back  with  positive  orders  for  Don  Tristan  to  return.  To  this  com- 
mand he  yielded,  and  the  colony  and  mission  of  Santa  Cruz  in  Pensacola  Bay 
were  abandoned. 

The  motive  which  impelled  the  attempt  made  by  Don  Tristan  de  Luna 
soon  induced  a  more  successful  one,  which  resulted  in  the  settlement  of  St. 
Augustine.  Vessel  after  vessel  was  lost  on  the  coast  or  among  the  dangerous 
keys  of  Florida,  and  in  1561,  a  storm  scattered  the  great  India  fleet  which 
bore  from  Mexico  the  treasures  that  colony  annually  poured  into  the  lap  of 
Spain.  One  of  the  vessels  disappeared — whether  driven  on  the  coa  t  or 
swallowed  up  in  -the  ocean,  none  could  tell.  In  it  were  lost  the  only  son  and 
many  a  relative  and  retainer  of  the  brave  and  energetic  Pedro  Melendez,  the 
first  naval  commander  of  his  day.  Long  had  his  banner  floated  on  the 
Mediterranean,  the  Atlantic,  and  the  North  Sea,  and  well  had  he  served,  at 
his  own  expense,  his  royal  master  against  the  corsairs  and  the  French;  but 
like  Columbus,  when  his  broken  health  and  resources  entitled  him  to  a  rich 
reward,  his  cup  of  misfortune  was  filled  to  the  brim.  Unable  to  wait  and 
search  for  his  son,  he  proceeded  on  his  voyage,  intending  to  fit  out  an  expedi- 
tion for  that  purpose  as  soon  as  he  arrived  in  Spain;  but  on  reaching  Seville, 
he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  on  a  frivolous  charge,  made  by  some  officers, 
who  little  brooked  the  strict  discipline  of  the  old  admiral.  In  that  hour  all 
turned  against  him.  Bail  was  refused,  his  services  and  paternal  feelings  were 
alike  forgotten,  and  every  delay  was  made  in  the  process  against  him.  For 
nearly  two  years  he  lingered  in  prison.  He  then  sought  the  presence  of 
Philip  II.,  who  had  known  him  long  and  well.  As  a  sole  reward  for  his 
past  services,  he  asked  permission  to  sail  in  search  of  his  son ;  thence  to  return 
to  his  castle,  and  spend  his  remaining  years  in  the  service  of  God.  Hope 
never  forsook  him :  he  believed  his  son  to  be  among  the  Indians,  or  in  the 


EARLY  SPANISH  MISSIONS,  1 39 

hands  of  French  pirates;  and,  if  alive,  he  despaired  not  of  rescuing  the  hope 
of  his  old  Asturian  house.  Philip  favored  his  request,  and  offered  him  a 
grant  of  Florida,  with  the  title  of  adelantado,  but  on  very  onerous  conditions. 
These  Melendez  accepted,  and  employed  the  remnant  of  his  property  to  fit 
out  an  expedition.  By  the  charter  which  he  received,  he  was  to  take  out 
twelve  friars  and  four  Jesuits,  as  missionaries  for  Florida. 

While  the  adelantado  was  preparing  for  the  expedition,  news  arrived 
that  a  French  post  was  actually  formed  on  the  coast  of  Florida;  this  gave  a 
new  character  to  the  whole  affair,  and  the  first  object  now  was  to  destroy 
that  settlement.  To  attain  this  object  he  increased  his  forces,  and  sailed  from 
Cadiz,  in  June,  1565.  After  a  stormy  passage  that  scattered  his  fleet,  he 
touched  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John's  River,  in  Florida.  Near  by  lay  Fort 
Caroline  and  the  little  French  settlement. 

The  Spanish  admiral  gave  unsuccessful  chase  to  a  number  of  French 
ships  in  the  vicinity,  and  then  sailed  towards  the  south  along  the  coast,  lie 
entered  a  small  inlet,  and  threw  up  a  rude  fort.  It  was  the  foundation  of  St. 
Augustine — to-day  the  oldest  town  in  this  Republic. 

Then  follows  the  woeful  tale  of  blood  and  butchery.  Melendez 
"  marched  against  Fort  Caroline,  took  it  by  surprise,  and  put  the  garrison  to 
the  sword,  only  Laudonniere  and  a  few  of  his  followers  escaping.  Ribault 
and  most  of  his  men  afterwards  surrendered,  and  were  massacred  in  cold 
blood ;  a  remnant  of  the  Frenchmen  were  captured  and  sent  to  the  galleys." 

"  It  was  he,"  says  Parkman,  "  who  crushed  French  Protestantism  in 
America." 

For  years  St.  Augustine  remained  the  only  European  settlement  within 
the  present  lin.its  of  the  United  States.  It  was  the  headquarters  of  mission- 
ary effort.  The  Franciscans,  Dominicans,  and  Jesuits  toiled  like  apostles 
among  the  wild,  dusky  children  of  the  everglades.  Many  watered  the  soil  of 
Florida  with  their  blood.  Not  a  few  were  scalped  and  eaten  by  the  savages. 

The  priests  who  had  been  chosen  to  accompany  the  expedition  of 
Melendez,  though  all  did  not  sail  or  arrive  in  Florida,  were  eleven  Francis- 
cans, one  Father  of  the  order  of  Mercy,  a  secular  priest,  and  eight  Jesuits. 
The  superior  of  the  latter  was  Father  Peter  Martinez,  a  native  of  Feruel,  in 
the  north  of  Spain.  Owing  to  an  unexpected  delay,  however,  these  fathers 
did  not  sail  with  the  admiral,  but  took  passage,  several  months  later,  in  another 
expedition.  Before  departing,  Father  Martinez  addressed  a  long  letter  to  the 
celebrated  St.  Francis  Borgia,  then  general  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 


I4o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE, 

"  By  the  mercy  of  God,"  he  writes,  "  I  undertake  this  voyage  with 
courage,  and  with  entire  confidence  in  His  grace,  having  often  devoted  my 
life  and  my  blood  to  His  service  in  the  mission  which  obedience  assigns  me. 
Rest  assured,  dear  father,  that  we  shall  employ  all  our  strength,  with  the 
assistance  of  divine  grace,  in  bringing  those  provinces  to  the  knowledge  of 
their  Creator  and  Redeemer — that  the  souls  redeemed  by  the  precious  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ  may  not  perish  forever.  .  .  . 

"Gladly,  indeed,  would  we  have  received  the  benediction  of  our  most 
Holy  Father  Pius  V.,  humbly  prostrate  at  his  feet.  But  as  this  was  not  in 
our  power,  we  were  sufficiently  consoled  by  the  letter  which  informed  us 
that  he  wished  us  well,  and,  though  absent,  conferred  upon  us  especial  favors; 
and  your  paternity  can  assure  him,  in  our  name,  that  besides  myself — who  am 
bound  to  him  by  the  vow  of  my  profession — faithful  sons  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church  are  about  to  part  for  the  acquisition  of  a  new  flock,  for  which  end 
they  are  ready,  with  the  aid  of  divine  grace,  to  shed  their  blood ;  and  they 
will  account  it  a  very  great  favor  of  God  to  lay  down  their  lives  for  the 
spiritual  advancement  of  those  whom  they  may  gain  to  Christ." 

When  the  vessel  in  which  the  fathers  sailed  approached  the  coast  of 
Florida,  it  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  squadron,  taking  a  northern  direc- 
tion. The  captain  on  nearing  the  shore  desired  a  few  men  to  land  in  a  yawl, 
and  explore  the  country.  All  refused  to  hazard  their  lives  among  the  fierce 
savages.  Finally  about  a  dozen  Belgians  and  S^  aniards  offered  to  comply,  in 
case  Father  Martinez  was  allowed  to  accompany  them.  He  was  informed  of 
this.  The  fearless  priest,  moved  by  charity,  was  the  first  to  leap  into  the  boat. 
The  exploring  party  landed,  but  had  scarcely  done  so,  when -a  sudden  storm 
arose,  driving  the  ship  which  they  had  left  far  from  the  shore. 

The  position  of  the  castaways  was  extremely  perilous.  Far  and  wide 
nothing  met  their  gaze  but  a  dreary  wilderness — on  one  side  the  rough  and 
threatening  ocean,  on  the  other  vast  and  unknown  solitudes!  On  this  savage 
coast  they  waited  ten  days,  thinking  that  perhaps  some  other  vessel  might 
present  itself.  "  Occasionally  they  wandered  about,"  says  Tanner,  "  to  gather 
a  few  herbs,  Father  Martinez  at  their  head,  bearing  the  image  of  Christ 
crucified,  and,  as  some  of  his  companions  afterwards  related,  performing 
prodigies  of  charity." 

Would  space  permit,  pages  might  be  filled  with  the  adventures  of  the 
brave  Jesuit  and  his  sorely  tried  companions  in  their  efforts  to  reach  a  Spanish 
settlement.  At  one  of  the  rivers  which  they  crossed  the  kindness  of  Fathei 


EARLY  SPANISH  MISSIONS. 


141 


Martinez  in  waiting  for  two  tardy  Belgians  caused  his  own  death.  Rushing 
to  the  boat,  a  troop  of  hostile  savages  seized  the  heroic  priest,  forced  him  on 
shore  and  began  their  murderous  work.  With  hands  uplifted  to  Heaven,  he 
received  the  repeated  blows  of  a  heavy  club  until  life  was  extinct!  His  death 
occurred  on  the  28th  of  September,  1566,  within  about  three  leagues  of  the 
mouth  of  the  St. John's  River.  And  thus  the  good  and  fearless  Father  Peter 
Martinez,  the  first  Jesuit  who  stepped  on  the  soil  of  America,  baptized  it  with 
his  martyr-blood.  As  we  shall  see  later  on,  he  but  headed  a  long  roll  from 
his  illustrious  order  who  freely  gave  up  their  lives  to  establish  the  faith 
in  America. 


TH6  FAITH  IN   FLORIDA. 


FATHER  ROGER  AMONG  THE  CREEKS.  —  FLORIDA  A  JESUIT  PROVINCE.  —  THE 
FATHERS  INVADE  CAROLINA.  —  SAVAGES  OF  SUPERIOR  QUALITY.  —  ESTABLISH- 
MENT OF  A  "  REDUCTION." — SATAN  WINS  A  PREFERENCE. — ARRIVAL  OF  FATHER 
SEGURA. — THE  CONVERTED  CHIEF  OF  AXACAN.  —  TREACHERY  OF  A  GUIDE. — 
HUNGER  AND  DESERTION  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.  —  MARTYRDOM  OF  FATHERS 
SEGURA  AND  QUIROS. — DEATH  OF  A  GREAT  ADMIRAL. — ANOTHER  FRANCISCAN 
BAND. — FATHER  CORPA  REPROVES  WICKEDNESS. — THE  REVENGEFUL  CHIEF. — 
VARIOUS  MISSIONS  ATTACKED.  —  Two  FRANCISCAN  VICTIMS.  —  MASS  BEFORE 
MARTYRDOM. — MURDER  AND  PILLAGE. — FATHER  AVILA  IN  SLAVERY. — ESCAPE 
TO  ST.  AUGUSTINE.  —  THIRTY  HOURS  IN  A  TREE.  —  MISSION  CLOSED  AND  RE- 
OPENED.—  ENCROACHMENTS  OF  THE  BRITISH.  —  WAR  AMONG  THE  TRIBES. — 
MISSION  WORK  SET  BACK. — THE  SEMINOLE  WAR. — GLANCES  AT  NEW  MEXICO 
AND  TEXAS. 

r 

(HE  death  of  Father  Peter  Martinez,  S.  J.,  was  a  severe  blow  to 

the  toilsome  and  dangerous  Florida  mission,  not  only  from  the  fact 
of  his  being  the  superior,  but  also  as  his  abilities  were  of  a  rare, 
order,  and  his  zeal  and  virtues  the  theme  of  general  admiration 
On  learning  of  his  martyrdom  his  associates,  Father  Roger  and 
Brother  Villareal,  retired  to  Havana,  and  spent  the  winter  in  study- 
ing the  language  of  the  part  of  Florida  near  Cape  Connaveral.  Of  this 
dialect  they  drew  up  vocabularies,  by  the  help  of  the  natives  then  in  Havana, 
whom  they  at  the  same  time  instructed  in  the  faith.  In  February,  they 
crossed  over  to  that  province  and  began  a  mission. 

The  people  among  whom  they  now  labored  being  evidently  a  branch  of 
the  Creeks,  were  far  from  having  made  any  progress  in  the  arts  of  life.  Like 
the  inhabitants  of  the  West  India  Islands,  they  were  entirely  naked,  the 
women  alone  wearing  a  scanty  apron  of  bkins  or  grass  —  proof  that  modesty 

142 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA.  143 

is  inherent  in  the  sex.  Their  houses  were  constructed  of  upright  logs,  meet- 
ing at  the  top;  their  beds  were  a  kind  of  raised  platform,  under  which  a  fire 
could  be  made,  to  dispel  the  mosquitoes  by  the  smoke.  Polygamy  was 
universal,  or  rather  marriage  as  a-permanent  state  was  unknown.  Their  arms 
and  utensils  were  of  the  rudest  description,  and  their  wandering  disposition 
and  almost  entire  neglect  of  agriculture,  presented  great  obstacles  to  the 
introduction  of  the  faith.  The  Jesuits,  however,  applied  themselves  earnestly 
to  the  great  work,  and  in  response  to  their  appeals  St.  Francis  Borgia 
formed  Florida  into  a  vice-province  of  the  order.  Father  John  Baptist 
Segura,  of  Toledo,  Spain,  was  selected  as  vice-provincial,  and  with  him  were 
sent  out  two  other  priests  and  several  lay  brothers.  On  arriving  the  vice- 
provincial  held  consultations  with  the  missionaries  already  on  the  ground,  and 
full  of  zeal,  formed  a  plan  of  action.  The  education  of  young  Indians  in 
Christian  principles  was  deemed  the  most  efficacious  means  of  advancing  the 
mission ;  and  Father  Roger  and  Brother  Villareal  being  already  acquainted 
with  the  language,  were  appointed  to  begin  at  Havana  an  Indian  school  for 
Florida  children,  while  the  vice-provincial  and  his  companions  proceeded  to 
Florida  to  make  their  novitiate  in  missionary  life,  and  acquire,  amid  the  hard- 
ships of  an  apostolic  career,  the  rudiments  of  the  language.  They  accord- 
ingly took  post  at  various  points  in  the  province  of  Carlos,  in  Tequesta,  still 
farther  north,  and  in  Tocobaga,  which  lay  on  Apalachee  Bay.  Here  they 
labored  for  some  time,  studying  the  language  and  manners  of  the  people, 
preaching  by  interpreters,  and  of  course  with  little  success. 

In  1566,  Father  Roger  was  sent  to  St.  Helena,  or  Orista,  as  it  was  then 
called,  and  after  giving  the  colonists  established  in  that  cradle  of  Carolina  the 
succors  of  religion,  struck  inland  with  three  companions,  to  announce  the 
gospel  to  the  native  tribes.  Here  this  father  met  a  race  far  superior  to  those 
whom  he  had  previously  encountered,  and  who  were,  in  all  probability,  a 
branch  of  the  Cherokees.  Superior  to  the  Creeks  in  many  respects,  they 
were  a  sedate  and  thoughtful  race,  and  dwelling  in  peace  in  their  native 
mountains,  whence  they  defied  their  enemies  at  the  north  and  south,  they  cul- 
tivated their  fields,  and  lived  in  prosperity  and  plenty.  Their  morals  were 
far  superior  to  those  of  the  lowland  races;  polygamy  was  unknown;  and 
men  and  women,  by  their  very  aspect,  gave  tokens  of  a  higher  state  of  culture. 

Inspired  with  hopes,  Roger  devoted  himself  to  the  language  of  the  new- 
found tribes  with  such  assiduity,  that  in  six  months  he  had  mastered  its  diffi- 
culties, and  was  able  to  announce  intelligibly  to  his  neophytes  the  mysteries 


144 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


A   MISSIONARY   TEACHER. 


of  our  religion.  While  in  their  amazed  ears  he  proclaimed  doctrines  never 
heard  before,  of  a  single  almighty  Deity,  who  rewarded  and  punished  as  he 
had  created  man,  and  who  reserved  for  them 
all  mansions  of  bliss  or  woe,  which  it  was  theirs 
to  choose,  they  listened  with  attention  ;  and 
questions,  curious,  indeed,  yet  earnest,  showed 
that  the  Indian  had  become  interested  in  the 
new  doctrine.  The  fond  hopes  of  the  mission- 
ary soon  vanished,  however.  The  time  had 
come  for  gathering  their  winter  store  and  all 
plunged  into  the  woods,  leaving  their  teacher 
baffled  for  the  moment,  but  still  courageous. 
His  efforts  were  renewed  when  the  tribe  assem- 
bled again  in  the  following  year,  but  with  equal 
want  of  success.  The  missions  which  had  been 
renewed  among  the  Creek  tribes  had  proved  §qually  ineffectual,  and  the 
Jesuits  were  about  to  abandon  so  unpromising  a  field.  No  hope  of  martyr- 
dom, even,  roused  their  zeal  to  new  efforts;  they  decided  that  the  mission  was 
impracticable,  and  so  announced  it  to  their  superiors  in  Europe. 

The  Florida  mission  had,  however,  attracted  the  eyes  of  the  Christian 
world.  Not  only  the  illustrious  head  of  their  order,  the  sainted  Borgia  and 
the  Spanish  monarch,  still  urged  the  great  work  of  Christianizing  the  natives  of 
the  colony,  but  the  sovereign  pontiff  himself  addressed  a  brief  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  Florida  to  excite  his  zeal  in  the  cause.  In  this  earliest  document  from 
the  Holy  See,  relative  to  the  conversion  of  our  Indian  tribes,  and  their  ad- 
vancement in  civilization,  St.  Pius  V.  lays  down  a  doctrine  now  sanctioned  by 
the  experience  of  three  centuries.  "  Nothing,"  says  he,  "  is  more  important 
in  the  conversion  of  these  Indians  and  idolaters,  than  to  endeavor  by  all 
means  to  prevent  scandal  being  given  by  the  vices  and  immoralities  of  such  as 
goto  those  western  parts."  Where  this  moral  barrier,  spoken  of  by  the  holy 
pontiff,  was  successfully  raised,  the  Indian  prospered;  where,  as  in  our 
English  colonies,  none  such  existed,  the  tribes  dwindled  away,  contagious 
vices  destroying  them  more  silently  or  surely  than  war  or  aggression. 

Ere  the  letter  of  St.  Pius  reached  Florida,  the  courageous  Father  Roger 
made  one  more  effort  to  plant  a  mission.  He  returned  to  his  post,  but  found 
his  house  and  chapel  destroyed.  In  vain  he  preached  the  word  of  truth. 
Hopeless  of  obtaining  conviction  directly,  he  adopted  anew  plan:  by  extolling 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA.  145 

the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  a  thorough  and  regular  cultivation  of 
the  ground,  he  induced  the  natives  to  attempt  it,  and  thus  founded  what  was 
termed  a  "Reduction."  Lands  were  chosen;  agricultural  implements  pro- 
cured;  twenty  commodious  houses  raised;  and  the  Indians  had  already  made 
some  progress,  sufficient  to  excite  the  most  favorable  hopes,  when  all  again 
vanished.  Their  natural  fickleness  prevailed;  deaf  to  the  entreaties  and  re- 
monstrances of  Roger,  they  abandoned  their  village  and  returned  to  the  woods. 
Less  anxious  to  gain  proselytes  to  civilization  than  children  to  the  Church,  the 
missionary  followed  them  to  their  forests,  and  continued  to  instruct  all  he  met 
in  the  various  points  of  Christian  doctrine.  After  eight  months'  application, 
he  judged  many  sufficiently  instructed  to  receive  baptism ;  and  calling  a  coun- 
cil of  the  chiefs  proposed  that  the  tribe  should  renounce  the  devil  and  embrace 
the  new  faith. 

A  scene  of  confusion  ensued.  "  The  devil  is  the  best  thing  in  the  world," 
was  the  unanimous  cry  of  the  leaders.  "  We  adore  him;  he  makes  men  val- 
iant," they  exclaimed;  and  swayed  by  a  few,  the  multitude  resolved  not  to 
renounce  Satan,  and  publicly  rejected  the  faith. 

Father  Roger  then  proceeded  to  other  tribes,  but  as  a  missionary  effected 
nothing.  Returning  to  Orista  he  found  the  Indians  gathered  at  a  great  festi- 
val on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Dulce.  Resolved  to  make  a  final  effort,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  place  of  their  festivity,  and  again  raised  his  voice  among  them. 
Recounting  his  labors  for  their  good,  his  many  acts  of  kindness  and  charity, 
he  bade  them  judge  by  these  of  the  sincerity  of  his  affections  for  them.  In 
return,  he  asked  but  one  favor — their  acceptance  of  the  faith  which  he 
preached,  and  which  they  all  acknowledged  to  be  good  and  holy.  This  was 
his  sole  object,  as  it  was  their  good.  If  they  refused  it  he  must  depart  forever. 
Scarcely  had  he  ceased  speaking  when  a  chief  arose,  and  by  a  few  short,  furi- 
ous words,  roused  all  minds  to  madness.  In  the  trouble  which  ensued  the 
missionary  nearly  lost  his  life,  and  with  difficulty  saved  his  church.  Bidding, 
therefore,  farewell  to  his  flock,  whom  he  promised  to  revisit  at  their  first  sign 
of  acquiescence  in  his  wishes,  he  returned  to  the  fort  of  St.  Helena  in  1570, 
and,  reporting  to  the  governor  the  failure  of  his  undertaking,  proceeded  to 
Havana  with  Father  Sedano  and  some  Indian  boys. 

At  this  moment  arrived  the  letter  of  Pope  St.  Pius  and  those  from  St. 
Francis  Borgia  to  the  Jesuits  in  Florida,  encouraging  them  to  persevere,  and 
sending  to  aid  them  Father  Louis  de  Quiros  and  two  scholastics.  These  were 
intended  to  take  part  in  a  new  mission  already  projected  in  Spain.  The  chief 


I46  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  Axacan,  who  had  accompanied  the  Dominicans  to  Spain,  asked  leave  to  re- 
turn to  use  his  influence  iruconverting  his  tribe.  As  all  now  felt  the  necessity 
of  removing  the  missions  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Spanish  posts,  his  offer  was 
accepted,  and  he  agreed  to  be  the  guide  of  the  missionaries  who  should  be 
sent  to  the  banks  of  the  Chesapeake,  or  St.  Mary's  Bay. 

Father  Segura  was  delighted  at  the  prospect  thus  opened,  and  resolved 
to  undertake  himself  the  new  and  promising  mission.  To  aid  him,  he 
selected,  besides  Father  Quiros,  several  lay  brothers  with  some  Indian  youths, 
who  had  been  educated  in  the  academy  at  Havana.  All  were  soon  at  St. 
Helena,  the  frontier  post  of  the  Spanish  colony,  whence  a  single  vessel  bore 
them  to  St.  Mary's  Bay,  whose  borders,  in  the  names  of  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land, seem  to  chronicle  the  devotion  of  its  first  explorers  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary.  The  missionaries  landed  with  Don  Luis,  as  the  chief  was  now  called, 
and  without  a  sigh  beheld  the  vessel  stand  out  to  sea,  leaving  them,  the  only 
Europeans  for  a  thousand  miles  around. 

The  residence  of  the  tribe  to  which  Don  Luis  belonged,  cannot  be 
determined.  It  is  stated  to  have  been  placed  about  thirty-seven  or  thirty- 
seven  and  a  half  degrees  north,  and  to  have  been  far  from  the  sea.  The 
name  is  uniformly  given  as  Axacan. 

This  inland  region  was  now  the  bourne  of  their  journey,  and  they  began 
their  march;  a  vast  tract  of  marsh  and  wood  lay  before  them,  interspersed 
with  lands  which  had  for  several  years  been  struck  with  the  curse  of  sterility; 
but,  hardened  to  toil,  they  pressed  gallantly  on,  through  many  a  winding  and 
circuitous  route,  till  the  conduct  of  Don  Luis  excited  suspicion.  Months  had 
passed,  and  yet  their  destination  was  not  reached.  At  last  he  announced  that 
his  brother's  village  was  but  twelve  miles  off,  and,  bidding  them  encamp, 
hastened  on  in  advance,  to  prepare  his  countrymen  for  their  new  guests. 
Days  now  elapsed,  as  months  had  done,  in  suspense,  and  yet  no  tidings  came 
of  Don  Luis.  Meanwhile  hunger  pressed  heavily  on  the  little  band,  whose 
only  resource  was  in  the  protection  of  heaven.  In  this  extremity  they 
addressed  earnest  prayers  to  God  to  obtain  a  change  of  the  apostate's  heart. 
The  rustic  altar  witnessed  daily  the  holy  sacrifice  offered  in  his  behalf.  At 
last  they  sent  to  him,  but  as  he  returned  evasive  answers,  Father  Quiros  set 
out,  determined  to  try  whether  a  personal  conference  would  not  effect  a 
return  in  the  misguided  man.  Don  Luis  met  him  with  hypocritical  excuses; 
and  furnishing  him  a  scanty  supply  of  provisions,  bade  him  return.  The 
dejected  missionary  and  his  companions,  Solis  and  Mendez,  turned  to  leave 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA.  147 

the  village;  but  the  apostate's  hatred  was  too  deep.  Raising  a  war  cry,  lie- 
was  answered  by  the  tribe,  and  chief  and  warrior  rushed  on  the  unsuspecting 
missionaries,  and  butchered  them  without  mercy.  Ouiros  fell  first,  his  heart 
was  pierced  by  an  arrow  from  the  apostate's  bow. 

The  suspense  of  the  other  Jesuits  was  increased  by  the  non-appearance 
of  Father  Quiros  and  his  companions;  but  the  apostate  chief  came  at  last. 
The  habit  of  Quiros,  which  enveloped  his  swarthy  frame,  told  a  tale  which 
their  hearts  had  already  whispered,  yet  feared  to  believe.  Luis  coldly 
demanded  their  hatchets,  the  only  article  in  their  possession  with  which  they 
could  defend  themselves.  These  Segura  gave  up  in  silence,  and  knelt  with 
his  companions  in  prayer.  In  a  few  moments  the  signal  was  given;  a 
butchery  ensued,  and  of  all  the  party,  only  one  escaped,  an  Indian  boy 
educated  at  Havana. 

This  martyrdom  closed  all  hopes  of  a  mission  in  Upper  Florida,  and 
led  the  Jesuits  to  abandon  the  whole  province  for  the  more  inviting  field  of 
Mexico.  Three  priests  and  four  brothers  had  fallen  victims  to  the  perfidy  of 
the  natives;  one  had  sunk  under  his  toils  and  the  climate;  and  yet  no  bene- 
ficial result  had  crowned  their  efforts. 

The  Spaniards  heard  of  the  glorious  death  of  Father  Segura  and  his 
companions  from  Alonzo,  the  Indian  boy  who  had  been  spared,  and  who, 
contriving  at  last  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the  apostate,  fled  to  the  Spanish 
post.  Strange  is  the  heart  of  man;  Luis  had  slain  the  missionaries,  yet  he 
decently  interred  them  all,  while  he  gave  the  consecrated  vessels  and  devo 
tional  objects  to  his  clansmen  to  become  the  ornaments  of  the  braves  and 
squaws  of  Virginia. 

In  1572,  Governor  Melendez  sailed  to  the  Chesapeake  in  pursuit  of  the 
murderer.  He  landed,  as  the  Jesuit  Gonzalez  had  done  the  year  before,  and 
though  he  took  some  of  the  murderers,  failed  to  seize  the  apostate,  who 
roamed  amid  the  forests.  Eight  were  executed  for  their  crime,  all  of  whom, 
under  the  instructions  of  Father  Roger,  embraced  Christianity,  and  died  bless- 
ing the  Almighty.  This  was  the  last  missionary  act  of  Father  Roger  in 
Florida.  Fain  would  he  have  gone  to  disinter  the  hallowed  remains  of  his 
martyred  brethren,  but  to  this  the  governor  would  not  consent;  and  Father 
Roger,  leaving  the  land  of  which  his  labors  had  made  him  the  first,  if  not  the 
successful,  apostle,  returned  with  the  other  missionaries  of  his  order  to  Havana, 
and  proceeding  thence  to  Mexico,  labored  there  for  many  years  with  zeal 
and  abundant  fruit. 


j^8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

A  new  band  of  missionaries  now  landed  in  Florida.  These  apparently 
were  Franciscans,  and  if  so,  their  mission  dates  properly  from  1573,  although 
others  of  their  order  must  have  been  there  occasionally  from  the  foundation 
of  St.  Augustine.  What  the  progress  of  the  colony  and  its  missions  would 
have  been  under  the  command  of  the  energetic  and  determined  Melendez, 
we  cannot  easily  judge,  but  he  was  too  great  a  naval  commander  for  the  king 
to  allow  him  to  consume  his  days  in  establishing  a  distant  colony.  Fleet 
after  fleet  had  been  confided  to  his  care,  and  he  was  now  called  upon  to 
lead  the  Great  Armada  against  England.  But  his  career  was  ended.  Amid 
the  busy  preparations,  amid  the  din  of  arsenals  and  shipyards,  Melendez 
expired  at  Corunna,  still  vigorous  and  unbroken  by  age,  in  the  height  of  his 
glory,  a  brave,  loyal  and  disinterested  naval  commander,  but  whose  fame  is 
blemished  by  one  act  of  blood.  His  death  was  a  fatal  blow  to  Spanish  colo- 
nization in  Florida.  The  northern  limit  of  the  colonies,  pushed  to  Chesapeake 
Bay  by  Melendez,  gradually  retired  to  the  St.  Mary's,  leaving  St.  Augustine 
almost  the  only  foothold  in  this  part  of  the  continent,  till  in  later  days 
Pensacola  rose  to  -check  the  French  on  the  Mississippi. 

Though  Florida  languished,  the  missions  went  on.  More  Franciscans 
were  invited  in  1592,  and  the  usual  number,  twelve,  were  sent  under  Father 
John  de  Silva  as  superior.  They  arrived  the  following  year,  and  proceeded  to 
St.  Augustine,  to  put  themselves  at  the  disposal  of  Father  Francis  Marron, 
warden  of  the  convent  of  St.  Helena  in  that  city.  Father  Marron  had 
eagerly  awaited  their  coming  to  begin  the  Indian  missions,  which  he  deemed 
now  feasible,  from  the  flattering  account  given  by  Father  Perdomo,  who  in 
the  previous  year  had  traversed  much  of  Florida.  Fathers  Peter  de  Corpa, 
Michael  de  Aunon,  Francis  de  Velascola,  and  Bias  Rodriguez,  at  once  has- 
tened to  the  troubled  province  of  Guale,  and,  after  winning  the  natives  to 
peace,  took  separate  stations  nearer  the  city.  Meanwhile  the  Mexican  father, 
Francis  Pareja,  drew  up,  in  the  language  of  the  Yamassees,  his  abridgment 
of  Christian  doctrine,  the  first  work  in  any  of  our  Indian  languages  that 
issued  from  the  press.  Father  Corpa,  at  Tolemato — the  ground  now  occupied 
by  the  cemetery  at  St.  Augustine — endeavored  to  overcome  polygamy  and 
vice,  while  Father  Bias  de  Montes,  after  planting  the  cross  by  the  little  creek 
near  St.  Augustine,  gathered  alms  in  the  city  to  raise  beside  it  the  chapel  of 
Our  Lady.  Fathers  Aunon  and  Badajoz  remained  at  Guale,  which  soon 
whitened  for  the  harvest,  while  other  fathers  in  St.  Peter's  Isle  labored  in  all 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA. 


149 


the  rivalry  of  zeal  to  gain  to  heaven  and  to  progress  the  fickle  and  often  ill- 
treated  children  of  the  forest. 

For  two  years  these  apostolic  men  labored  in  peace,  and  succeeded  in 
forming  regular  villages  of  neophytes,  who  no  longer  bowed  the  knee  to 
Baal  (for,  like  the  Sabaans,  these  tribes  worshiped  the  sun  and  fire),  or 
practiced  the  polygamy  which  had  so  long  induced  them  to  turn  a  deaf  ear 
to  the  teachings  of  the  missionaries. 

Amid  this  reign  of  peace  a  storm  suddenly  arose,  which  turned  the 
smiling  garden  once  more  into  a  howling  wilderness.  In  September,  1597, 
Father  Corpa  found  it  necessary  to  reprove  publicly  the  cacique's  son,  whose 
unbridled  licentiousness  had  long  grieved  the  missionary's  heart.  One  of  the 
earliest  converts,  he  had,  after  a  short  period  of  fervor,  plunged  into  every 
vicious  excess.  Vain  had  been  all  the  entreaties  and  remonstrances  which 
De  Corpa  addressed  him  in  private.  A  public  rebuke  was  the  only  means  of 
arresting  a  scandal  which  had  already  excited  the  taunts  of  unbelievers. 
Enraged  at  the  disgrace,  the  young  chief  left  the  town,  and,  repairing  to  :i 
neighboring  village,  soon  gathered  a  body  of  braves  as  eager  as  himself  for  a 
work  of  blood.  In  the  night  he  returned  with  his  followers  to  Tolemato; 
they  crept  silently  up  to  the  chapel;  its  feeble  doors  presented  too  slight  an 
obstacle  to  arrest  their  progress.  The  missionary  was  kneeling  before  the 
altar  in  prayer,  and  there  they  slew  him ;  a  single  blow  of  a  tomahawk 
stretched  him  lifeless  on  the  ground.  The  spot  thus  hallowed  by  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  the  missionary  then  lay  without  the  walls  of  St.  Augustine,  but  is 
now  the  cemetery  of  that  city.  When  day  broke,  the  Indian  village  was 
filled  with  grief  and  terror,  but  the  young  chief  well  knew  the  men  with 
whom  he  had  to  deal.  Appealing  to  their  national  feeling,  he  bade  them 
take  heart;  he  had  slain  the  friar  for  interfering  with  their  time-honored  cus- 
toms; the  day  had  come  when  they  must  strike  a  blow,  or  submit  to  be  for- 
'  ever  slaves.  This  faith  of  the  Spaniards  that  deprived  men  of  enjoyment, 
that  took  from  them  the  dearest  of  their  wives,  and  bade  them  give  up  war, 
could  no  longer  be  borne.  He  had  begun  the  great  work,  and  they  had  no 
alternative  but  to  join  him.  Terrible  vengeance  would  the  Spaniard  wreak, 
and  their  only  course  was  to  proceed  to  a  general  massacre — first  of  the  friars, 
then  of  all  the  other  Spaniards. 

Enough  joined  him  to  overawe  those  who  remained  faithful.  The  mis- 
sionary's head  was  cut  off  and  set  on  a  spear  over  the  gate,  while  his  body 
was  flung  out  to  the  fowls  of  the  air. 


je0  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  camp  of  Topoqui  was  the  next  point  to  which  they  hurried,  appar- 
ently before  the  authorities  of  St.  Augustine  were  at  all  aware  of  the  plot 
which  was  already  threatening  the  Spanish  power  in  Florida.  Bursting 
unheralded  into  the  chapel  of  Our  Lady,  the  insurgents  informed  Father 
Rodriguez  of  the  fate  of  Corpa,  and  bade  him  prepare  to  die.  Struck  with 
amazement  at  their  blindness  and  infatuation,  the  missionary  used  every  argu- 
ment to  divert  them  from  a  scheme  which  would  end  in  their  ruin ;  he  offered 
to  obtain  their  pardon  for  the  past  if  they  would  abandon  their  wild  project — 
but  in  vain.  Finding  all  his  eloquence  useless,  he  asked  leave  to  say  Mass 
before  dying.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  was  granted.  He  vested  for  the 
altar  and  began  the  Mass.  His  executioners  lay  grouped  on  the  chapel  floor 
awaiting  anxiously,  but  quietly,  the  end  of  the  sacrifice,  which  was  to  prelude 
his  own.  The  august  mysteries  proceeded  without  interruption,  and  when  all 
was  ended  the  missionary  came  down  and  knelt  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  The 
next  moment  it  was  bespattered  with  his  brains.  Throwing  his  body  into  an 
adjoining  field,  the  murderers  pressed  on,  anxious  to  make  up  by  their  speed 
for  the  delay  wrung  from  them  by  the  fearless  eloquence  of  Montes. 

Their  present  destination  was  the  Island  of  Guale,  to  whose  cacique 
they  had  already  sent  orders  to  despatch  the  missionaries  at  Asopo.  The 
chief,  however,  was  friendly  to  the  fathers,  and  sent  a  messenger  to  warn 
them  of  their  danger.  Unfortunately,  the  faithless  envoy  never  fulfilled 
the  errand,  but  deceived  the  chief  by  a  pretended  answer  from  Aunon. 
When  the  insurgents  reached  the  island,  the  chief  hastened  to  Aunon  himself, 
to  insist  on  his  flight ;  here  he  discovered  the  treachery  of  his  servant,  and 
that  all  escape  was  now  cut  off.  Father  Aunon  consoled  him,  assuring  all  of 
his  happiness  at  shedding  his  blood  for  the  faith.  He  then  said  Mass,  and 
gave  the  Holy  Communion  to  his  companion,  Antonio  de  Badajoz.  A  few 
moments  devoted  to  silent  prayer  followed,  then  the  tramp  and  the  yell  of  an 
angry  crowd  announced  the  coming  of  the  insurgents.  Calmly  had  the 
Franciscans  lived,  calmly  they  died.  Kneeling,  Badajoz  received  one,  Aunon 
two  blows  of  a  club,  and  both  sank  in  death.  The  chapel  now  seemed  to  be 
filled  with  awe,  for  the  murderers  retired  as  if  in  flight,  leaving  the  bodies  to 
be  interred  by  the  friendly  cacique. 

Asao  was  the  next  mission,  but  here  the  insurgents  were  at  first  baffled. 
Velascola,  the  greatest  of  the  missionaries,  was  absent  when  they  arrived. 
Well  might  they  fear  his  power,  and  feel  their  work  half  done,  unless  they 
could  end  his  life  of  zeal.  A  perfect  religious,  learned,  poor,  and,  humble, 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA.  151 

he  combined  the  greatest  mildness  with  the  greatest  firmness,  and  possessed 
over  the  Indians  an  influence  which  no  other  of  his  countrymen  ever  attained. 
Provoked  at  his  absence,  they  resolved  to  await  his  return  in  ambush,  and  as 
he  landed,  a  few  went  out  to  welcome  him  with  treacherous  words,  while 
others  fell  on  him  with  clubs  and  axes,  and  did  not  leave  him  till  his  body 
was  one  quivering,  shapeless  mass. 

Father  Avila's  chapel,  at  Ospa,  was  next  attacked.  Hearing  the 
approach  of  the  murderous  band,  he  took  the  alarm  and  fled,  but  was  overtaken 
and  brought  back.  He  escaped  again,  and  reached  a  cane-break,  where,  in 
the  darkness,  for  night  had  come  on,  he  hoped  to  elude  observation ;  but  the 
moon  betrayed  him.  Wounded  by  a  shower  of  arrows,  he  fell  into  their 
hands,  and  was  condemned  to  die.  His  habit,  however,  excited  the  cupidity 
of  one  of  the  Indians,  who  interfered  in  his  behalf.  Then  changing  their 
plans,  they  stripped  the  missionary,  and,  binding  him  to  a  stake,  carried  him 
to  a  neighboring  village,  where  they  sold  him  as  a  slave. 

After  destroying  his  chapel,  the  party  proceeded  on  its  errand  of  death, 
and  so  many  had  now  joined  them  that  they  bore  down  on  St.  Peter's  Isle 
with  a  flotilla  of  forty  war-canoes.  As  they  drew  near,  and  doubled  a  head- 
land, they  descried  a  Spanish  vessel  lying  at  anchor  near  the  mission.  It  was 
but  a  provision  boat  with  supplies  for  the  fathers,  and  had  but  one  soldier  on 
board.  Its  mere  appearance,  however,  disconcerted  all  their  plans;  new 
counsels  were  to  be  adopted;  the  chiefs  began  to  discuss  a  plan  of  action,  but 
while  all  were  in  hot  dispute,  they  were  suddenly  attacked  and  routed  by  the 
chieftain  of  St.  Peter's,  who  by  this  victory  broke  their  power  forever.  The 
missionaries  welcomed  their  deliverer  with  heartfelt  gratitude,  and  soon 
learned  how  wide  had  been  the  destruction. 

Father  Avila  was  meanwhile  a  prisoner.  The  slave  of  savages,  for  a 
year  he  dug  their  fields  and  performed  every  menial  office,  till,  weary  of  him, 
his  inhuman  masters  at  last  resolved  to  put  him  to  death.  Tied  to  the  stake, 
with  the  fagots  around  him,  he  spurned  the  offer  of  life  made  on  condition 
that  he  should  renounce  his  God  and  marry  into  the  tribe.  He  now  looked 
forward  to  the  crown  of  martyrdom  which  his  companions  already  enjoyed, 
when  an  old  woman  demanded  him  to  effect  the  liberation  of  her  son,  a 
prisoner  at  St.  Augustine.  Her  demand  was  granted,  and  Father  Avila,  so 
changed  by  his  savage  life  and  brutal  treatment  as  to  be  past  all  recognition, 
was  once  more  restored  to  his  countrymen. 

The  missions  were  now  almost  abandoned  till   1601,  when  the  governor 


I52  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  Florida  made  a  new  effort  to  secure  laborers  for  that  barren  field.  He 
was  not  unsuccessful.  Florida  was  the  next  year  visited  by  the  bishop  of 
Cuba,  who,  witnessing  the  extreme  spiritual  want  of  the  people,  aided  the 
governor's  efforts.  Bodies  of  Franciscans  were  continually  sent,  and  the 
wardenship  of  Florida  was  so  much  augmented  that  it  was  soon  made  a 
Franciscan*provir.ce,  under  the  name  of  St.  Helena,  from  its  principal  convent. 

On  restoring  the  mission  at  Guale  or  Amelia  Island  in  1605,  it  was  the 
pious  care  of  the  missionaries  to  take  up  the  bodies  of  Aunon  and  Badajoz 
from  their  unhonored  graves  and  place  them  in  a  position  worthy  of  their 
virtues  and  glorious  death. 

The  progress  of  the  mission  in  succeeding  years  must  have  been  very 
great,  although  we  have  no  details  of  the  results.  Twenty-three  missionaries 
were  sent  from  Cadiz  in  1612,  under  the  Peruvian  Father  Louis  Jerome  de 
Ore,  himself  the  author  of  a  Relation  of  the  Martyrs  of  Florida,  and  several 
works  for  the  missions.  In  1613,  eight,  and  two  years  after,  twelve  more 
Franciscans  of  the  province  of  the  Angels  in  Mexico  were  also  sent  to 
Florida,  where  they  soon  learned  the  language  and  labored  with  such  success 
that  they  ere  long  required  assistance.  In  less  than  two  years  they  were 
established  at  the  principal  points,  and  numbered  no  less  than  twenty  con- 
vents or  residences  in  Florida.  These  were  not  confined  to  the  coast.  A 
missionary  whose  name  is  not  given,  followed  by  Father  Alonzo  Serrano, 
penetrated  the  interior  and  explored  the  various  localities,  which  long  bore 
the  names  he  gave  them. 

The  mission  was  now  steadily  extended  and  stations  established  among 
the  Apalaches.  That  tribe  had  attacked  the  Spaniards  in  1638,  but  were 
defeated,  and  the  missionaries  soon  made  them  friendly.  Many  were  employed 
on  the  public  works,  and,  receiving  protection  and  consolation  from  the  Fran- 
ciscans, obtained  them  a  favorable  reception  in  the  villages  of  their  tribe. 

Missions  were  gradually  formed  among  the  Apalaches  and  Creeks  in 
many  parts  of  West  Florida  and  Georgia.  In  1643,  they  began  a  mission  at 
Achalaque,  and  soon  baptized  the  chief,  thus  renewing  the  faith  among  the 
Cherokees.  When  Bristock,  an  English  traveler,  visited  it  ten  years  later,  a 
flourishing  reduction  existed,  and  he  was  hospitably  received  by  the  mission- 
aries at  their  station,  a  beautiful  spot  on  the  mountain-side.  Several  of  the 
governors  were  greatly  devoted  to  the  cause,  especially,  however,  Paul  de 
Hita,  who  founded  a  mission  on  the  western  shore  of  the  peninsula,  aided  by 
the  zealous  Sebastian  de  la  Cerda,  the  pastor  of  St.  Augustine,  who,  with 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA.  153 

some  secular  priests  from  Cuba,  undertook  it  in  1679.  In  the  following  year 
a  royal  decree  permitted  any  priest  to  devote  himself  to  these  missions,  but 
owing  to  some  secret  opposition,  the  learned  and  pious  Canon  John  de  Cis- 
neros,  who,  with  seven  priests,  volunteered  to  serve  in  the  missions,  was 
never  able  to  realize  his  great  design. 

Unfortunately,  at  this  time  some  disputes  arose  which  retarded  the 
missions,  and  the  Indians  even  made  complaints  against  their  directors,  and 
these  complaints  were  used  for  political  purposes.  Tranquillity  was  at  last 
restored,  and  a  permanent  benefit  resulted  in  a  set  of  regular  instructions  for 
the  government  of  the  reductions,  which  obviated  all  further  difficulty. 

The  encroaching  colonies  of  England  presently  troubled  this  field.  In 
1684,  the  Yamassees,  rejecting  their  missionaries,  joined  the  English;  in  the 
following  year  they  attacked  the  mission  of  St.  Catharine's  and,  taking  it  by 
surprise,  plundered  the  church  and  convent,  and  burnt  the  town.  Soon  after, 
the  old  charges  against  the  Franciscans  were  renewed,  and  great  discussions 
ensued,  but  still  the  work  went  on.  In  1690,  the  provincial  sent  Father 
Salvador  Bueno  to  San  Salvador  de  Maiaca,  to  found  a  new  mission.  He  was 
well  received,  and  soon  had  a  flourishing  station  around  him. 

The  foundation  of  Pensacola,  in  1693,  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  mis- 
sions in  West  Florida.  Four  years  later,  five  Franciscan  missionaries 
attempted  to  found  a  mission  on  the  Carlos  Keys,  but  the  Indians  believing 
the  processions  and  religious  rites  of  the  missionaries  to  be  some  magical 
ceremony  for  their  destruction,  drove  them  out,  and  they  proceeded  to  the 
Matacumbe  Key,  in  Florida  channel,  where  the  inhabitants  were  all  Catholics. 

By  this  time  the  Spanish  colony,  though  itself  small,  was  surrounded  by 
Indian  tribes,  most  of  whom  were,  to  some  extent,  converted;  towns  of 
converts  existed  all  along  the  Apalachicola,  Flint,  and  other  rivers;  these 
were  all  directed  by  Franciscan  missionaries,  who  had  acquired  a  complete 
mastery  over  those  fierce  tribes.  But  war  was  now  impending;  the  English 
rapidly  encroached  on  the  colony,  and  frequently  attacked  the  mission  stations 
to  carry  off  the  "  Indian  converts  of  the  Spanish  priests,"  to  sell  them  as 
slaves  in  Charleston  and  other  ports.  Six  hundred  were  killed  or  taken  on 
the  river  Flint  in  1703;  but  the  greatest  blow  was  given  in  1704,  when  an 
English  force,  with  a  large  body  of  Alabamas,  took  St.  Marks,  the  center  of 
the  Apalachee  mission,  and  completely  destroyed  it.  Don  Juan  Mejia,  the 
commander  of  the  post,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Three  Franciscans, 
who  directed  the  neophytes,  went  out  to  obtain  terms  for  their  children; 


^4  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

but  they,  too,  were  taken  and  put  to  death  with  all  the  terrors  of  Indian 
barbarity.  By  these  blows  the  Apalaches  were  so  reduced,  that  in  a  few 
years  only  four  hundred  could  be  found  of  a  tribe  that  once  had  numbered 
seven  thousand.  All  the  stations  between  the  Altamaha  and  Savannah  were 
broken  up,  and  such  as  escaped  slavery  or  death  fled  into  the  peninsula. 
Eight  hundred  had  been  killed  on  the  spot,  or  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Indian  allies  of  the  English;  fourteen  hundred  were  carried  off  by  Governor 
Moore  and  settled  at  Savannah. 

The  war  was  soon  after  renewed.  The  Atimucas,  a  tribe  whose  center 
was  at  Ayavalla  on  the  Apalachicola,  were  attacked  by  the  English  in  1706. 
A  bare-footed  Franciscan  came  out  of  the  town  to  obtain  favorable  terms,  as 
English  accounts  assure  us,  but  of  his  fate  we  know  nothing.  The  Atimucas 
were  driven  from  their  towns,  and  a  portion  of  them  retired  to  the  east 
side  of  St.  John's  River,  where  they  founded  a  new  town,  known  as  the 
Pueblo  de  Atimucos. 

By  these  wars  many  of  the  missions  were  entirely  broken  up,  and  all 
suffered  greatly.  The  Christians  were  again  mingled  with  the  pagans,  and 
many,  for  want  of  their  religious  guides,  fell  away.  Some  tribes,  too,  won 
by  the  English,  rejected  the  missionaries.  In  a  few  years,  however,  the  latter 
became  aware  of  their  error.  The  Yamassees,  who  had  been  the  first  to  join 
the  English,  and  had,  as  we  have  seen,  destroyed  a  Franciscan  mission,  now 
organized  a  general  confederacy  against  their  former  friends,  and  in  1715 
burst  on  their  settlements.  Defeated,  at  last,  they  took  refuge  in  Florida, 
where  they  afterwards  remained.  In  this  war  the  Christian  Indians  took  an 
active  part,  led  by  Osiuntolo,  a  Creek  chief,  Adrian,  an  Apalachicola,  John 
Mark,  of  the  same  tribe,  and  Tixjana,  war-chief  of  the  Talisi,  a  band  of  the 
Tallapoosas,  who  had  visited  Mexico,  had  been  baptized  there  by  the  name 
of  Baltasar,  and  appointed  Maese  del  Campo  of  his  tribe. 

As  the  negotiations  with  the  English  at  the  close  of  the  war  were  quite 
favorable  to  the  Indians,  the  fervent  John  Mark  and  other  Christian  chiefs 
thought  of  restoring  the  former  reductions.  After  several  vain  attempts  to 
induce  the  Spanish  government  to  build  a  fort  to  protect  them,  he,  at  last,  in 
1718,  founded,  with  one  hundred  souls,  the  missions  of  Our  Lady  of  Loneliness 
and  St.  Louis,  where  missionaries  soon  began  their  labors.  Most  of  the  mis- 
sionary stations  in  this  quarter,  however,  were  abandoned  when  Father 
Charlevoix  visited  in  1722. 

From  this  period  few  details  of  the  missions  have  reached  us   down  to 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA.  155 

the  time  when  Spain  ceded  Florida  to  England  by  the  treaty  of  Paris  (1763). 
This  was  the  death-blow  of  the  missions.  The  Franciscans  left  the  colony 
with  most  of  the  Spanish  settlers;  the  Indians,  who  occupied  two  towns 
under  the  walls  of  St.  Augustine,  were  expelled  from  the  grounds  cultivated 
by  their  toil  for  years,  and  deprived  of  their  church,  which  they  had  them- 
selves erected.  All  was  given  by  the  governor  to  the  newly  established 
English  church.  In  ten  years  not  one  was  left  near  the  city.  The  Indians 
thus  driven  out  became  wanderers,  and  received  the  name  of  Seminoles,  which 
has  that  meaning.  By  degrees  all  traces  of  their  former  civilization  and 
Christianity  disappeared,  and  they  have  since  been  known  only  by  their  bitter 
hate  of  the  successors  of  the  Spaniards. 

England,  in  a  possession  of  twenty  years,  completely  destroyed  what  had 
survived  of  the  Franciscan  missions;  no  successful  attempt  was  made  by  the 
Spaniards  after  1783  to  re-establish  them,  and  now  scarce  a  trace  remains, 
unless  we  consider  the  Seminoles  themselves  as  a  striking  monument  of  the  dif- 
ferent results  obtained  by  the  Catholic  government  of  Spain  and  the  Protest- 
ant government  of  England.  The  one  converted  the  savages  into  Christians 
— a  quiet,  orderly,  industrious  race,  living  side  by  side  with  the  Spaniards  them- 
selves, in  peace  and  comfort;  the  other  replunged  the  same  tribes  back  into 
barbarism  and  paganism,  and  converted  them  into  a  fearful  scourge  of  her 
own  colonies. 

The  government  of  our  own  country  failed  to  repair  the  wrong  and  har- 
vested a  fearful  penalty.  In  1832,  the  Seminoles  of  Florida,  dissatisfied  with 
a  treaty  for  their  removal,  made  by  some  of  their  chiefs,  made  a  determined 
resistance  under  the  leadership  of  Osceola.  General  Thompson  and  a  few 
companions  were  killed  and  scalped  near  Fort  King,  December  28,  1835,  anc' 
the  same  day,  at  a  place  many  miles  distant,  a  detachment  of  one  hundred  sol- 
diers under  Major  Dade  were  surprised  and  all  but  four  were  slain. 

A  few  days  later  General  Clinch  fought  a  battle  with  the  Seminoles  on 
the  Withlacoochee,  and  in  February,  1836,  General  Gaines  inflicted  upon  them 
a  severe  defeat  near  the  same  place.  In  May,  the  Creeks  of  Georgia  and  Ala- 
bama joined  the  Seminoles,  but  General  Scott  soon  subdued  them  and  they 
were  sent  across  the  Mississippi.  The  Seminoles  still  held  out,  and,  lurking 
in  the-  trackless  swamps  known  as  the  Everglades,  they  caused  the  soldiers 
much  suffering.  Osceola,  having  once  made  a  treaty  and  broken  it,  was  cap- 
tured and  imprisoned  at  Fort  Moultrie,  at  Charleston,  where  he  died.  Soon 
afterwards  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor,  later  president  of  the  Republic,  defeated 


r^6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  hapless  redskins  after  a  fierce  battle.  This  broke  their  spirit  and  many 
were  removed,  but  it  was  only  in  1841  that4they  were  finally  subdued  by  cut- 
ting down  their  crops  and  sweeping  off  their  cattle,  after  costing  the  United 
States  a  seven  years'  war,  many  millions  of  dollars,  and  thousands  of  gallant 
lives. 

We  may  here  sketch  briefly  the  history  of  other  Spanish  missions  which 
were  begun  at  an  early  day  in  the  region  now  embraced  by  our  Southern 
States.  It  has  been  already  noted,  in  the  account  of  Coronado's  expedition' 
how  the  zealous  Father  Padilla  and  his  companion  attempted  to  plant  the 
faith  along  the  upper  Rio  Grande,  and  the  failure  of  their  efforts  to  convert 
the  tribes  of  New  Mexico. 

The  unfavorable  account  given  by  Coronado  prevented  any  further  secu- 
lar exploration  of  the  territory ;  it  was  left  to  the  zeal  of  Christian  mission- 
aries to  explore  it  again.  Meanwhile  the  Indian  missions  of  Mexico  were 
steadily  advancing  to  the  north,  and  in  1580  there  dwelt  in  the  valley  of  St. 
Bartholomew  a  pious  lay-brother  named  Augustine  Rodriguez,  who  had  grown 
old  amid  austerities  and  toil  in  the  Franciscan  missions.  Hearing,  from  Indi- 
ans who  visited  the  mission,  that  populous  countries,  unvisited  by  the  Span- 
iards, lay  to  the  north,  he  burned  with  the  desire  of  announcing  to  them  the 
gospel  of  Christ. 

His  zeal  induced  him  to  apply  to  his  provincial  for  leave  to  go  and  learn 
their  language.  The  viceroy  of  Mexico  approved  the  mission,  and  the  good 
brother  was  not  allowed  to  depart  alone.  A  regular  mission  was  projected. 
Father  Francis  Lopez,  of  Seville,  was  named  Superior ;  the  learned  and  sci- 
entific Father  John  de  Santa  Maria,  with  brother  Rodriguez,  were  selected  to 
accompany  the  expedition,  and  they  all  set  out  in  the  year  1581,  with  ten  sol- 
diers and  six  Mexican  Indians,  and  advanced  to  the  country  of  the  Tehuas. 
At  this  point  they  were  compelled  to  halt,  for  the  soldiers,  seeing  seven  hun- 
dred weary  miles  behind  them,  refused  to  proceed.  The  missionaries,  after  a 
vain  appeal  to  their  honor,  pride,  patriotism,  and  religion,  allowed  them  to 
depart,  and  began  to  examine  the  tribe  among  whom  they  were.  This  New 
Mexican  tribe  lived  then,  as  in  Padilla's  time,  in  their  peculiar  houses,  and> 
unlike  the  wild  Indians  of  the  plains  beyond,  dressed  in  cotton  mantles.  The 
missionaries  were  so  pleased  with  the  manners  of  the  people  that  they  resolved 
to  begin  a  mission  among  them,  and  the  success  of  their  first  efforts  so  exalted 
their  hopes  that  they  sent  Father  John  de  Santa  Maria  back  to  Mexico  to  bring 
auxiliaries.  Fearless,  and  reliant  on  his  skill,  the  missionary  set  out  alone, 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA.  157 

with  his  compass,  to  strike  direct  for  the  nearest  settlement;  but,  while  asleep 
by  the  wayside,  on  the  third  day  after  his  departure,  he  was  surprised  and  killed 
by  a  party  of  wandering  Indians.  The  others  meanwhile  proceeded  with 
their  missionary  labors,  instructing  the  people,  till,  at  last,  in  an  attack  on  the 
town,  Father  Lopez  fell  beneath  the  shafts  of  the  assailants,  and  Brother 
Rodriguez,  the  projector  of  the  mission,  was  left  to  conduct  it  alone. 

The  people  were  not  indifferent  to  his  teaching,  but  vice  had  charms  too 
powerful  for  them  to  submit  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross.  Rodriguez 
inveighed  with  all  the  fire  of  an  apostle  against  the  awful  sins  to  which  they 
were  addicted,  till,  weary  at  last  of  his  reproaches,  they  silenced  the  unwelcome 
monitor  in  death. 

Meanwhile  the  returning  soldiers  had  excited  the  anxiety  of  the  Francis- 
cans, and  at  their  instance  Don  Antonio  de  Espejo,  a  rich,  brave  and  pious 
man,  set  out,  in  1582,  with  Father  Bernardine  Beltran,  but  arrived  only  to 
learn  the  death  of  all. 

Some  time  after,  two  other  Franciscans,  who  accompanied  an  expedition 
under  Castano,  were  put  to  death  at  Puaray,  but  no  details  remain. 

In  1597,  Juan  de  Onate  led  a  colony  to  the  northern  Rio  Grande,  and 
founded  San  Gabriel,  the  first  Spanish  post  in  that  quarter.  Eight  Franciscans 
had  set  out  with  him  under  Father  Roderic  Duran ;  but  as  the  latter  returned 
with  a  part  of  the  forces,  the  other  missionaries  proceeded  with  Father 
Alonzo  Martinez  as  commissary  or  superior.  For  a  year  Onate  was  engaged 
in  establishing  his  post  and  exploring  the  country — the  missionaries,  on  their 
side,  investigating  the  manners,  customs,  language  and  religion  of  the  people. 
Having,  in  addition  to  the  knowledge  already  acquired  of  their  mechanical  arts 
and  singular  dwellings,  sought  to  unravel  their  theology,  they  found  great 
difficulty.  All  were  loth  to  speak  at  any  length  on  the  point.  They  learned, 
however,  that  they  adored  principally  three  demons,  or  rather  sought  to  pro- 
pitiate them,  especially  in  times  of  drought.  These  deities  were  called  Cocapo, 
Cacina,  and  Homace;  to  the  first  of  whom  a  temple  was  raised  some  ten  feet 
wide  and  twice  as  deep.  At  the  end  sat  the  idol  of  stone  or  clay,  represent- 
ing the  god,  bearing  some  eggs  in  one  hand  and  some  ears  of  maize  in  the 
other.  In  this  temple  an  old  woman  presided  as  priestess,  and  directed  the 
ceremonies  by  which  the  natives  implored  rain — a  blessing  the  more  necessary, 
as  the  streams  frequently  run  dry. 

At  the  close  of  a  year,  Onate  wished  to  send  a  report  of  his  proceedings 
to  Mexico.  To  bear  his  dispatches,  and  urge  the  dispatch  of  reinforcements, 


I58  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

he  selected  the  commissary,  Father  Martinez,  who  set  out  with  Father 
Christopher  Salazar  and  the  lay-brother,  Peter  de  Vergara;  but  on  the  way, 
Father  Christopher  died,  and  was  buried  under  a  tree  in  the  wilderness. 

The  account  brought  by  Father  Martinez  induced  the  provincial  to  send 
new  missionaries,  and  as  Martinez  was  unable  to  return,  Father  John  de 
Escalona,  a  man  of  great  virtue  and  sanctity,  was  chosen  commissary  in  his 
stead,  and  set  out  with  several  fathers  of  his  order.  Meanwhile,  Onate,  with 
Father  Francis  de  Velasco  and  a  lay-brother,  struck  farther  into  the  country, 
but  without  effecting  any  good. 

There  is  extant  a  letter  of  Father  Escalona,  dated  in  1601,  in  which  he 
speaks  despondingly  of  the  Indian  mission,  and  of  the  little  good  which  he 
and  his  associates  had  as  yet  been  able  to  do,  from  the  manner  in  which  Onate 
controlled  and  interrupted  their  labors. 

His  superiors,  however,  did  not  share  his  despondency.  They  sent  out 
six  new  missionaries,  under  Father  Francis  de  Escobar,  now  appointed  suc- 
cessor to  Escalona.  Under  this  enterprising  missionary,  the  church  took  new 
life.  The  missionaries  already  there,  skilled  in  all  the  accessories  needed — a 
knowledge  of  the  language  and  people,  and  a  sort  of  naturalization  among 
them — soon  made  rapid  progress.  By  the  year  1608,  when  Father  Escobar 
was  at  last  allowed  to  resign  his  post  of  commissary,  the  missionaries  in  New 
Mexico  had  baptized  eight  thousand  of  the  people. 

His  successor,  Father  Peinado,  was  no  less  skilled  as  a  director,  or  suc- 
cessful as  a  missionary.  Gradually  the  Cross  advanced  from  town  to  town, 
and  in  all  won  votaries,  who  at  last  forsook  Cocapo  to  worship  Christ. 

Of  the  state  of  the  mission  in  1626,  less  than  thirty  years  after  its 
foundation,  we  have  a  detailed  account,  in  a  memoir  addressed  to  the  Spanish 
court  by  Father  Benavides,  one  of  the  apostles  of  New  Mexico.  A  mission 
had  just  then  been  established  at  Socorro,  making  the  zyth  in  New  Mexico. 
Several  of  these  stations  possessed  large  and  beautiful  churches.  At  Queres 
all  were  baptized,  and  many  of  the  Indians  had  learned  to  read  and  write. 
Four  thousand  had  been  baptized  at  Tanos,  two  thousand  at  Taos,  and  many 
at  other  towns.  There  were  residences  or  convents  at  St.  Antonio  or 
Senecu,  Socorro,  Pilabo,  Sevilleta,  St.  Francis,  and  Isleta,  among  the  Topiras, 
the  Teoas,  the  Picuries,  and  at  Zuni,  while  Santa  F£,  Pecos,  St.  Joseph  or 
Hemes,  and  the  Queres,  could  boast  their  sumptuous  churches ;  and  mission- 
aries were  residing,  not  only  in  the  difficult  mission  of  Zuni,  but  in  Acoma, 
which  had  so  often  been  reddened  with  Spanish  blood.  So  rapid  had  been 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA. 


'59 


the  progress  of  Christianity  and  civilization  on  the  Rio  Grande,  that  the 
Indians,  or  Pueblos,  as  they  began  to  be  called,  could  read  and  write  there, 
before  the  Puritans  were  established  on  the  shores  of  New  England 

o 

Among  those  who  contributed  to  bring  about  so  happy  a  result,  were 
Father  Benavides,  Fathers  Lopez  and  Salas  at  Jumanas,  Father  Ortego,  and, 
we  may  add,  the  venerable  Maria  de  Jesus  de  Agreda,  whose  mysterious  con- 
nection with  the  New  Mexican  mission,  whether  now  believed  or  not,  cer- 
tainly drew  great  attention  to  it,  and  gave  it  an  extraordinary  impulse. 
Benavides  met  a  tribe  which  no  missionary  had  as  yet  reached,  and  found 
them,  to  his  amazement,  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  On 
inquiring,  he  learned  that  they  had  been  taught  by  a  lady,  whose  form  and 
dress  they  described.  This  account  he  gave  in  his  work,  published  in  1630. 
Subsequently,  Father  Bernardine  de  Sena  told  him  that  the  nun,  Maria  de 
Agreda,  had,  eight  years  before,  related  to  him  apparitions  of  a  similar  char- 
acter. Benavides  then  visited  her,  and  was  at  once  struck  with  her  resem- 
blance to  the  lady  described  by  the  Indians,  and  still  more  so  by  her  account 
of  the  country  and  the  labors  of  the  missionaries,  of  which  she  related  many 
remarkable  incidents. 

The  difficult  mission  of  Zuni  had  been  confided  to  Father  John  Letrado. 
After  spending  some  time  there,  he  resolved  to  attempt  the  spiritual  conquest 
of  the  Cipias,  but  perished  in  his  work  of  zeal.  Similar  was  the  fate  of 
Father  Martin  de  Arbide,  who,  undaunted  by  the  danger,  attempted  to  reach 
the  same  tribe. 

Gradually  various  causes  seem  to  have  driven  the  missionaries  from  most 
of  these  posts.  No  general  revolt  occurred,  but  the  territory  must  have  been 
abandoned  before  1660.  In  that  year  two  missionaries  returned,  founded 
missions,  and  preached  for  two  years.  The  Indians  then  rose  against  them, 
stripped  them  naked,  and  expelled  them  from  their  villages.  Yielding  to 
the  storm,  they  retired  to  Parral,  where  they  were  found  by  some  Spanish 
soldiers  nearly  dead  with  cold  and  hunger.  They  soon  recovered  their 
strength,  and  undeterred  by  the  past,  returned  in  the  following  year  and 
founded  successively  the  missions  of  Our  Lady  la  Redonda,  Collani,  Santa 
Fe,  San  Pedro  del  Cuchillo,  San  Cristobal,  San  Juan,  and  Guadalupe.  Zuni 
was  the  last  mission  founded  at  this  time.  Once  more  the  churches  flourished, 
and  the  Catholic  Indians  for  several  years  enjoyed  all  the  blessings  of  religion; 
the  pagan  portion,  however,  were  still  obdurate,  and  maintained  a  stubborn 
opposition  to  the  missionaries.  In  1680  they  succeeded  in  raising  a  general 


!6o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

revolt,  in  which  all  but  San  Juan  de  los  Cabelleros  joined.  A  scene  of  pillage 
and  devastation  ensued:  San  Pascual,  Sevillete,  and  Socorro  were  destroyed, 
and  missionaries  were  killed  at  several  of  the  stations,  as  well  as  among  the 
Moquis  and  Navajoes,  to  whom  some  adventurous  fathers  had  penetrated. 

After  a  few  years  peace  was  again  restored:  the  missions  rose  again, 
never,  indeed,  on  the  same  footing,  as  many  churches  were  never  rebuilt,  for 
the  new  colonies  were  much  harassed  by  the  Apaches. 

In  1733  a  new  mission  was  founded  among  the  Apaches  themselves  at 
Jicarillas,  but  after  a  short  existence  it  closed,  the  Indians  retiring  to  their 
tribes.  A  new  missionary  spirit  was,  however,  awakened;  in  1742,  Father 
John  Menchero  proceeded  to  the  territory  of  the  Moquis  and  Navajoes,  and 
with  his  companions  succeeded  in  making  several  converts  on  that  ground,  so 
often  the  object  of  the  ambition  of  his  associates. 

Villasenor,  who  published  his  Teatro  Americano  in  1748,  gives  a  brief 
but  flattering  picture  of  the  state  of  the  country  at  that  time.  The  Indians 
were  all  well  clad  in  stuffs  woven  by  the  women ;  industry  prevailed  in  their 
villages,  with  its  attendants,  peace  and  abundance.  The  religious  edifices 
erected  under  the  direction  of  the  Franciscan  fathers  could  rival  those  of 
Europe.  In  a  religious  point  of  view,  the  New  Mexicans  were  not  inferior  to 
their  Spanish  neighbors.  He  enumerates  more  than  twenty  existing  missions, 
each  averaging,  as  it  would  seem,  about  a  hundred  families. 

These  missions  all  continue  to  the  present  time  with  one  or  two  excep- 
tions, and  several  are  still  directed  by  Catholic  missionaries,  although  Spain 
lost  her  power,  and  Mexico,  after  greatly  injuring  the  missions  by  her  plunder- 
ing laws,  finally  yielded  the  country  to  the  United  States.  Since  that  period 
New  Mexico  was  made  Vicariate  Apostolic,  and  finally  a  bishopric,  by  the 
erection  of  the  see  of  Santa  Fe\  The  Right  Reverend  John  Lamy  in  his 
report  for  1854,  estimates  the  Indian  Catholic  population  of  the  see  at  8000. 
They  are  generally  pious,  industrious,  peaceable,  and  instructed,  many  being 
able  to  read  and  write;  their  deputies  sent  to  Washington  compare  favorably 
with  those  of  the  most  civilized  tribes. 

"  The  Pueblo  or  half-civilized  Indians  of  this  territory,"  says  a  govern- 
ment report,  "  are  in  a  satisfactory  condition  in  every  respect.  They  reside  in 
villages  situated  upon  grants  made  to  them  by  the  governments  of  Spain  and 
Mexico,  and  subsist  themselves  comfortably  by  cultivating  the  soil  and  rearing 
herds  and  flocks  of  various  kinds.  Each  tribe  or  pueblo  has  a  separate 
organized  government  of  its  own,  though  all  fashioned  after  the  same  model. 


THE  FAITH  IN  FLORIDA. 


161 


They  annually  elect  their  respective  governor,  lieutenant-governor,  and 
various  other  minor  officers.  Many  of  them  speak  the  Spanish  language  quite 
well,  and  they  usually  clothe  themselves  quite  comfortably,  often  in  cloth  of 
their  own  manufacture.  They  have  ceased  to  rely  upon  the  chase  for  a  sub- 
sistence, and  very  rarely  commit  depredations  upon  others,  but  are  orderly 
and  decorous  in  their  deportment.  Each  pueblo  or  village  has  its  church. 
When  disputes  arise  between  two  pueblos,  or  between  them  and  their  more 
civilized  neighbors,  the  matter  is  invariably  laid  before  the  governor,  and  his 
decision  is  invariably  regarded  as  final.  From  the  best  information  I  can 
gather,  these  pueblos  or  villages  number  about  twenty,  and  the  aggregate 
number  of  souls  may  be  set  down  at  from  8,000  to  10,000." 


SEED  SOWN  IN   CALIFORNIA. 


FIRST  CHURCH  AT  LAPAZ. — A  REGION  LONG  NEGLECTED. — FEARLESS  FATHER  KINO. 
— OTHER  CHAMPIONS  OF  THE  CROSS. — THE  "BLACK-GOWNS"  IN  THE  LEAD.— 
EXPULSION  OF  THE  JESUITS. — A  CORPS  OF  EAGER  SUBSTITUTES. — FATHER  SERRA 
AND  His  BAND. — FOUNDING  OF  SAN  DIEGO. — ATTACK  BY  BAD  INDIANS. — CORPUS 
CHRISTI  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. — THE  INDEFATIGABLE  SUPERIOR. — ADVANCING 
ON  SAN  GABRIEL. — THE  BANNER  OF  OUR  LADY. — ENEMIES  MADE  GOOD 
FRIENDS. — TROUBLE  IN  SAN  DIEGO. — REDSKINS  ASSAIL  THE  MISSION. — MURDER 
OF  FATHER  JAYME. — RECONSTRUCTION  BY  FATHER  SERRA. — ABOUT  CALIFOR- 
NIA'S INDIANS. — WITCHCRAFT  AND  DEVIL  WORSHIP. — FIRST  WORK  AT  SAN 
FRANCISCO. — MANY  MISSIONS  PLANTED. — DEATH  OF  THE  INDEFATIGABLE  SERRA. 
—  THE  MISSIONS  IN  LATER  DAYS.  —  RUIN  AND  DESOLATION. — A  STARTLING 
CONTRAST. — MEXICANS  AS  CHURCH  PLUNDERERS. — MISSIONARIES  DYING  OF 
WANT. — THE  DECIMATED  NATIVES. — CALIFORNIA  ANNEXED  TO  THE  STATES. 

S  DETAILED  in  a  previous  chapter,  it  was  Cortes  himself,  the 
conqueror  of  Mexico,  who  discovered  the  peninsula  of  California, 
and  its  gulf  long  bore  his  name.  It  was,  however,  subsequently 
unnoticed  till  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  when  it  was  again 
visited;  and  in  1596,  Vizcaino  sailed  to  explore  the  coast,  accom- 
panied by  some  Franciscan  missionaries,  among  others  by  Father 
Perdomo,who  had,  as  we  have  seen  already,  traversed  Florida,  cross  in  hand. 
A  church  and  palisade  fort  were- thrown  up  at  Lapaz,  and  every  preparation 
was  made  for  a  permanent  settlement,  but  Indian  hostilities  soon  induced  the 
colonists  to  renounce  the  new  undertaking. 

On  a  second  expedition,  in  1601,  the  explorer  was  attended  by  three 
Carmelite  friars,  Fathers  Andrew  of  the  Assumption,  Anthony  of  the 
Ascension,  and  Thomas  of  Aquinas.  By  the  i6th  of  December  they  had 
reached  Santa  Barbara,  Monterey,  and  San  Francisco,  and  at  Monterey, 

Fathers  Andrew  and  Anthony  landed,  and,  raising  a  rustic  altar  beneath  the 

162 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA.  163 

spreading  branches  of  a  time  honored  oak,  they  celebrated  the  divine  mys- 
teries of  our  faith.  This  may  be  considered  the  natal  day  of  the  Upper 
California  mission. 

This  portion  of  it,  however,  was  doomed  to  a  long  neglect;  but  subse- 
quent voyagers  explored  and  surveyed  the  coast  of  the  peninsula,  which  was 
soon  visited  by  Franciscan  and  Jesuit  missionaries.  As  the  latter  here 
founded  a  celebrated  mission  which  led,  in  the  end,  to  Franciscan  missions  in 
Upper  California,  we  shall  glance  at  the  labors  of  the  Jesuits.  The  work  of 
the  famous  California  mission,  next  to  the  reductions  of  Paraguay,  the  great- 
est in  the  annals  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  was  first  inaugurated  by  Father 
Hyacinth  Corte*s  in  1642,  being  thus  contemporaneous  with  the  Iroquois  and 
Apalachian  missions.  The  Jesuits  were  not  formally  sent  to  it,  however,  till 
1679,  and  even  then  four  years  elapsed  before  a  station  was  actually  founded 
by  the  enterprising  German,  Father  Eusebius  Kiihn,  or,  as  he  is  commonly 
called,  Kino.  His  mission,  moreover,  was  but  temporary;  two  years  later  the 
station  had  been  abandoned,  and  the  intrepid  Kuhn  was  laboring,  with  a  zeal 
truly  worthy  of  admiration,  among  the  Pimos  and  other  Indians  south  of  the 
Gila.  Fearless  by  nature  and  a  sense  of  duty,  he  went  alone  among  them, 
formed  them  into  villages,  prevailed  on  them  to  sow  their  lands  and  raise 
cattle.  The  Pimos  were  his  chief  care;  but  as  other  tribes  were  also  in  his 
district,  he  learned  several  languages,  and  translated  into  all  the  abridgment 
of  Christian  doctrine  and  the  usual  prayers;  he  likewise  composed  vocabu- 
laries and  grammatical  treatises  for  the  use  of  his  assistants  and  successors. 
In  these  toils  he  continued  till  his  death  in  1710. 

Meanwhile,  Father  Salvatierra  founded,  at  Loretto,  in  1697,  the  first  per- 
manent mission  in  California.  From  that  point,  Christianity  gradually 
extended  to  the  north,  and  station  after  station  arose  where  the  Indians  were 
gathered  around  the  black- gowns  to  hear  the  words  of  truth.  These  con- 
quests over  idolatry  and  barbarism  were  not  achieved  without  loss,  and  the 
arid  soil  of  Lower  California  is  dyed  with  the  blood  of  heroic  missionaries; 
but  undaunted  by  loss  of  life,  unbroken  by  defeat,  the  Jesuit  missionaries  of 
California  were  still  the  pioneers  of  civilization  and  the  faith,  when  the 
Spanish  king,  yielding  to  the  advice  of  unprincipled  men,  ordered  them  to  be 
torn,  in  a  single  day,  from  all  their  missions  throughout  his  wide  domains. 
At  that  time  Father  Wenceslaus  Link  was  continuing  the  explorations  of 
Ktlhn — advancing  along  the  Pacific  to  Guiricata;  his  associates,  Victorian 


j  64  THE  COL  UMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Arnes  and  John  Joseph  Diez,  were  founding,  under  the  3ist  parallel,  the  last 
Jesuit  mission  of  St.  Mary's,  the  limit  of  their  zeal  and  labors. 

Accused  of  no  crime,  condemned  without  a  trial,  the  missionaries  were 
dragged  from  amid  their  neophytes,  who  in  wonder,  grief,  and  consternation 
deplored  their  loss.  On  the  3rd  of  February,  1768,  every  Jesuit  was  carried 
off  a  prisoner  from  California. 

Unjust  as  the  government  had  been  to  the  Jesuits,  it  was  not  insensible 
to  the  claims  of  their  Indian  neophytes.  A  body  of  Franciscans  had  been 
ordered  to  enter  the  country  and  continue  the  good  work.  As  the  sixteen 
Jesuit  prisoners  landed  at  San  Bias,  twelve  Franciscans  and  four  secular 
priests  prepared  to  embark  on  the  same  vessel  to  fill  their  stations. 

Of  these  new  missionaries  the  leader  was  Father  Juniper  Serra,  a 
Majorcan,  already  well  trained  to  the  labors  of  an  Indian  mission  in  various 
parts  of  Mexico.  By  the  ist  of  April,  he  and  his  eleven  companions  (for  the 
Franciscans  always,  if  possible,  went  forth  in  companies  of  twelve),  reached 
Loretto,  the  center  of  the  Jesuit  mission. 

After  placing  priests  in  the  various  stations  occupied  by  his  predecessors, 
Father  Serra  began  carrying  into  effect  the  wish  of  the  government,  to  found 
three  missions  in  Upper  California — one  at  San  Carlos  de  Monterey  in  the 
north,  another  at  San  Diego  in  the  south,  and  a  third  at  San  Bonaventura  in 
the  middle  district.  Galvez,  then  visitor  for  the  king,  was  charged  with  the 
establishment  of  these  new  posts,  and  Father  Serra  at  once  named  friars  to 
begin  a  mission  at  each.  The  expedition  was  to  set  out  in  three  divisions, 
one  by  land  and  two  by  sea.  Of  the  latter,  the  first  sailed  in  January,  1769, 
bearing  Father  Ferdinand  Parron,  the  second  in  February,  with  Fathers 
John  Vizcaino  and  Francis  Gomez;  Serra  himself  accompanied  the  land  force, 
with  De  la  Campa  and  Lazven,  and  meeting  the  others  at  Vellicata,  founded 
there  with  much  ceremony,  the  mission  of  St.  Ferdinand,  leaving  Father  de 
la  Campa  as  missionary,  with  a  number  of  Christian  Indians,  one-fifth  of  the 
live  stock,  and  a  supply  of  corn,  to  begin  a  reduction.  Before  the  expedition 
proceeded,  the  natives  had  begun  to  gather  around  and  enter  into  friendly 
relations  with  the  missionary  and  the  Christian  Indians  who  attended  him. 

Meanwhile  Father  Crespi,  with  a  portion  of  the  troops,  had  pushed  on 
to  San  Diego,  whither  Serra  soon  followed  him,  after  vainly  attempting  to 
reach  the  Colorado  as  Father  Link  had  done.  On  the  ist  of  July,  Serra 
reached  the  port  of  San  Diego,  and  found  there  not  only  Crespi,  but  Vizcaino, 
Parron,  and  Gomez,  who  had  come  by  sea  and  were  of  the  few  who  escaped 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA.  165 

the  diseases  which  had  broken  out  on  board.     The  mission  of  San  Die^o  was 

O 

now  founded  on  the  i6th  of  July,  1769,  on  the  banks  of  the  stream  of  that 
name,  and  in  a  long  and  narrow  valley,  formed  by  two  chains  of  parallel  hills, 
embosoming  a  delightful  prairie.  The  natives,  Comeyas,  were  apparently 
friendly,  and  everything  seemed  to  promise  speedy  success.  The  missionaries 
at  once  set  about  the  erection  of  two  buildings,  one  for  a  chapel,  the  other  for 
dwellings;  but  just  as  all  were  congratulating  themselves  on  the  prospects 
before  them,  the  house  was  attacked  by  the  Indians,  who  had  already  begun 
to  commit  depredations.  The  door  was  only  a  mat,  and  before  the  assailants 
could  be  repelled  a  boy  was  killed,  and  Father  Vizcaino,  with  four  others, 
wounded. 

Notwithstanding  this  act  of  violence,  amicable  relations  were  at  last 
established,  and  the  mission  continued  its  labors.  Crespi,  who  had  returned 
from  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  reach  Monterey,  now  set  out  with  a  new  ex- 
pedition by  sea,  as  Serra  did  with  another  by  land.  They  met  at  Monterey, 
in  1770,  and  founded  the  mission  of  San  Carlos,  leaving  the  usual  number  of 
Indians,  with  a  supply  of  cattle  and  a  guard  of  soldiers. 

When  the  news  of  the  establishment  of  these  missions  reached  the  city 
of  Mexico,  universal  joy  prevailed,  and  the  bells  rang  out  a  peal  of  triumph, 
as  for  the  conquest  of  a  realm.  Father  Serra  called  for  new  auxiliaries; 
thirty  were  chosen  by  the  superior  of  the  order  in  Mexico  to  go  and  till  the 
new  field;  and,  amid  the  general  exultation,  the  sons  of  St.  Dominic  applied 
for  leave  to  enter  that  land  of  missions. 

Ten  of  the  Franciscans  were  intended  for  Upper  California,  and  these 
fathers,  reaching  San  Diego  in  March,  1771,  by  the  following  month  joined 
their  superior  in  the  beautiful  vegas  of  Carmel  at  Monterey.  The  feast  of 
Corpus  Christi  was  celebrated  soon  after,  with  a  pomp  such. as  the  wilderness 
had  never  seen;  twelve  priests  joined  in  the  sacred  procession  to  honor  that 
Real  Presence  which  is  the  center  of  Catholic  faith  and  worship. 

After  this  holy  solemnity,  Serra  proceeded  with  Father  Michael  Pieras 
and  Father  Bonayenture  Sitjar  to  a  beautiful  spot  on  the  river  San  Antonio, 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Sierra  Santa  Lucia,  where  a  towering  canada  encircles  the 
stream.  Here,  on  the  I4th  of  July,  1771,  he  founded  the  mission  at  St. 
Anthony  of  Padua,  the  beloved  saint  of  the  Franciscans,  on  the  wide  grounds 
of  the  Telames.  Hanging  aloft  his  mission  bells,  the  enthusiastic  Serra  tolled 
them  till  the  ravine  rang  again,  while  he  shouted  aloud  his  invitation  to  the 
natives  to  come  and  sit  down  in  peace  beneath  the  cross  he  had  planted. 


,66  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

A  house  and  chapel  were  soon  raised  for  the  missionaries,  with  barracks 
for  the  soldiers,  and  the  whole  was  encircled  by  a  palisade.  Difficulties  at 
first  threatened  the  new  mission,  but  it  was  soon  in  a  way  of  prosperity. 

The  next  undertaking  of  Father  Serra  was  the  removal  of  the  Monterey 
mission,  which  he  began,  after  sending  Father  Francis  Dumetz  and  Luis 
Jayme  to  San  Diego  to  replace  the  missionaries  there,  who  both  sought  to 
retire;  as  they  actually  did  on  the  arrival  of  their  successors.  Monterey 
labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  a  want  of  water  for  the  cattle  and  for 
irrigation.  Selecting  a  site  on  the  banks  of  a  little  stream  not  far  from  the 
little  bay  of  Carmel,  on  the  3d  of  June,  1770,  he  founded  the  mission  of  Mt. 
Carmel,  hemmed  in  by  the  mountains.  His  mission  cross  was  planted  on  that 
day,  and  before  the  close  of  the  next  year  his  chapel  and  buildings  were  all 
completed. 

The  next  mission  to  be  founded  was  that  of  San  Gabriel,  to  commence 
which  Father  Angelo  Somera  and  Father  Peter  Benedict  Cambon  set  out  in 
August,  1770.  With  a  guard  of  ten  soldiers  they  reached  the  Rio  de  los 
Temblores,  and  were  selecting  a  place  to  plant  the  cross  when  the  Indians 
rushed  down  upon  them.  In  this  moment  of  danger  the  missionaries  unfurled 
the  banner  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  as  its  azure  folds  opened  before  the 
eyes  of  the  astonished  natives,  and  the  radiant  form  of  Our  Lady  met  their 
eyes,  they  threw  down  their  arms,  and  timidly  approached  to  offer  her  all 
they  had  as  propitiatory  presents.  Peace  being  thus  wonderfully  established, 
the  good  fathers  planted  the  ci'oss  at  the  foot  of  a  sierra,  on  a  magnificent 
plain  near  three  Indian  villages.  The  first  Mass  was  said  on  the  8th  of  Sep- 
tember, and  buildings  were  soon  erected;  but  new  troubles  arose.  These 
missions  were  always  attended,  as  we  have  seen,  by  a  few  soldiers,  generally 
most  unfit  companions  for  the  missionary  of  peace.  Among  those  at  St. 
Gabriel  was  one  whose  brutal  violence  roused  an  injured  husband  to  vengeance. 
The  Indians  rose  in  arms,  the  house  was  attacked;  but  when  the  unfortunate 
leader  of  the  natives  was  shot  down  by  a  ball  from  his  oppressor's  musket, 
the  rest  fled.  The  guilty  man  was  now  driven  from  the  mission,  and  the 
Indians  at  last  were  appeased.  Fathers  Somera  and  Cambon  now  began  to 
suffer  from  the  climate,  and,  as  soon  as  their  health  permitted,  retired  to  old 
California,  leaving  in  their  place  Fathers  Antonio  Paterna  and  Antonio 
Cruzado,  who,  on  their  way  to  the  site  selected  for  the  mission  of  St.  Bona- 
venturc,  had  accompanied  them  to  St.  Gabriel. 

The  missions  thus  established  relied  at  first  on  the  supplies  brought  fiom 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA.  167 

Mexico,  and  in  a  short  time  want  pressed  heavily  on  them.  This  was 
especially  the  case  at  San  Diego,  so  that  one  of  the  missionaries,  Father 
Dumetz,  proceeded  to  Old  California  for  relief.  When  Serra  knew  their 
distress  he  recalled  Father  Crespi  to  Monterey  and  sent  him  with  provisions 
to  San  Diego,  to  relieve  the  laborious  Father  Jayme. 

Father  Dumetz  presently  returned  with  material  aid  and  also  three  new 
missionaries.  With  this  reinforcement  the  unwearied  superior  resolved  to 
found  a  new  mission,  that  of  San  Luis  Obispo,  on  a  knoll  in  a  beautiful  plain, 
sheltered  by  low  wooded  hills,  and  well  watered,  as  well  as  easy  of  access 
from  the  sea.  The  mission  cross  was  planted  on  the  ist  of  September,  1772, 
and  a  church  and  barracks  were  immediately  begun. 

After  laying  out  the  ground  for  the  mission  of  Santa  Barbara,  and  dis- 
patching the  laborious  Crespi  with  Father  Dumetz  to  Monterey,  he  proceeded 
to  Mexico,  where  a  change  of  governors,  and  various  matters  connected  with 
the  missions,  required  his  presence. 

The  Dominicans,  as  we  have  seen,  had  sought  to  obtain  the  California 
mission;  the  Franciscans  offered  to  retire,  but  it  was  finally  divided  between 
them.  All  the  old  Jesuit  missions  in  Old  California,  with  San  Ferdinand  of 
Vellicata,  were  assigned  to  the  Dominicans,  and  the  Franciscans  retained 
only  those  which  their  own  zeal  had  founded  in  the  upper  province.  These 
were  now  to  receive  a  new  impulse  from  the  accession  of  missionaries  whom 
Father  Palou  brought  from  the  peninsula,  and  from  the  aid  which  Father 
Serra  sent  from  Mexico,  just  before  his  return  in  May,  1774. 

While  some  of  these  fathers  accompanied  expeditions  sent  to  explore 
the  coast,  Fathers  Lazven  and  Gregory  Amurro  were  dispatched,  in  October, 
to  begin  between  San  Diego  and  San  Gabriel  the  mission  of  San  Juan  Capis- 
trano.  The  commencement  of  this  mission  seemed  to  promise  great  success, 
when  it  was  abandoned,  and  the  bells  and  less  portable  objects  buried,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  news  of  a  startling  scene  that  had  transpired  at  San  Diego. 

In  November,  1775,  the  two  missionary  fathers,  Jayme  and  Vincente 
Fuster,  were  rejoicing  in  the  success  of  their  labors  at  the  last-named  mission, 
which,  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the  native  Comeyas  more  easily,  they  had 
removed  from  the  fort,  when  they  discovered  that  two  of  their  Christian 
Indians  had  suddenly  left.  Their  disappearance  surprised,  but  did  not  alarm 
the  missionaries,  who,  supposing  them  to  have  taken  umbrage  at  something 
said  or  done,  sent  messengers  to  recall  them ;  but  it  was  not  such  a  trifle  as 
they  too  hastily  supposed.  These  men  had  gone  forth  to  rouse  their  country- 


j68  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

men  to  destroy  the  missionaries.  Baptized  they  had  been,  they  declared,  but 
by  force;  and  the  sacrament  was  but  a  means  to  effect  their  annihilation. 

This  idea  of  baptism  we  shall  find  in  the  sequel  in  almost  every  tribe, 
and  from  its  universality  can  be  ascribed  only  to  him,  whose  power  was  to  be 
overthrown  by  the  fulfillment  of  the  command  once  given  to  a  few  humble 
men,  "  Go  and  baptize  all  nations."  Not  less  credulous  to  the  words  of  the 
tempter  than  the  Indians  by  the  northern  lakes,  the  Californians  crowded 
around  the  apostates.  A  thousand  braves  resolved  to  attack  the  mission  and 
fort,  and  commit  them  to  the  flames,  when  the  inmates  shall  have  sunk  under 
their  murderous  arms.  On  the  night  of  the  4th  of  November  they  advanced 
noiselessly  to  the  ravine  where  the  mission  lay,  for  the  good  friars  had  with- 
drawn to  some  distance  from  the  fort  to  avoid  the  untoward  influence  always 
exercised  by  a  band  of  soldiers.  Here  the  hostile  army  divided ;  one  party 
marched  against  the  fort,  the  other  entered  the  mission  village,  and,  placing  a 
sentry  at  the  door  of  each  house,  pressed  on  to  the  church,  whose  furniture 
and  decorations  promised  a  splendid  booty.  A  part,  however,  turned  off  to 
assail  the  house  occupied  by  the  missionaries  and  by  a  few  Spaniards,  and, 
approaching  unobserved,  set  it  on  fire.  Awakened  by  the  flames  and  yells, 
the  soldiers  ran  to  arms,  and,  with  Father  Vincent,  threw  themselves  into  an 
adobe  kitchen.  Father  Louis  Jayme,  awakened  by  the  noise,  and  totally  un- 
prepared for  such  an  attack,  supposed  the  fire  accidental,  and  issued  from  the 
house  with  his  usual  salutation,  "  Love  God,  my  children."  He  was  at  once 
seized  by  the  Indians,  dragged  through  the  deepest  part  of  the  neighboring- 
stream,  stripped,  and  killed  with  arrows  and  blows  from  their  swords  of 
hardened  wood,  which  cut  almost  like  iron.  When  found,  his  body  was  so 
hacked  and  mangled  as  to  defy  recognition — the  hands  alone  being  untouched. 

The  attack  on  the  kitchen  was  kept  up  till  daybreak,  when  the  Indians, 
fearing  a  charge  from  the  fort,  drew  off  and  enabled  Father  Vincent  and  his 
companions  to  reach  that  place  of  refuge. 

This  was  a  terrible  check  to  the  missions,  and  many  wished  to  abandon 
San  Diego  and  some  other  stations  entirely.  No  such  thoughts,  however, 
were  entertained  by  the  missionaries.  Words  of  joy  welcomed  the  announce- 
ment of  the  death  of  Jayme.  "  Thank  God,  that  field  is  watered!"  exclaimed 
the  intrepid  Prefect  Serra,  as  he  proceeded,  though  in  broken  health,  to  rouse 
the  civil  authorities  to  courage.  But  the  letters  he  obtained  from  the  latter 
miscarried,  and  when,  in  September,  he  attempted  to  rebuild  the  mission  of 
San  Diego,  Rivera,  the  commandant,  ordered  him  to  desist.  The  prefect 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA.  169 

obeyed  without  a  murmur,  but  a  change  of  authorities  soon  enabled  him  to 
realize  his  plan,  and  San  Diego  arose  from  its  ruins.  As  soon  as  he  saw  it  in 
progress  he  hurried  with  Fathers  Mugartegui  and  Amurro  to  San  Capistrano. 
Here  he  found  the  cross  still  standing;  and  this  admirable  man,  unbroken  by 
toil,  undaunted  by  danger,  hastened,  almost  alone,  amid  hostile  tribes,  to  San 
Gabriel  to  obtain  the  necessary  articles. 

This  last  mission  is  situated  in  a  beautiful  plain,  a  league  from  the  sea, 
on  the  banks  of  a  little  river  which  never  fails,  even  in  the  greatest  drought. 
The  people,  among  whom  it  was  established,  were  called  the  Acagchemem 
nation,  and  of  them  we  have,  in  a  work  of  Father  Boscana,  a  later  missionary, 
a  fuller  account  than  we  possess  of  any  other  tribe  in  California.  No  portion 
of  the  continent  contained,  in  the  same  compass,  tribes  so  variant  in  language 
and  consequently  in  race. 

All  the  Californian  tribes  resemble,  in  general  manners  and  customs,  the 
Indians  of  other  parts  of  the  republic.  Ignorant  of  the  use  of  metals,  they 
relied  on  hunting  and  fishing  for  a  sustenance:  agriculture,  even  in  its  rudest 
form,  being  almost  unknown,  and  seeds  and  herbs  the  only  production  used 
by  them.  The  men  went  naked,  or  wore  a  cloak  of  skins  over  the  shoulders; 
the  women,  and  even  the  youngest  female  children,  wore  a  kind  of  apron 
of  fringe,  and  were  never  known  to  lay  aside  this  badge  of  modesty;  many, 
too,  wore  a  kind  of  cloak  reaching  from  the  neck  to  the  knees.  The  most 
advanced  tribes  were  those  between  .Santa  Barbara  and  Monterey;  these 
Indians  were  skillful  fishermen,  and  showed  great  dexterity  in  the  use  of  their 
well-made  canoes,  and  in  a  money  made  of  shells,  like  the  wampum  of  the 
eastern  tribes,  carried  on  a  thriving  commerce. 

The  tribe  among  whom  the  mission  of  San  Juan  Capistrano  was  founded 
were  the  Acagchemem.  Their  religious  ideas  are  easily  described.  Consider- 
ing heaven  and  earth  as  the  first  of  beings,  they  peopled  the  universe  with  a 
monster  progeny,  which  issued  from  them,  and  which  disappeared  before 
Chinigchinich,  "  the  Almighty,"  who  created  man  and  the  animals.  This 
being  was  the  object  of  their  worship.  To  him  they  raised  temples,  and  in 
them  placed  the  skin  of  a  coyote,  or  wild-cat,  filled  with  feathers,  claws, 
horns,  and  similar  parts  of  various  birds  and  beasts.  The  worship,  directed  by 
priests  or  puplem,  consisted  of  various  dances  and  ceremonies,  in  which  little 
trace  of  sacrifice  can  be  discovered.  Their  belief  in  witchcraft,  their  medicine- 
men and  jugglery,  their  various  dances,  are,  in  the  main,  such  as  are  found  in 
almost  every  American  tribe. 


I  jo  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Having  established  anew  the  mission  of  San  Juan  Capistrano,  the 
active  Serra  projected  that  of  San  Francisco.  An  expedition  had  been  sent 
from  Sonora  by  land  to  commence  a  settlement  at  that  bay,  and  was  attended 
by  Father  Font  as  chaplain.  Fathers  Palou  and  Cambon  joined  it,  as  mission- 
aries, tofound  astation  at  the  new  settlement,  and  Fathers  Murguia  and  Pena 
to  begin  another  mission,  under  the  patronage  of  Santa  Clara,  in  its  vicinity. 

The  mission  of  San  Francisco  was  really  inaugurated  in  a  rustic  chapel, 
on  the  27th  of  June,  1776,  and  the  country  around  that  beautiful  bay  explored 
by  the  intrepid  missionaries.  The  legal  organization  of  the  missions  was 
delayed  by  the  inactivity  of  the  commandant  Rivera,  to  whom  they  were 
obliged  to  recur  for  supplies  and  for  the  usual  guard.  Santa  Clara  was  in 
consequence  not  begun  till  the  6th  of  January,  1777,  when  that  mission  arose 
on  the  charming  plains  of  San  Bernardino. 

The  missions  thus  established  in  Upper  California  differed  essentially 
from  those  planted  in  the  other  sections  of  our  republic.  Here  it  was  not  a 
single  missionary,  venturing  alone  into  a  distant  land,  facing  every  danger 
from  the  elements,  the  wild  beasts,  or  the  untamed  child  of  the  forest;  the 
missionary  went  to  his  station  attended  by  a  small  guard,  with  a  colony  of 
Indian  converts,  herds  of  cattle,  and  a  plentiful  supply  of  agricultural  and 
other  implements.  Around  this  nucleus  of  converted  Indians,  others  soon 
gathered;  buildings  were  erected,  the  new-comers  formed  to  habits  of  in- 
dustry, and  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  As  many  of  the  mis- 
sionaries were  ingenious  in  mechanical  arts,  the  Indians  were  formed  to  every 
trade,  and  each  mission  yearly  sent  off  its  cargoes  of  surplus  products  and 
manufactures,  to  receive  in  return  the  necessary  European  goods.  This  pros- 
perity constantly  attracted  new-comers,  who  were  in  time  trained  to  the  life 
of  the  mission.  The  wealth  of  these  missions,  a  few  years  since,  shows  how 
great  the  progress  of  the  Indians  had  been. 

Father  Serra,  the  Prefect  Apostolic,  had  now  founded  a  goodly  number 
of  missions,  which  began  to  bear  fruit.  Baptisms  had  become  numerous, 
the  new  converts  had  swelled  the  village  at  each  mission,  and  peace,  order, 
and  prosperity  had  begun  their  reign.  That  the  neophytes  might  not  be  de- 
prived of  the  sacrament  of  confirmation,  the  Holy  See,  on  the  i6th  of  June, 
1774,  issued  a  bull  conferring  on  the  Prefect  Apostolic  the  power  of  administer- 
ing it,  and  this  privilege  he  exercised,  though  for  a  time  prevented  by  gov- 
ernment from  doing  so. 

Under  his  care  the  missions  henceforth  grew  and  prospered ,  the  only 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


171 


affliction  they  suffered  being  the  loss  of  the  veteran  Father  Crespi,  who  died 
at  Monterey  on  the  ist  of  January,  1782,  after  a  missionary  career  of  thirty 
years,  fourteen  of  which  had  been  spent  in  California. 

But  if  prosperity  and  success  smiled  on  the  missions  from  San  Diego  to 
San  Francisco,  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  a  new  mission  attempted  about 
this  time.  The  power  exercised  by  the  missionaries  over  the  converted 
Indians  in  the  reductions,  the  management  of  the  property,  which  they  kept 
in  their  own  hands,  and  the  kind  of  tutelage  in  which  the  new  Christians  were 
held,  had  drawn  great  odium  on  the  Jesuits.  The  Franciscans,  nevertheless, 
had  continued  the  system,  being  convinced  of  its  expediency.  Not  so  the 
government,  which  wished  to  justify  its  charges  against  the  suppressed  order. 
A  new  mission  was  therefore  to  be  formed,  in  which  the  fathers  were  to 
confine  their  labors  to  the  spiritual  instruction  of  the  Indians,  leaving  their 
civilization  and  temporal  advancement  in  the  hands  of  those  whom  interest, 
zeal,  or  ambition  might  induce  to  attempt  it.  Four  missionaries  from  the  Fran- 
ciscan college  of  the  Holy  Cross  of  Queretaro  accordingly  joined  the  captain- 
general,  and  by  his  orders  founded  two  missions  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Colorado  above  its  mouth;  one  under  the  invocation  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  the  other  three  leagues  further  south  under  that  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  and  both  intended  for  the  conversion  of  the  Yumas,  who  were 
the  nearest  tribe. 

Matters  went  on  slowly ;  the  soldiers,  as  colonists,  chose  the  fairest  lands, 
and  the  ejected  Indians,  deprived  of  their  crops,  began  ere  long  to  covet  the 
flocks  of  the  invaders.  The  missionaries,  whose  duty  led  them  daily  to  the 
villages  of  the  Yumas,  saw  the  danger,  and  in  vain  endeavored  to  excite  their 
countrymen  to  measures  of  conciliation.  Vengeance  was  not  long  delayed. 
One  Sunday  in  July,  after  Mass,  the  Indians,  to  the  number  of  several  thou- 
sands, simultaneously  attacked  both  missions,  set  fire  to  them,  and  killed 
Rivera,  the  commander,  and  his  soldiers,  with  most  of  the  settlers.  The 
missionaries  hurried  around  to  exercise  their  ministry,  confessing,  exhorting, 
encouraging,  till  they,  too,  were  cut  down.  The  four  missionaries  who  per- 
ished here  were  Father  John  Diaz  and  Father  Matthew  Morena,  whose 
bodies  were  found  amid  the  ruins  of  their  mission,  and  Father  Francisco 
Gar.ces  and  John  Barraneche,  of  the  province  of  Florida,  whose  bodies, 
interred  by  an  old  woman,  were  recovered  some  time  after.  Of  these,  Father 
Garces  deserves  especial  notice  as  a  successful  and  adventurous  missioner,  who 
had  extended  his  excursions  to  Upper  California,  and  traversed  much  of  the 


^2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

country  north  of  the  Colorado,  so  that,  adapting  himself  to  Indian  life,  he  had 
become  as  one  of  the  natives.  Yet  loved  as  he  was,  the  Yumas  did  not  spare 
him  in  the  general  massacre. 

The  missions  already  founded  did  not  satisfy  the  boundless  zeal  of  the 
prefect,  the  venerable  Serra.  He  died  in  1784,  planning  new  foundations, 
and  still  eager  to  plant  the  cross  in  parts  as  yet  unvisited.  Ten  missions  were 
already  established,  and  about  ten  thousand  Indians  had  been  baptized. 
Among  the  enterprising  men  who  have  attempted  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians,  few  deserve  a  higher  place  than  Father  Juniper  Serra.  Nothing  is 
more  admirable  than  the  courage  he  displayed  in  the  effort  to  civilize  the 
barbarous  tribes,  amid  whom  his  charity  had  called  him.  If  he  had  not  the 
heroic  sanctity  of  earlier  missionaries,  his  steady  development  of  the  Jesuit 
plan  of  missions,  his  constant  attention,  assiduous  labor,  and  prudence  in 
government,  often  amid  factious  opposition,  entitle  him  to  the  highest  place 
among  illustrious  missionaries.  Nor  was  he  wanting  in  deep  and  tender 
piety.  When  an  Indian  child  that  he  was  about  to  baptize  was  taken  from 
his  arms,  he  was  deeply  moved.  "  The  feelings  of  the  venerable  father, 
seeing  the  baptism  of  this  child  so  frustrated,  were  such,"  says  Palou,  "  that 
for  many  days  the  sorrow  and  pain  which  he  suffered  might  be  discovered  in 
his  countenance — the  good  father  attributing  the  conduct  of  the  Indians  to 
his  own  sins;  and  many  years  afterwards,  when  he  related  this  circumstance, 
his  eyes  were  suffused  with  tears."  His  death  was  as  calm  as  his  life.  Sink- 
ing under  a  malady  of  the  lungs,  he  continued  his  labors,  visiting  the  missions, 
administering  confirmation,  and  regulating  everything,  till,  finding  his  death 
at  hand,  he  sent  for  the  nearest  fathers  to  come  and  take  leave  of  him.  In 
August  he  sank  gradually,  but  still  kept  up  and  recited  his  office,  though  pre- 
paring to  die.  On  the  2yth  of  that  month  he  directed  Father  Palou  to  conse- 
crate a  host,  and  give  him  the  holy  Viaticum.  In  the  course  of  the  same  day 
he  ordered  his  coffin,  and  received  the  sacrament  of  extreme  unction  on  his 
bed — a  mat  stretched  over^a  board.  The  next  day,  August  28,  1784,  he  was 
up  again  and  cheerful,  but  presently  retiring  to  his  hard  couch,  lay  down  and 
expired  without  a  struggle  or  a  sigh,  at  the  age  of  71.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  a  beautiful  monument  was  raised  to  his  memory  in  1891  by  Mrs.  Leland 
Stanford,  the  Protestant  wife  of  a  present  U.  S.  senator  from  California. 
Father  Serra  had  been  a  true  apostle  among  the  wandering  tribes  of  the 
Sierra  Gorda,  and  he  toiled  for  years  to  gain  these  poor  souls  to  Christ.  He 
was  a  holy  spiritual  guide. 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


'73 


"  He  tried  each  art,  reproved  each  dull  delay, 
Allured  to  brighter  worlds,  and  led  the  way." 

It  is  said  that  in  order  to  give  his  simple,  dusky  flock  a  good  example, 
he  made  it  a  custom  to  go  to  confession  in  the  presence  of  the  people.  It  was 
at  the  very  time  when  the  fathers  of  this  republic  were  drafting  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  that  the  mission  was  founded  at  San  Francisco  by  his 
order  on  the  2jth  of  June,  1776.  "San  Francisco,"  says  a  western  writer, 
"has  this,  at  least,  to  boast  of — that  the  first  building  erected  within  it,  was 
dedicated  to  God's  worship  under  the  patronage  of  Saint  Francis." 

On  the  death  of  Father  Serra,  his  future  biographer,  Father  Palou,  was 
appointed  Prefect  Apostolic;  but  before  we  enter  on  the  history  of  his 
administration,  we  shall  describe  these  missions  as  they  then  existed,  for 
though  the  California  mission  began  about  the  period  of  the  American  revo- 
lution, and  attained  a  wonderful  degree  of  prosperity,  it  is  now  almost  as 
much  a  matter  of  the  past,  as  the  Iroquois  or  Huron  missions  in  the  north. 

A  rectangular  building,  eighty  or  ninety  yards  in  front,  and  about  as 
deep,  composed  the  mission.  In  one  end  was  the  church  and  parsonage.  The 
interior  was  a  large  and  beautiful  court,  adorned  with  trees  and  fountains, 
surrounded  by  galleries,  on  which  opened  the  rooms  of  the  missionaries, 
stewards,  and  travelers,  the  shops,  schools,  store-rooms,  etc.,  and  granary.  A 
part,  separated  off,  and  called  the  monastery,  was  reserved  for  the  Indian 
girls,  where  they  were  taught  by  native  women  to  spin  and  weave,  and 
received  such  other  instruction  as  was  suited  to  their  sex.  The  boys  learned 
trades,  and  those  who  excelled  were  promoted  to  the  rank  of  chiefs,  thus 
giving  a  dignity  to  labor  which  impelled  all  to  embrace  it. 

Each  mission  was  directed  by  two  friars;  one  of  whom  superintended  this 
mission  building  and  the  religious  instruction,  the  other  the  field-labors,  in  which 
he  always  took  part,  teaching  consilio  manuque,  to  use  their  own  expression 
— by  advice  and  example.  How  well  they  succeeded  we  may  judge  by  the 
results  which  they  obtained  and  by  the  affection  of  the  Indians.  Those  who, 

• 

but  a  few  years  since,  visited  these  missions,  were  amazed  to  see  that  with 
such  petty  resources,  most  frequently  without  the  aid  of  the  white  mechanics, 
with  Indian  workmen  alone,  they  accomplished  so  much,  not  only  in  agricul- 
ture, but  in  architecture  and  mechanics — in  mills,  machines,  bridges,  roads, 
canals  for  irrigation — and  accomplished  it  only  by  transforming  hostile  and 
indolent  savages  into  laborious  carpenters,  masons,  coopers,  saddlers,  shoe- 
makers, weavers,  stone-cutters,  brick-makers,  and  lime-burners. 


iy4  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  discipline  was  indeed  severe,  and  the  whole  establishment  conducted 
like  some  large  factory.  This  has  excited,  in  modern  times,  great  outcry ; 
but  the  missions  have  been  abolished,  and  the  Indians  left  to  the  "  enlightened" 
men  of  our  day.  Under  their  care  the  Indians  have  perished  like  smoke  be- 
fore the  wind,  and  men  now  sigh  for  the  missions. 

Around  the  mission  building  rose  the  houses  of  the  Indians  and  of  a 
few  white  settlers;  at  various  distances  were  ranches  or  hamlets,  each  with 
its  succursal  chapel.  In  a  little  building  by  the  mission  was  a  picket  of  five 
horsemen,  half  soldiers,  half  couriers. 

The  regulations  of  the  missions  were  uniform.  At  daybreak  the  Angelus 
summoned  all  to  the  church  for  prayers  and  Mass,  from  which  they  returned 
to  breakfast.  Then  all  joined  their  respective  bands,  and  proceeded  to  their 
regular  labor.  At  eleven  they  returned  to  dine,  and  rested  till  two,  when 
labor  recommenced  and  lasted  till  the  Angelus,  which  was  rung  an  hour  be- 
fore sunset.  After  prayers  and  the  beads,  they  supped  and  spent  the  evening  in 
innocent  amusements.  Their  food  was  the  fresh  beef  and  mutton  plentifully 
supplied  by  their  flocks,  cakes  of  wheat  and  Indian,  with  peas,  beans,  and 
such  other  vegetables  as  they  chose  to  raise. 

The  dress  of  the  men  was  a  shirt,  trousers,  and  blanket,  though  the 
alcalde  and  chiefs  of  gangs  of  workmen  wore  frequently  the  complete 
Spanish  dress.  The  dress  of  the  women  was  the  usual  one,  with  the  in- 
variable blanket.  When  the  crops  were  harvested,  each  mission  sold  or 
shipped  its  breadstuffs,  wine,  oil,  hemp  and  cordage,  hides  and  tallow,  and 
from  the  returns  distributed  to  the  Indians  clothes,  handkerchiefs,  tobacco,  and 
other  articles.  The  surplus  was  spent  in  the  purchase  of  necessaries  for  the  mis- 
sion, furniture  for  the  church  or  the  houses, implements  of  agriculture,  tools,  etc. 

Besides  the  funds  thus  resulting  from  their  own  labors,  the  Indians  en- 
joyed the  revenue  of  a  portion  of  the  "  Pious  fund,"  which  had  been  be- 
stowed by  charitable  persons  on  the  old  Jesuit  mission :  the  missionaries, 
bound  by  vows  of  poverty,  receiving  only  food  and  clothing. 

The  Indians  of  a  mission  were  not  all  of  the  same  tribe,  but  perfect 
harmony  prevailed,  and  when  the  season  of  work  was  over,  many  paid  visits 
to  their  countrymen,  and  seldom  returned  alone.  Sometimes  a  zealous 
Christian  would  visit  his  own  tribe  as  an  apostle,  to  announce  the  happiness 
enjoyed  under  the  mild  rule  of  the  gospel.  In  this  way  the  missions  con- 
stantly received  new  accessions,  for  the  good  friars  had  the  art  of  making 
labor  attractive. 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


75 


One  of  the  first  acts  of  Father  Palou  was  to  found  the  mission  of  Santa 
Barbara,  which  was  begun  on  the  4th  of  December,  1786,  at  the  foot  of  a 
chain  of  arid  mountains.  This  was  followed  on  the  8th  of  December,  1787, 
by  that  of  La  Purisima  Concepcion,  separated  from  that  of  San  Luis  Obispo 
by  a  beautiful  and  fertile  plain.  Soon  after,  in  1791,  the  mission  of  Santa 
Cruz,  near  Branciforte,  was  founded  in  August,  and  that  of  Nucstra  Seilora 
de  la  Soledad  in  October,  in  a  delightful  canon,  which  extends  to  Monterey. 
These  were  the  last  acts  of  Father  Palou's  administration;  for  it  is  said  that 
he  then  left  California,  and  became  superior  of  the  convent  of  San  Fernando, 
in  the  city  of  Mexico. 

Under  Father  Lazven,  who  was  the  next  prefect,  the  California  mission 
received  still  greater  development.  In  the  single  year  1797  he  founded  three 
missions — San  Jose", 
San  Miguel,  and  San 
Fernando  Rey.  The 
first,  which  dates  from 
the  i8th  of  June,  is  at 
the  foot  of  a  range  of 
low  hills,  along  which 
runs  the  San  Joaquin. 
Its  proximity  to  the 
Tulares  enabled  this 
mission  to  collect  a 
great  number  of  In- 
dians, and  it  was  soon 
one  of  the  most  flour- 
ishing and  commercial 
in  all  California. 

San  Miguel  arose 
on  the  25th  of  July,  in 
a  beautiful    plain,  into 
which    several   moun- 
tain gorges  enter,  giv-  FATHER  ANTONIO  PEYRI,  o.  s.  F. 
ing  easy  access  to  other  missions,  while  San  Fernando,  founded  on  the  feast 
of  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  lay  nearer  San  Gabriel.     All  these 
missions  soon  attained  a  high  degree  of  prosperity. 

The  next  mission  was  that  of  San  Luis  Rey  de  Francia,  which  arose  in 


I76  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  wilderness  at  a  time  when  France  rejected  alike  the  faith,  institutions,  and 
family  of  that  holy  king.  Its  founder,  the  illustrious  Father  Peyri,  raised  a 
thatched  cottage  by  the  beautiful  banks  of  the  San  Luis  on  the  feast  of  his 
patron,  Saint  Anthony  of  Padua,  in  the  year  1798.  A  few  cattle  and  some 
converted  Indians  were  all  that  he  asked  from  the  next  mission,  and  thus  he 
founded  San  Luis  Rey  among  the  Kechis.  From  this  feeble  commencement 
rose  the  greatest  of  the  Californian  reductions,  as  English,  French,  and 
American  writers  all  concur  in  asserting.  Its  church  of  stone  is  ninety 
feet  deep,  and  rises  at  one  end  in  a  beautiful  tower  and  dome ;  and  from  its 
fa9ade  extends  a  colonnade,  not  without  architectural  beauty,  and  nearly  five 
hundred  feet  long,  while  in  depth  it  is  almost  in  equal  dimensions.  Father 
Peyri  was  not  only  an  architect,  but  also  an  able  mission -director.  He  soon 
had  3,500  Indian  converts,  scattered  in  twenty  ranches,  and  the  whole  place 
bore  marks  of  industry,  and  consequently  of  peace  and  plenty. 

Spain  now  began  to  reel  under  the  effects  of  the  French  revolution; 
and  the  distracted  state  of  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies  materially 
affected  the  missions,  which  were  in  a  great  measure  left  to  their  own  re- 
sources. For  several  years  their  funds  came  very  irregularly,  but  the  Indians, 
who  relied  chiefly  on  their  own  labor,  suffered  no  loss,  and  the  only  difficulty 
was  that  new  missions  could  not  be  undertaken;  and  the  weakness  of  the 
government  seemed  to  offer  an  opportunity  to  the  savage  tribes  to  burst  on 
these  frontier  stations. 

Amid  this  period  of  trial  Father  Lazven  died  in  1803,  at  his  mission  of 
Carmel,  where  he  was  interred.  His  successor  founded  the  mission  of  Santa 
Inez  in  the  following  year,  on  a  beautiful  prairie  embosomed  in  the  hills — a 
perfect  garden  of  fertility.  In  1817  the  missionaries  resumed  their  activity, 
and  Father  Ventura  Fortuni  founded  the  mission  of  San  Rafael  among  the 
Jouskiousm^,  and  the  prefect,  Father  Mariano  Payeras,  proposed  to  the 
Spanish  king  to  establish  a  presidio  at  Telame,  and  missions  running  in  a  line 
from  San  Luis  Rey  to  San  Jose1,  but  the  power  of  Spain  in  the  western 
world  was  already  tottering,  and  the  project  was  abandoned. 

Left  to  their  own  resources,  the  missionaries  did  not  falter;  they  steadily 
advanced  the  faith,  and  in  August,  1823,  Father  Amoros  began  the  mission 
of  San  Francisco  Solano  among  the  Guilucos,  the  most  northerly  and  last  of 
all  those  religious  establishments  which  now  lie  in  ruins,  and  the  only  one 
that  dates  from  the  period  of  the  Mexican  republic.  The  same  father  did, 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA.  177 

indeed,  attempt  another  in  1827,  but  the  little  chapel  of  Saint  Rose  was  all 
that  he  could  accomplish. 

Echandia,  the  first  governor  sent  by  the  Mexican  republic  to  California, 
arrived  in  1824.  Our  historian,  Robinson,  calls  him  "the  scourge  of  Califor- 
nia, an  instigator  of  vice,  who  sowed  seeds  of  dishonor  not  to  be  extirpated 
while  a  mission  remains  to  be  robbed."  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  interfere 
in  the  established  plan  of  the  missions,  and  attempt  to  take  all  temporal  direc- 
tion from  the  missionaries.  The  latter  opposed  this  invasion  of  the  rights  of 
their  Indians,  who  they  clearly  foresaw  were  doomed  to  destruction  if  left  to 
the  mercy  of  the  agents  of  government.  Echandia  persisted  in  his  plan  of 
pillage,  drove  out  the  fearless  Martinez,  and  loaded  with  ill  treatment  Father 
Sanchez,  the  prefect  or  president  of  the  missions,  so  that  the  venerable  man, 
after  struggling  for  years  against  the  oppressors  of  his  forest  children,  died  of 
grief  in  1831,  consoled  in  his  last  moments  by  the  conduct  of  the  upright 
Don  Manuel  Victoria,  who  for  a  few  months  restored  the  missions.  But  that 
excellent  governor  was  soon  removed  and  the  plunder  recommenced.  Father 
Antonio  Peyri,  a  man  of  energy  and  capacity,  and  though  advanced  in  years, 
still  hale  and  able  to  maintain  his  rights,  became  peculiarly  obnoxious.  lie 
was  driven  from  his  mission  of  San  Luis  Rey,  which  he  had  founded  and 
directed  with  admirable  skill  for  thirty-four  years.  The  entreaties  and  tears 
of  his  neophytes  could  not  obtain  his  continuance,  and  as  he  tore  himself 
from  his  flock  to  embark  for  Mexico,  tears  streamed  down  his  aged  cheeks. 
For  years  after  the  Indians  preserved  a  painting  which  represented  Father 
Peyri  amid  his  neophytes,  and  frequently  came  to  recite  their  prayers  before 
that  effigy  of  him  who  had  first  led  them  to  a  knowledge  of  God,  and  when 
he  finally  proceeded  to  Barcelona,  every  stranger  was  eagerly  questioned  for 
tidings  of  their  beloved  guide,  and  heard  them  speak  with  sighs  of  their 
happy  state  when  directed  by  his  paternal  hand.  Such  is  the  testimony  of 
Forbes  and  Robinson  in  1835,  of  Duflot  de  Mofras  in  1840,  and  even  of 
Bartlett  in  1852. 

At  San  Luis  Obispo,  Father  Martinez  had  formed  his  flock  to  industry: 
they  wove  and  dyed  ordinary  cloth  and  fine  cotton  fabrics,  which  would  soon 
have  made  them  a  prosperous  and  happy  colony,  even  amid  the  increasing 
whites,  but  he  was  brutally  expelled.  Five  other  fathers  were  driven  from 
other  missions  and  a  regular  system  of  robbery  commenced,  ranch  after  ranch 
was  taken,  cattle  swept  off,  and  the  Indians,  seduced  from  their  labors  by 
Echandia,  the  governor,  were  so  inflamed  against  the  missionaries  that  they 


JH&  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

attempted  to  kill  Father  Cabot  at  San  Miguel.  At  the  view  of  his  misery, 
several  other  fathers,  exposed  to  ill  treatment  and  persecution,  resolved  to 
leave  the  country,  where  some  had  spent  thirty  and  forty  years  in  civilizing 
the  Indians,  and  raising  them  to  a  state  of  ease  and  comfort  and  plenty.  They 
departed  as  poor  as  they  had  lived,  for  they  lost  nothing :  it  was  their  neo- 
phytes who  had  been  robbed.  The  number  of  missionaries  was  now  so  re- 
duced that  in  1833  the  Mexican  government  applied  to  the  college  of  Our 
Lady  of  Guadalupe,  at  Zacatecas,  and  obtained  ten  missionaries  for  Califor- 
nia, who  took  the  richer  and  more  northerly  stations;  and  Father  Duran,  who 
had  just  succeeded  Father  Francisco  Garcia  Diego  as  prefect,  removed  to 
Santa  Barbara,  after  being  for  a  time  imprisoned  on  a  frivolous  charge. 

Meanwhile,  the  government  in  California  was  carrying  on  the  work  of 
secularization  or  plunder,  and  the  year  1834  may  be  considered  as  that  of  the 
complete  overthrow  of  the  missions,  although  it  was  not  till  1837  ^hat  it  was 
finally  and  officially  decreed  by  congress.  But  this  act  of  congress  was  as 
unnecessary  as  a  later  one,  in  1840,  for  then  restoration  was  impossible:  the 
property  of  the  poor  Indians  was  already  in  the  hands  of  the  plunderers,  and 
there  was  no  power  to  wrest  it  from  them. 

The  mission  of  St.  Gabriel  had  its  vineyards  planted  by  Father  Jose 
Maria  Zalvidea,  which  already  produced  excellent  wine:  he  was  negotiating 
with  an  American  house  for  iron  fences.  All  around  was  activity,  industry, 
and  enterprise,  created  by  him ;  for  his  ships,  loaded  with  the  products  of  the 
mission,  sailed  regularly  for  Lima  and  San  Bias;  but  neither  here  nor  at  San 
Juan  Capistrano,  also  under  his  care,  could  he  prevent  the  spoliation.  His 
vineyards  were  torn  up,  and  in  a  short  time  misery  usurped  the  place  of  plenty 
and  industry. 

At  this  period  the  missions  contained  30,650  Indians,  424,000  head  of  cat- 
tle, 62,500  horses,  321,500  sheep,  and  raised  annually  122,500  bushels  of 
wheat  and  maize.  This  property  was  now  handed  over  to  the  authorities, 
who  allotted  some  to  each  family.  Here  and  there,  a  missionary,  better  able 
to  struggle  with  intriguing  men,  saved  the  mission  buildings  and  the  live- 
stock given  to  his  neophytes,  but,  in  most  cases,  they  were  deprived  of  it  al- 
most immediately.  The  missionary  was  merely  allowed  rations  for  his  sup- 
port, and  these  were  often  never  sent.  Thus,  in  1838,  Father  Sarria,  of  whom 
an  American  says,  "  it  was  a  happiness  indeed  to  have  known  him,"  died  of 
hunger  and  wretchedness  at  his  mission  of  La  Soledad,  having  refused  to 
abandon  his  constantly  decreasing  flock.  Neither  his  age,  his  goodness,  his 


SEED  SOWN  IN  CALIFORNIA.  1 79 

charity,  nor  gentle  character,  could  win  a  petty  living  on  the  spot  where 
thousands  had  enjoyed  his  hospitality.  One  day  in  August,  though  worn 
down  by  suffering  and  want,  he  gathered  his  flock  in  the  church,  but  had 
only  just  begun  the  Mass  when  his  strength  failed  him :  he  fell  at  the  foot  of 
the  altar,  and  expired  in  the  arms  of  those  Indians  whom  he  had  spent  thirty 
years  in  instructing  and  protecting.  Father  Fortuni,  the  founder  of  the  mis- 
sion of  San  Rafael,  expired  soon  after. 

Not  even  the  elevation  of  Father  Francisco  Garcia  Diego,  an  old  Cali- 
fornia missionary,  to  the  episcopacy,  in  1840,  could  arrest  the  work  of  sacri- 
lege. When  Duflot  de  Mofras  visited  the  missions  in  1842,  several  of  the 
missions  were  entirely  closed,  the  Indians  had  dwindled  down  from  30,000  to 
4,450,  their  cattle  from  424,000  to  28,000,  and  their  other  stock  in  proportion. 
The  mission  and  church  of  San  Diego  were  in  ruins,  and  the  missionary,  Father 
Vicente  Oliva,  had  but  one  little  farm  for  his  remaining  five  hundred  Indians. 
That  of  San  Juan  Capistrano  was  in  ruins,  too.  Amid  the  ruins  of  San 
Gabriel  he  found  the  unbroken  Biscay  an,  Father  Thomas  Estenega,  seated 
in  a  field  before  a  large  table,  with  his  sleeves  rolled  up,  kneading  clay,  and 
teaching  his  Indians  to  make  bricks.  At  San  Fernando,  Santa  Clara,  and  at 
Santa  Inez,  the  missionaries  had  contrived  to  save  much.  St.  Bonaventure* 
Santa  Cruz,  San  Juan  Bautista,  San  Miguel,  Carmel,  the  Conception,  and 
San  Rafael  were  deserted  or  in  ruins.  St.  Barbara  was  the  residence  of 
Father  Narcissus  Duran,  the  kind,  generous,  benevolent,  and  devoted  prefect. 
At  San  Luis  Obispo,  amid  the  ruins,  he  found,  in  the  greatest  misery,  the 
oldest  missionary  in  the  country,  Father  Ramon  Abella,  whom  La  Peyrouse 
had  seen  there  in  1787.  This  aged  man  had  no  bed  but  a  hide,  no  cup  but  a 
horn,  no  food  but  some  dried  beef.  In  vain  had  Father  Duran  urged  him  to 
leave  his  place  and  take  one  of  greater  ease ;  he  determined  to  die  at  the  mis- 
sion, and  divided  all  the  alms  sent  him  among  his  poor  and  plundered  Indians. 
Founder  of  several  of  the  missions  that  now  lay  in  ruins,  he  still  talked  of 
proceeding  to  found  others  in  the  north.  At  La  Soledad,  it  was  loneliness 
indeed:  there  were  silent  ruins,  but  no  missionary — not  an  Indian  nor  a  single 
head  of  cattle;  the  vineyards  were  abandoned,  the  gardens  overgrown,  and 
the  orchards  wild.  At  San  Jose",  the  prefect  of  the  northern  missions,  Father 
Gonzalez,  received  from  the  civil  administrator  an  allowance  of  food  less  than 
would  be  given  to  a  criminal.  San  Francisco  Solano  had  been  destroyed,  and 
the  materials  taken  by  Don  Mariano  Vallejo  to  construct  his  beautiful  man- 
sion. 


i8o 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


Such  was  the  state  of  these  missions  which  still  numbered  thirteen  mis- 
sionaries; but  civil  war  now  broke  out;  the  remaining  missions  were  occu- 
pied by  the  contending  parties,  and  the  Indians  were  drawn  into  the  quarrel. 
Before  any  order  could  be  restored,  the  American  war  ensued ;  California 
was  taken,  the  gold  mines  drew  a  new  population  to  the  country,  and  the  In- 
dians of  the  missions  entirely  disappeared.  In  a  later  chapter  of  our  work 
we  shall  learn  of  the  Church's  success  under  these  new  and  startling  condi- 
tions. 


FRENCH  VAfcOR  IN  THE  NORTH. 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  JACQUES  CARTIER. — AN  ADVENTUROUS  MASTER  PILOT. — BLESSINGS 
OF  A  BISHOP. — How  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE  WAS  NAMED. — DANCING  SQUAWS  AND 
WARRIORS. — THE  VILLAGE  OF  HOCHELAGA. — CAPTAIN  JACQUES  AS  A  CHAPLAIN. 
— THE  BAPTISM  OF  MONTREAL. — WINTERING  AT  AN  ICE-BRIDGE. — TAKING  POS- 
SESSION FOR  FRANCE. — A  STRICKEN  COLONY. — DEATH  OF  CARTIER. — SAMUEL 
DE  CHAMPLAIN'S  EARLY  LIFE. — AN  EXPEDITION  TO  ACADIA. — QUEBEC  FIRST 
VISITED. — THE  WHITE  CHIEF  BUILDS  A  FORT. — FIGHTING  FOR  INDIAN  NEIGH- 
BORS.— BATTLE  WITH  THE  ADIRONDACKS. — CHAMPLAIN'S  MARRIAGE. — A  NEW 
EXPEDITION.  —  SEEKING  A  PATH  TO  CHINA.  —  CEREMONIES  AT  CHAUDIERE 
FALLS. — INVITING  MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  CROSS. — FATHERS  DOLBEAU  AND  LE 
CARON. — WORK  AMONG  THE  HURONS. — STRIFE  WITH  THE  IROQUOIS. — A  DIS- 
MAL MARCH.- -LATER  FEATS  AND  SUFFERINGS. — BRINGING  OVER  THE  JESUITS. 
— MADAME  CHAMPLAIN  IN  CANADA. — DEATH  ON  A  CHRISTMAS  DAY. — CHARAC- 
TER OF  THE  GREAT  PIONEER, 

• 

HE  Spanish  missions  in  the  south  of  this  country,  of  which  some 
have  just  been  recorded,  were  rivaled  in  Catholic  interest  by  those 
of  a  French  origin  that  had  their  theatre  along  our  northern 
frontier.  As  in  the  former  case,  too,  the  clergy  were  here  preceded 
by  some  adventurous  Catholic  laymen,  who  blazed  a  way  in  the 
wilderness  for  the  Cross  and  its  holy  ambassadors.  Some  notice 
of  these  gallant  explorers  is  an  essential  chapter  of  the  history  of  Catholicity 
on  this  continent. 

Verrazano,  as  we  have  seen,  was  in  the  French  service,  but  he  perished 
at  sea  on  his  second  voyage.  His  successor  under  the  same  flag  was  James 
C artier,  who  was  born  in  1494  at  that  famous  French  seaport  to  which  the 
Irish  St.  Malo  has  left  his  name.  Little  is  known  of  Carder's  early  years, 
except  that  he  became  a  skilled  navigator,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  was 

a  master  pilot. 

181 


182 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


The  dim   memory   of   Verrazano's  voyage  remained,  and   France  still 
thought  o*  discovering  a  passage  to  the  riches  of  India,  and  of  founding  a 

colony  beyond  the  seas.  Car- 
tier  was  commissioned  to  make 
a  preparatory  exploration.  He 
sailed  from  St.  Malo  on  April 
20,  1534,  coasted  a  portion  of 
Newfoundland,  steered 
through  the  strait  of  Belle  Isle, 
crossed  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence, entered  the  bay  of  Cha- 
leurs,  passed  northward  to  the 
smaller  bay  of  Gaspe,  and  there 
took  possession  of  the  country 
yi  the  name  of  Francis  I.  A 
cross  thirty  feet  high  was 
erected  on  a  point  of  land.  It 
bore  the  arms  of  France  and  the 
words — ViveleRoide  France, 
"Long  live  the  Kingof  France." 
After  some  further  exploration 
JACQUES  CARTIKR.  of  the  gulf,  Cartier  turned  the 

prows  of  his  ships  homeward,  and  arrived  at  St.  Malo  in  September. 

"The  spirit  of  discovery,"  writes  Parkman,  "  was  awakened.  A  passage 
to  India  could  be  found,  and  a  new  France  built  up  beyond  the  Atlantic. 
Mingled  with  such  views  of  interest  and  ambition  was  another  motive  scarcely 
less  potent.  The  heresy  of  Luther  was  convulsing  Germany,  and  the  deeper 
heresy  of  Calvin  infecting  France.  Devout  Catholics,  kindling  with  redoubled 
zeal,  would  fain  requite  the  Church  for  her  losses  in  the  old  world  by* 
winning  to  her  fold  the  infidels  of  the  new." 

Three  small  vessels  were  equipped  for  a  new  expedition.  Cartier  "  was 
a  man  of  deep  religious  feeling,"  and,  in  imitation  of  Columbus  before 
departing,  he  assembled  his  officers  and  crews  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Malo 
on  Whit-Sunday,  May  16,  1535.  All  went  to  confession,  received  Holy 
Communion,  and  after  Mass  the  bishop  gave  them  his  solemn  blessing.  Two 
Benedictine  fathers,  Dom  William  and  Dom  Anthony,  accompanied  the 
expedition  as  chaplains: 


FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH.  183 

"  In  the  seaport  of  St.  Malo,  'twas  a  smiling  morn  in  May, 
When  the  Commodore  James  Cartier  to  the  westward  sailed  away. 
In  the  crowded  old  Cathedral  all  the  town  were  on  their  knees, 
For  the  safe  return  of  kinsmen  from  the  undiscovered  seas; 
And  every  bitter  blast  that  swept  o'er  pinnacle  and  pier, 
Filled  manly  hearts  with  sorrow,  and  gentle  hearts  with  fear." 

After  a  stormy  passage,  Cartier  entered  a  small  bay  opposite  the  island 
of  Anticosti,  on  the  north  shore  of  the  gulf  he  had  explored  twelve  months 
before.  It  was  the  loth  of  August,  the  feast  of  the  holy  martyr  St.  Law- 
rence, and  he  "  called  it  the  Bay  of  St.  Lawrence,  a  name  afterwards  extended 
to  the  entire  gulf  and  to  the  great  river  above." 

The  little  squadron  took  its  way  up  the  lonely  majestic  stream,  whose 
savage  grandeur  must  have  deeply  impressed  the  Frenchmen.  At  length, 
they  came  to  a  point  where  bold  towering  cliffs,  three  hundred  feet  high, 
thrust  themselves  into  the  river,  narrowing  its  channel,  and  standing  like  grim 
sentinels  appointed  to  guard  its  waters.  Here  a  dusky  chief  named  Donna- 
cona  ruled  over  the  Indian  village  of  Stadacond;  and  here,  in  later  years, 
Quebec,  the  rock-built  capital  of  Canada,  reared  its  frowning  battlements. 

Donnacona  visited  the  ships  attended  by  a  fleet  of  canoes.  Cartier  en- 
tertained him  with  bread  and  wine,  and  the  greasy  ruler  was  overjoyed. 
When  the  French  commander  went  ashore,  he  was  received  with  delight. 
Squaws  and  warriors  danced  before  him,  and,  when  he  distributed  beads  and 
knives,  the  simple  creatures  made  the  hills  echo  with  their  songs  and 
merriment. 

Cartier  learned  that  a  greater  village  named  Hochelaga  lay  further  up 
the  river;  and  as  soon  as  he  found  a  safe  harbor  for  his  ships,  he  set  out  for 
it  in  two  boats  and  a  pinnace.  The  Frenchmen  pushed  up  the  St.  Lawrence 
for  nearly  two  weeks  before  they  came  to  the  object  of  their  search.  They 
were  warmly  welcomed.  The  village  of  Hochelaga  was  built  on  a  large 
island.  It  was  circular  in  form,  "and  three  rows  of  palisades  inclosed  in  it 
about  fifty  tunnel-shaped  cabins,  each  over  fifty  paces  long,  and  fourteen  or 
fifteen  paces  wide.  It  was  entered  by  a  single  gate,  above  which,  as  well  as 
along  the  first  palisade,  ran  a  kind  of  gallery  reached  by  ladders,  and  well 
provided  with  stones  and  pieces  of  rock  for  the  defence  of  the  place." 

When  Cartier  and  his  men  entered  this  singular  metropolis  of  dusky 
power,  they  were  led  to  an  open  square  in  the  center  of  the  village.  The 
squaws  beheld  them  with  wonder,  rubbed  their  hands  and  faces,  cried  with 
delight,  and  brought  their  children  to  be  touched  by  the  mysterious  strangers. 


X34  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Mats  were  spread  on  the  ground  for  the  Frenchmen,  and  the  warriors  seated 
themselves  around. 

The  chief  was  then  borne  by  ten  men  on  a  litter  and  placed  on  a  mat 
next  to  Cartier.  He  seemed  to  be  about  fifty  years  of  age,  and  had  no  mark 
of  distinction  but  a  cap  ornamented  with  porcupine's  quills  dyed  red.  He 
took  it  off,  and  gave  it  to  the  captain,  requesting  him  to  rub  his  arms  and 
legs,  which  trembled  with  the  palsy.  A  crowd  of  sick,  blind,  and  lame  now 
crowded  around — all  wishing  to  be  relieved  of  their  miseries. 

"  The  simplicity  of  these  people,"  writes  Charlevoix,  "  touched  the 
captain,  who,  arming  himself  with  a  lively  faith,  recited  with  all  possible 
devotion  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  He  then  made  the  sign 
of  the  cross  on  the  sick,  and  gave  them  beads  and  Agnus  Deis.  This  done, 
he  began  to  pray,  and  earnestly  besought  the  Lord  not  to  leave  these  poor 
idolaters  longer  in  the  shades  of  unbelief.  Then  he  recited  aloud  the  whole 
passion  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  was  heard  with  great  attention  and  respect  by 
all  present,  and  the  pious  ceremony  was  closed  by  a  blast  of  trumpets,  which 
put  these  Indians  beside  themselves  with  joy  and  wonder." 

A  magnificent  hill  looked  down  on  the  village,  and  that  was  the  next 
point  visited  by  Cartier.  On  reaching  the  top,  he  was  charmed,  and  called  it 
Mount  Royal — Montreal.  The  name  is  now  well  known.  "  From  the 
summit,"  says  an  American  historian,  "  that  noble  prospect  met  his  eye  which 
at  this  day  is  the  delight  of  tourists,  but  strangely  changed  since,  first  of 
white  men,  the  Breton  voyager  gazed  upon  it.  Tower  and  dome  and  spire, 
congregated  roofs,  white  sail  and  gliding  steamer,  animate  its  vast  expanse 
with  varied  life. 

"  Cartier  saw  a  different  scene.  East,  west,  and  south,  the  mantling 
forest  was  over  all,  and  the  broad  blue  ribbon  of  the  great  river  glistened 
amid  a  realm  of  verdure.  Beyond,  to  the  bounds  of  Mexico,  stretched  a 
leafy  desert;  and  the  vast  hive  of  industry,  the  mighty  battle  ground  of  later 
centuries,  lay  sunk  in  savage  torpor,  wrapped  in  illimitable  woods." 

The  French  departed  from  Hochelaga  amid  the  regrets  of  the  kindly 
savages,  and  their  arrival  at  Stadacone*  was  hailed  with  pleasure.  Cartier  de- 
cided to  pass  the  winter  there.  The  ships  were  properly  secured.  Cold  set  in. 
Jack  Frost  threw  an  ice-bridge  across  the  river,  and  the  snow  fell  in  more 
than  abundance.  In  short,  all  the  rigors  of  a  Canadian  winter  had  to  be  en- 
dured. Nor  was  this  all.  Scurvy  soon  added  its  appalling  horrors  to  the 
miseries  of  the  ice-bound  Frenchmen.  A  good  number  died,  and  dozens 


FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH.  185 

were  stricken  down.  The  flinty  ground  denied  the  dead  a  burying-place,  and 
their  remains  had  to  be  hidden  in  the  huge  snowdrifts! 

In  his  woeful  distress,  Cartier,  with  the  piety  of  a  brave  son  of  the 
ancient  faith,  implored  the  protection  of  heaven.  "  Our  captain,"  says  the 
account  of  the  voyage,  "  seeing  the  misery  and  malady  thus  spread,  sum- 
moned all  to  prayer  and  devotion.  He  caused  an  image  in  remembrance  of 
the  Virgin  Mary  to  be  borne  over  the  snow  and  ice  and  set  up  against  a  tree, 
a  bow-shot  distant  from  our  fort;  and  he  ordered  that,  on  the  Sunday  follow- 
ing, Mass  should  be  celebrated  at  the  saijj  place,  and  that  all  those  who  could 
walk,  both  sick  and  well,  should  go  in  procession,  singing  the  Seven  Psalms 
of  David,  with  the  Litany,  praying  the  said  Virgin  that  it  would  please  her 
dear  Child  to  have  pity  on  us.  The  Mass  said  and  celebrated  before  the  said 
image,  the  captain  declared  himself  a  pilgrim  to  Our  Lady  of  Roquemado, 
promising  to  get  there  if  it  pleased  God  to  permit  him  to  return  to  France." 

Shortly  after  this,  Cartier  learned  of  a  remedy  for  scurvy  from  one  of 
the  savages.  It  "was  a  decoction  of  the  leaves  and  bark  of  the  white  pine, 
pounded  together."  The  poor,  bloated  woe-begone  mariners  drank  the  disa- 
greeable medicine,  and  its  effects  were  surprising — all  were  soon  restored  to 
good  health.  When  the  sun  of  May  broke  the  icy  fetters  that  bound  the 
ships,  and  drove  the  vast  masses  of  ice  down  the  river,  the  French  commander 
took  formal  possession  of  the  country  by  erecting  a  cross  thirty-five  feet  high, 
bearing  the  arms  of  France  and  the  inscription — Franciscus  Primus,  Dei 
Gratia,  Francorum  Rex,  regnat,  "  Francis  the  First,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
King  of  France,  reigns."  The  sails  were  spread  on  the  6th  of  May,  and 
Cartier  steered  for  home.  Donnacona  and  two  Indians  were  on  board.  St. 
Malo  was  reached  in  July,  1536. 

Cartier  gave  a  good  account  of  the  strange  country  beyond  the  Atlantic, 
and  the  mighty  river  that  swept  past  Hochelaga  and  Stadacone'.  Though 
the  times  were  unfavorable,  a  new  expedition  was  fitted  out.  Roberval,  a 
nobleman,  was  appointed  governor  of  Canada.  Cartier  received  the  post  of 
Captain-General,  and  in  May,  1541,  he  steered  for  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  with  a  squadron  of  five  vessels.  Roberval  was  detained  in  France. 

Summer  was  fading  away  when.the  French  began  to  form  a  settlement 
and  build  a  fort  some  leagues  above  Stadacon6.  Cartier  himself  went  up  the 
river,  and  explored  the  rapids  above  Hochelaga.  He  returned  in  November. 
Roberval  had  not  come.  The  settlers  prepared  for  winter,  and,  no  doubt, 
they  had  a  hard  time  of  it  before  spring  appeared;  for  as  soon  as  the  ships 


1 86  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

could  drop  down  the  river,  the  disgusted  colonists  packed  their  trunks  and  set 
sail  for  France.  On  arriving,  however,  at  the  harbor  of  St.  John,  in  New- 
foundland, they  met  Roberval,  who  was  on  his  way  with  three  ships  to  estab- 
lish a  colony  in  Canada.  Cartier  refused  to  return,  and  bore  away  for  France. 
"And  what  became  of  the  ill-starred  colony?  It  had  a  brief  existence. 
The  king  sent  Cartier  to  bring  home  the  survivors,  as  he  needed  the  services 
of  Roberval. 

And  here  abruptly  closes  the  public  career  of  the  discoverer  of  Canada. 
He  was  ennobled,  retired  to  his  estate  near  St.  Malo,  and  when  he  died, 
about  1555,  the  wild  Indian  was  still  sole  master  of  the  vast  country  watered 
by  the  St.  Lawrence.  Cartier  had  pointed  out  the  way.  It  remained  for  a 
more  renowned  Catholic  pioneer — a  man  of  a  later  generation — to  begin  in 
real  earnest  the  work  of  founding  a  nation  which  to-day  holds  a  prominent 
place  on  the  map  of  North  America. 

This  was  Samuel  de  Champlain,  a  brave  Biscayan  of  noble  family,  who 
first  beheld  the  New  World  in  a  cruise  to  the  West  Indies.  He  visited  many 
of  the  scenes  made  famous  by  Columbus,  Balboa,  and  Cortds;  and,  while  at 
Panama,  he  planned  a  ship-canal  across  the  Isthmus,  "  by  which,"  he  says, 
"  the  voyage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  would  be  shortened  by  more  than  fifteen 
hundred  leagues." 

On  his  return,  an  association  of  merchants  at  Dieppe  engaged  him  to 
make  a  voyage  of  exploration  to  Canada,  which  still  lay  an  unbroken  wilder, 
ness,  untouched  by  the  hand  of  civilization.  Champlain  sailed  from  Honfleur 
in  1603,  crossed  the  Atlantic,  held  his  way  up  the  lonely  St.  Lawrence,  passed 
the  bare,  frowning  cliffs  of  Quebec,  where  all  was  solitude,  and,  at  length, 
reached  the  island  of  Montreal — sixty-eight  years  after  the  first  visit  of  Cartier. 
Mount  Royal  looked  down  as  before,  but  Hochelaga  had  vanished.  The 
new  pioneer  explored  the  St.  Louis  Rapids,  and  tried  to  learn  what  he  could 
about  the  country  from  a  few  wandering  Indians.  He  then  sailed  homeward, 
"  the  objects  of  his  mission  accomplished,  but  his  own  adventurous  curiosity 
unsated." 

On  his  arrival  in  France,  he  was  invited  to  join  the  expedition  of  De 
Monts,  a  nobleman,  who  held  a  commission  from  the  king  to  settle  Acadia, 
now  Nova  Scotia;  Champlain  was  pilot.  Two  vessels  were  equipped,  and 
sailed  in  March,  1604.  The  voyagers  coasted  the  southern  extremity  of 
Nova  Scotia,  explored  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  sailed  up  the  St.  John's  River, 
and  began  a  fort  and  settlement  on  a  rocky  islet  near  the  mouth  of  the  St, 


FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH.  187 

Croix.  Winter  came  and  proved  very  severe.  Scurvy  attacked  the  colonists. 
Before  the  warm  sun  of  May  shone  out,  thirty-six  Frenchmen  had  peopled 
the  little  cemetery.  "  Yet  among  them,"  writes  Parkman,  "  there  was  one 
at  least,  who,  amid  languor  and  defection,  held  to  his  purpose  with  an  indomit- 
able tenacity;  and  where  Champlain  was  present  there  was  no  room  for 
despair." 

The  settlement  was  soon  removed  to  Port  Royal,  and  Champlain  con- 
tinued his  explorations.  He  took  observations,  made  charts,  and  carefully 
examined  every  bay,  river,  harbor,  and  island  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Cape  Cod 
in  Massachusetts.  Thus  the  first  coast  survey  of  New  England  was  made 
by  a  Catholic  pioneer,  fifteen  years  before  the  Puritans  landed  at  Plymouth. 
But  we  must  now  leave  the  hapless  colony  of  Acadia,  and  follow  Cham- 
plain  to  the  great  labor  of  his  life.  He  directed  the  attention  of  De  Monts 
to  Canada.  That  nobleman  obtained  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  from  Henry 
IV  for  one  year,  and  it  was  at  once  decided  to  establish  a  colony  on  the  St. 
Lawrence.  De  Monts  appointed  Champlain  his  lieutenant  with  all  necessary 
powers. 

In  1608,  Champlain  sailed  from  Honfleur,  and  was  soon  on  his  way  up 
the  great  river  of  Canada.  He  cast  anchor  at  a  point  where  the  St.  Lawrence 
was  narrowed  by  a  bold  rocky  cape  that  thrust  itself  into  the  channel,  and 
was  crowned  by  vines  and  walnuts.  The  natives  called  it  Quebec.  Stada- 
con£  had  disappeared.  The  eagle  eye  of  Champlain  saw  in  this  striking 
place  the  key  to  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  and  in  July  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  what  was  destined  to  be  one  of  the  most  famous  cities  in  America. 

"  Our  habitation,"  wrote  the  founder  of  Quebec,  "  is  in  forty-six  and  a 
half  degrees  north  latitude.  The  country  is  pleasant  and  beautiful.  It  is  suit- 
able for  all  kinds  of  grain.  The  forests  are  stocked  with  a  variety  of  trees. 
Fruits  are  plentiful — wild,  of  course — as  the  walnut,  cherry,  plum,  raspberry, 
gooseberry,  etc.  The  rivers  produce  fish  in  abundance,  and  the  quantity  of 
game  is  infinite." 

The  little  French  colony  sat  down  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
Before  it  took  firm  root  in  the  soil,  however,  it  was  condemned  to  be  shaken 
by  many  a  tempest — to  be  decimated  by  disease,  tormented  by  the  Iroquois, 
and  attacked  by  its  neighbors  of  New  England.  Indeed,  during  a  long 
period,  it  seemed  to  be  on  the  point  of  perishing;  but,  with  the  aid  of  Provi- 
dence, it  picked  up  vigor,  and  finished  by  naturalizing  itself  under  the  rigor- 
ous sky  of  Canada.  • 


x88  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

When  the  first  long  winter  at  the  rude  fort  of  Quebec  had  passed  away 
— leaving  only  eight  men  alive  out  of  twenty-eight — Champlain  felt  strongly 
urged  to  begin  the  work  of  exploring  the  country.  But  it  was  a  dangerous 
enterprise.  He  quickly  learned  what  was  meant  by  scalping-parties  of  sav- 
ages. As  he  was  one  of  the  bravest  of  men,  however,  the  perilous  toil  had 
its  fascinations. 

At  that  time,  two  great  Indian  families — the  Hurons  and  Algon- 
quins — ranged  the  woods  of  Canada,  and  claimed  to  be  "  lords  of  the  fowl 
and  the  brute,"  in  its  wilderness.  The  Algonquin  hunters  roamed  the  wide 
territory  that  stretches  from  the  city  of  Quebec  along  to  the  head-waters  of 
the  Ottawa  River;  while  the  Hurons  inhabited  villages  in  a  country  of  lim- 
ited extent,  which  lay  south  of  Georgian  Bay.  The  Hurons  and  Algon- 
quins  were  allies  in  a  deadly  struggle  with  the  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations — 
famous  warriors  of  hardy  mold  and  fierce  disposition,  who  occupied  fortified 
towns  in  what  is  now  the  central  part  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

The  assistance  of  the  great  white  chief  at  Quebec  was  eagerly  sought  by 
his  red  neighbors.  Fighting  and  exploration  went  hand  in  hand.  One  day, 
in  the  summer  of  1609,  a  fleet  of  canoes  might  be  seen  skimming  along  the 
calm  surface  of  the  Richelieu  River.  It  was  a  war  party  of  Hurons  and 
Algonquins  on  their  way  to  attack  the  Iroquois;  and  Champlain  and  two 
Frenchmen,  well  armed,  were  in  company.  The  canoes,  at  length,  glided 
into  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  which  to-day  bears  the  name  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  after  its  intrepid  discoverer. 

When  paddling  near  the  historic  site  of  Crown  Point,  the  allies  suddenly 
fell  in  with  a  party  of  their  enemies.  The  canoes  were  pulled  ashore.  For 
reasons  of  policy,  the  three  Frenchmen  were  hidden  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Hurons  and  Algonquins.  About  two  hundred  Iroquois  warriors  stepped  to 
the  conflict  with  great  order  and  steadiness.  At  their  head  were  three  chiefs 
who  could  be  easily  recognized  by  their  long,  waving  plumes. 

The  two  parties  being  face  to  face,  at  a  little  distance  from  •  each  other, 
the  allies  opened  their  ranks,  and  loudly  called  on  Champlain  to  come  to  the 
front.  He  wore  a  coat  of  light  armor,  and  had  four  balls  in  his  gun.  "  I 
walked  some  twenty  paces  ahead,"  he  writes,  "  till  I  was  within  thirty  paces 
of  the  enemy,  when  they  perceived  me,  and  halted  to  look  at  me,  and  I  at 
them.  As  I  saw  them  moving  to  fire  at  us,  I  raised  my  arquebuse,  and 
aimed  directly  at  one  of  the  three  chiefs." 

Two  chiefs  and  a  warrior  fell  mortally  wounded.     Then  arose  a  series  of 


FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH.  189 

wild  war-cries  that  were  echoed  back  by  the  Adirondacks,  and  a  shower  of 
arrows  rilled  the  air.  The  two  other  Frenchmen  were  concealed  behind  trees, 
and  now  one  of  them  discharged  his  arquebuse.  This  ended  the  battle.  The 
Iroquois  broke  and  fled  in  terror.  It  was  the  3oth  of  July,  1609 — nearly  two 
months  before  Henry  Hudson  entered  New  York  Bay.  Thus  Champlain  was 
the  first  white  man  whose  foot  pressed  the  soil  of  New  York;  he  was  the  first 
of  that  countless  crowd  of  tourists  who  now  visit  the  Adirondacks — not  to 
fight  the  vanished  Mohawk,  but  to  find  health  and  pleasure. 

Champlain,  on  arriving  at  Quebec,  sailed  for  France.  He  gave  De  Monts 
an  account  of  his  labors  and  explorations,  and  had  a  pleasant  interview  with 
his  old  master,  Henry  IV,  to  whom  he  presented  a  belt  adorned  with  por  - 
cupine's  quills.  But  his  stay  was  short.  He  was  soon  in  Canada  again,  fight- 
ing, exploring,  and  building  up  the  infant  colony. 

It  was  during  a  visit  to  Paris  two  years  later  that  he  married  Miss 
Helena  Boulle,  a  gifted  and  beautiful  girl,  who — unknown  to  the  hero  of  the 
Canadian  forests — had  been  secretly  educated  a  Protestant.  Under  his  in- 
struction, however,  she  became  a  pious  and  sincere  Catholic,  and  God  blessed 
their  companionship. 

In  1613,  Champlain,  misled  by  the  story  of  a  Frenchman  named  Dti 
Vignan,  set  out  in  search  of  a  northwest  sea.  He  paddled  up  the  turbid 
current  of  the  Ottawa,  till  the  far-away  island  of  Allumette  was  reached. 
Great  was  the  astonishment  of  the  savages  on  seeing  the  bold  pioneer.  "These 
white  men  must  have  fallen  from  the  clouds,"  exclaimed  an  old  warrior. 
"How  else  could  they  have  reached  us  through  the  woods  and  rapids  which 
even  we  find  it  hard  to  pass?  The  French  chief  can  do  anything.  All  that 
we  have  heard  of  him  must  be  true." 

When  he  learned  that  he  was  deceived  in  hoping  to  find  a  great  sea  and 
a  road  to  China  in  that  direction,  Champlain  turned  about  and  pursued  his 
way  homewards,  accompanied  by  a  number  of  Indian  traders.  On  reaching 
the  Chaudiere  Falls,  at  the  site  of  the  present  capital  of  Canada,  he  witnessed 
a  ceremony  which  the  savages  never  omitted  in  passing  that  picturesque  but 
dangerous  place.  The  dusky  voyagers  assembled  at  the  bottom  of  the  foam- 
ing waterfall.  "They  stood  in  a  circle.  A  wooden  plate  was  passed  around, 
and  each  deposited  on  it  a  small  piece  of  tobacco.  The  collection  made,  they 
sang  around  the  plate.  A  harangue  was  pronounced.  Then  all  followed  to 
see  the  tobacco  thrown  into  the  falls;  and  this  offering  to  the  guardian 
manitou  was  accompanied  by  a  general  and  prolonged  shout.  To  pass  down 


I9o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

without  making  the  accustomed  gift  would  be  to  insult  the  manitou  and  call 
forth  his  vengeance!" 

While  Canada  had  careless  royal  protectors,  and  greedy  merchants 
looked  to  it  for  furs  and  profit,  Champlain  was  its  true  lift  and  soul.  He 
says  that  he  bore  his  toils  and  hardships  in  order  "  to  plant  in  this  country  the 
standard  of  the  Cross,  and  to  teach  the  knowledge  of  God  and  the  glory  of 
His  Holy  Name."  He  longed  to  rescue  from  perdition  a  people  living  "  like 
brute  beasts,  without  faith,  without  law,  without  religion,  without  God."  In 
short,  the  noble  founder  of  Quebec  declares  that  "the  salvation  of  a  single 
soul  is  worth  more  than  the  conquest  of  an  empire." 

The  favorable  circumstances  of  the  colony  now  convinced  Champlain 
that  the  proper  time  had  arrived  to  invite  missionaries  to  visit  the  banks  of 
the  St.  Lawrence,  for  the  purpose  of  reviving  and  sustaining  the  faith  among 
the  French  and  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  dusky  sons  of  the  forest.  To 
accomplish  such  a  sublime  enterprise,  he  "  sought  out  some  good  religious, 
who  would  have  zeal  and  affection  for  God's  glory."  As  those  who  earnestly 
seek  always  find,  so  Champlain  did  not  look  in  vain  for  apostolic  men.  Four 
Franciscan  Fathers  offered  their  services,  but  as  they  "  were  as  weak  in 
resources  as  Champlain  himself,"  to  use  the  words  of  Parkman,  "  he  repaired 
to  Paris,  then  filled  with  bishops,  cardinals,  and  nobles  assembled  for  the 
states-general.  Responding  to  his  appeal,  they  subscribed  fifteen  hundred 
livres  for  the  purchase  of  vestments,  candles,  and  ornaments  for  altars.  The 
Pope  authorized  the  mission,  and  the  king  gave  letters  patent  in  its  favor." 

The  four  religious  pioneers  named  for  the  Canadian  mission  were 
Fathers  Denis  Jamet,  John  Dolbeau,  Joseph  Le  Caron,  and  Brother  Pacific 
du  Plessis — men  "  who  were  borne  away  by  holy  affection,  who  burned  to 
make  this  voyage,  if  so,  by  God's  grace,  they  might  gain  some  fruit,  and 
might  plant  in  these  lands  the  standard  of  Jesus  Christ,  with  fixed  resolution 
to  live,  and  if  need  were,  to  die,  for  His  Sacred  Name." 

The  necessary  preparations  for  departure  being  made,  "  each  of  us,"  to 
quote  once  more  the  words  of  Champlain,  "  examined  himself  and  purged 
himself  of  his  sins  by  penitence  and  confession,  so  as  best  to  say  adieu  to 
France  and  to  place  himself  in  a  state  of  grace,  that  each  might  be  conscien- 
tiously free  to  give  himself  up  in  the  keeping  of  God,  and  to  the  billows  of  a 
vast  and  perilous  sea." 

Champlain  ordered  the  sails  to  be  spread,  and  the  good  ship  stood  out  to 
sea,  leaving  Honfleur  in  April,  1615.  Quebec  was  reached  towards  the  end 


FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH.  191 

of  May.  A  little  convent  and  chapel  were  erected  for  the  missionaries,  and 
on  the  25th  of  June,  Father  Dolbeau  had  the  happiness  of  celebrating  the 
first  Mass  ever  said  in  the  rude  rock-built  capital  of  the  little  colony. 

"Nothing  was  wanting,"  writes  Father  Le  Clercq,  "to  render  this  action 
solemn  as  far  as  the  simplicity  of  the  infant  colony  would  permit  .  . 
All  made  their  confessions  and  received  Holy  Communion.  The  Te  Dcum 
was  chanted,  and  its  sounds  mingled  with  the  roar  of  the  artillery  and  the 
acclamations  of  joy,  which  were  re-echoed  by  the  surrounding  solitudes,  of 
which  it  might  be  said  that  they  were  changed  into  a  paradise,  all  therein  in- 
voking the  King  of  Heaven,  and  calling  to  their  aid  the  guardian  angels  of 
these  vast  provinces." 

A  month  after,  Mass  was  celebrated  regularly  every  Sunday  at  Quebec. 
Truly  it  was  a  grand  and  beautiful  day  for  Champlain  and  for  the  colonists 
who  clustered  around  him  in  the  poor  little  chapel  of  Quebec,  as  they  assisted 
for  the  first  time  at  the  Holy  Sacrifice  on  the  banks  of  the  mighty  St.  Law- 
rence. This  was  the  beginning  of  Catholicity  in  Canada.  During  a  century 
and  a  half  the  church  of  Quebec  was  the  center  and  almost  only  focus  of  the 
Faith  in  the  immense  regions  which  extended  from  Hudson's  Bay  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico. 

Each  father  began  the  work  assigned  him.  It  was  a  vast  field  with  few 
laborers.  The  Huron  mission  fell  to  Le  Caron.  Dolbeau  was  charged  with 
the  roving  bands  of  Algonquins  below  Quebec.  For  the  present  Jamet  and 
Du  Plessis  were  to  remain  at  Quebec.  Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  along 
the  thorny  pathway  of  Dolbeau  and  Le  Caron — the  pioneer  missionaries  of 
Canada.  The  picture  is  from  a  non-Catholic  pen. 

"  Dolbeau,  full  of  zeal,"  writes  Francis  Parkman,  "  set  out  for  his  post, 
and,  in  the  next  winter,  essayed  to  follow  the  roving  hordes  cf  Tadoussac  to 
their  frozen  hunting-grounds.  He  was  not  robust,  and  his  eyes  were  weak. 
Lodged  in  a  hut  of  birch  bark,  full  of  abominations,  dogs,  fleas,  stench,  and 
all  uncleanliness,  he  succumbed  at  length  to  the  smoke,  which  well-nigh 
blinded  him,  forcing  him  to  remain  for  several  days  with  his  eyes  closed. 
After  debating  within  himself  whether  God  required  of  him  the  sacrifice  of 
his  sight,  he  solved  his  doubts  with  a  negative,  and  returned  to  Quebec,  only 
to  set  forth  again  with  opening  spring  on  a  tour  so  extensive  that  it  brought 
him  in  contact  with  the  outlying  bands  of  the  Esquimaux. 

"  Meanwhile  Le  Caron  had  long  been  absent  on  a  mission  of  more  note- 
worthy adventure.  While  his  brethren  were  building  their  convent  and 


I92  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

garnishing  their  altar  at  Quebec,  this  ardent  friar  had  hastened  to  the  site  of 
Montreal,  then  thronged  with  a  savage  concourse  come  down  to  the  yearly 
trade.  He  mingled  with  them,  studied  their  manners,  tried  to  learn  their 
languages;  and  when,  soon  after,  Champlain  and  Pontgrav£  arrived,  he 
declared  his  purpose  of  wintering  in  their  villages.  Dissuasion  availed  noth- 
ing. '  What,'  he  demanded, « are  privations  to  him  whose  life  is  devoted  to 
perpetual  poverty,  who  has  no  ambition  but  to  serve  God  ? ' ' 

The  assembled  Hurons  and  Algonquins  begged  Champlain  to  aid  them 
against  the  common  enemy,  the  Iroquois.  He  consented,  promising  to  join 
them  with  all  the  men  at  his  command.  The  Indians  were  to  muster  without 
delay  twenty-five  hundred  men,  and  the  fierce  enemy  would  soon  feel  the 
power  of  such  a  formidable  combination.  To  hasten  preparations,  Champlain 
proceeded  to  Quebec,  while  the  Indians  awaited  his  return.  But  they  soon 
grew  impatient  of  delay  and  hastened  to  their  villages,  accompanied  by  the 
indefatigable  Father  Le  Caron.  The  voyage  was  long  and  painful. 

"  It  would  be  hard  to  tell  you,"  the  apostolic  priest  writes  to  a  friend, 
"  how  tired  I  was  with  paddling  all  day,  with  all  my  strength,  among  the 
Indians;  wading  the  rivers  a  hundred  times  and  more,  through  the  mud  and 
over  the  sharp  rocks  that  cut  my  feet;  carrying  the  canoe  and  luggage 
through  the  woods,  to  avoid  the  rapids  and  frightful  cataracts,  and  half- 
starved  all  the  while,  for  we  had  nothing  to  eat  but  a  little  sagamite,  a  sort  of 
porridge  of  water  and  pcmnded  maize,  of  which  they  gave  us  a  very  small 
allowance  every  morning  and  night.  But  I  must  needs  tell  you  what  abund- 
ant consolation  I  found  under  all  my  troubles;  for  when  one  sees  so  many 
infidels  needing  nothing  but  a  drop  of  water  to  make  them  children  of  God, 
he  feels  an  inexpressible  ardor  to  labor  for  their  conversion,  and  sacrifice  to  it 
his  repose  and  his  life." 

About  a  week  after  the  devoted  Champlain  was  following  on  the  track 
of  the  pious  Franciscan.  With  two  canoes,  ten  Indians,  his  interpreter,  and  a 
Frenchman,  he  pushed  up  the  currents  of  the  Ottawa,  passed  into  the  Mat- 
tawan,  and  was  soon  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Nipissing.  Here  he  was  well 
received  by  the  Indians,  and  rested  for  two  days.  His  canoes  then  skimmed 
down  the  French  River,  and  soon  his  eyes  beheld  the  placid  waters  of  Lake 
Huron,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  "  Mer  Douce."  Paddling  to  the  south, 
along  the  eastern  shore  of  Georgian  Bay,  he  landed,  and,  on  the  ist  of  August, 
found  himself  in  the  famed  country  of  the  Hurons. 

The  Huron  territory  stretched  from  north  to  south  between  the  rivers 


FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH.  193 

to-day  named  the  Severn  and  Nottawasaga;  and  from  east  to  west  between 
Lake  Simcoe  and  the  Georgian  Bay.  Its  length  was  about  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  leagues,  and  its  width  not  more  than  seven  or  eight  leagues.  Although 
the  soil  was  sandy,  it  was  quite  fertile,  and  produced  Indian  corn,  beans,  and 
pumpkins  in  abundance.  Indeed,  the  Huron  country  was  regarded  as  the 
granary  of  the  Algonquin  nations,  whose  half. naked  hordes  came  hither 
yearly  from  the  borders  of  Lake  Nipissing  and  the  banks  of  the  Ottawa 
River  to  buy  their  provisions.  Champlain  found  eighteen  villages.  "  By  the 
Indian  standard,"  writes  Parkman,  "it  was  a  mighty  nation;  yet  the  entire 
Huron  population  did  not  exceed  that  of  a  second  or  third  class  American 
city,  and  the  draft  of  twenty-five  hundred  warriors,  pledged  to  Champlain, 
must  have  left  its  villages  bereft  of  fighting-men." 

Father  Le  Caron,  on  his  arrival,  took  up  his  abode  in  the  village  of 
Carhagonha.  Here  he  built  for  himself  a  cabin  of  poles  and  bark,  in  which 
he  erected  an  altar  for  the  celebration  of  the  Sacred  Mysteries.  Champlain 
came  just  in  time  to  assist  at  the  first  Mass.  When  the  Holy  Sacrifice  was 
ended,  a  large  wooden  cross  was  made,  blessed,  and  planted  in  the  soil, 
while  all  the  Frenchmen  present  chanted  the  Te  Dcum,  and  a  volley  of 
musketry  resounded  through  the  forests.  Thus  was  the  precious  sign  of 
Redemption  erected  for  the  first  time  in  a  land  covered  with  the  darkness 
of  paganism. 

On  the  ist  of  September  the  little  army  of  Hurons  began  the  march 
under  the  leadership  of  Champlain,  who  was  accompanied  by  twelve  French- 
men. The  fleet  of  canoes  skimmed  over  Lake  Simcoe,  then  followed  the 
course  of  a  number  of  little  rivers,  and  passed  over  a  portage  to  the  lakes 
which  form  the  sources  of  the  river  Trent.  As  they  traversed  a  country 
full  of  game  and  fish,  there  was  no  danger  of  starvation.  Passing  down  the 
Trent,  the  little  fleet  entered  the  Bay  of  Quinte1,  and,  after  a  voyage  of  thirty- 
five  days,  Champlain  beheld  the  sparkling  waters  of  the  grand  and  beautiful 
Lake  Ontario.  "  There,"  he  writes,  "  is  the  beginning  of  the  great  river 
St.  Lawrence." 

The  nimble  paddles  cut  the  smooth  surface  of  Ontario,  and  soon  the 
birch-bark  squadron  touched  the  New  York  shore.  We  shall  let  the  photo- 
graphic pen  of  Parkman  recount  what  befell  the  hardy  invaders. 

After  hiding  their  light  craft  in  the  woods,  the  warriors  took  up  their 
swift  and  wary  march,  filing  in  silence  between  the  woods  and  the  lake,  for 
twelve  miles  along  the  pebbly  strand.  Then  they  struck  inland,  threaded  the 


!o^  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

forest,  crossed  the  river  Onondaga,  and,  after  a  march  of  four  days,  were 
deep  within  the  western  limits  of  the  Iroquois.  Some  of  their  scouts  met  a 
fishing-party  of  this  people,  and  captured  them,  eleven  in  number — men, 
women  and  children.  They  were  brought  to  the  camp  of  the  exultant  Hurons. 
As  a  beginning  of  the  jubilation,  a  chief  cut  a  finger  of  one  of  the  women, 
but  desisted  from  further  torturing  on  the  angry  protest  of  Champlain. 

Light  broke  in  upon  the  forest.  The  hostile  town  was  close  at  hand. 
Rugged  fields  lay  before  them  with  a  slovenly  and  savage  cultivation.  The 
young  Hurons  in  advance  saw  the  Iroquois  at  work  among  the  pumpkins 
and  maize  gathering  their  rustling  harvest,  for  it  was  the  loth  of  October. 
Nothing  could  restrain  the  hare-brained  and  ungoverned  crew.  They  screamed 
their  war-cry  and  rushed  in ;  but  the  Iroquois  snatched  their  weapons,  killed 
and  wounded  five  or  six  of  the  assailants,  and  drove  back  the  rest  discomfited. 
Champlain  and  his  Frenchmen  were  forced  to  interpose,  and  the  crack  of 
their  pieces  from  the  border  of  the  woods  stopped  the  pursuing  enemy,  who 
withdrew  to  their  defenses,  bearing  with  them  their  dead  and  wounded. 

It  was  a  town  of  the  Senecas,  the  most  populous  and  one  of  the  most  war- 
like of  the  five  Iroquois  tribes;  and  its  site  was  on  or  near  the  lakes  of  Central 
New  York,  perhaps  Lake  Canandaigua.  Champlain  describes  its  defensive 
works  as  much  stronger  than  those  of  the  Huron  villages.  They  consisted  of 
four  concentric  rows  of  palisades,  formed  of  trunks  and  trees,  thirty  feet  high, 
each  aslant  in  the  earth  and  intersecting  each  other  near  the  top,  where  they 
supported  a  kind  of  gallery,  well  defended  by  shot-proof  timber  and  furnished 
with  wooden  gutters  for  quenching  fire.  A  pond  or  lake  which  washed  one 
side  of  the  palisade,  and  was  led  by  sluices  within  the  town,  gave  an  ample 
supply  of  water,  while  the  galleries  were  well  provided  with  magazines 
of  stones. 

Champlain  was  greatly  exasperated  at  the  desultory  and  futile  procedure 
of  his  Huron  allies.  At  their  evening  camp  in  the  adjacent  forest,  he  upbraided 
the  throng  of  chiefs  and  warriors  somewhat  sharply,  and,  having  finished  his 
admonition,  he  proceeded  to  instruct  them  in  the  art  of  war. 

In  the  morning,  aided  doubtless  by  his  ten  or  twelve  Frenchmen,  they 
betook  themselves  with  alacrity  to  their  prescribed  task.  A  wooden  tower 
was  made,  high  enough  to  overlook  the  palisade,  and  large  enough  to  shelter 
four  or  five  marksmen.  Huge  wooden  shields,  or  movable  parapets,  like  the 
mantelets  of  the  Middle  Ages,  were  also  constructed.  Four  hours  sufficed  to 
finish  the  work,  and  then  the  assault  began.  Two  hundred  of  the  strongest 


FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH.  195 

warriors,  with  unwonted  prowess,  dragged  the  tower  forward  and  planted  it 
within  a  pike's  length  of  the  palisade.  Three  arquehusiers  mounted  to  the 
top  and  opened  a  raking  fire  along  the  galleries,  now  thronged  with  wild  and 
naked  defenders. 

But  nothing  could  restrain  the  ungovernable  Hurons.  They  abandoned 
their  mantelets,  and,  deaf  to  every  command,  swarmed  out  like  bees  upon  the 
open  field,  leaped,  shouted,  shrieked  their  war-cries  and  shot  off  their  arrows; 
while  the  Iroquois,  hurling  defiance  from  their  ramparts,  sent  back  a  shower 
of  stones  and  arrows  in  reply.  A  Huron,  bolder  than  the  rest,  ran  forward 
with  firebrands  to  burn  the  palisade,  and  others  followed  with  wood  to  feed 
the  flame.  But  it  was  stupidly  kindled  on  the  leeward  side,  without  the  pro- 
tecting shields  designed  to  cover  it;  and  torrents  of  water  pouring  down  from 
the  gutters  above  quickly  extinguished  it.  The  confusion  was  redoubled. 
Champlain  strove  in  vain  to  restore  order.  Each  warrior  was  yelling  at  the 
top  of  his  throat,  and  his  voice  was  drowned  in  the  outrageous  din.  Think- 
ing, as  he  says,  that  his  head  would  split  with  shouting,  he  gave  over  the 
attempt,  and  busied  himself  and  his  men  with  picking  off  the  Iroquois  along 
their  ramparts. 

The  attack  lasted  three  hours,  when  the  assailants  fell  back  to  their  forti- 
fied camp,  with  seventeen  warriors  wounded.  Champlain,  too,  had  received 
an  arrow  in  his  knee  and  another  in  his  leg,  which,  for  the  time,  disabled 
him.  He  was  urgent,  however,  to  renew  the  attack;  while  the  Hurons, crest- 
fallen and  disheartened,  refused  to  move  from  their  camp  unless  the  five 
hundred  allies  for  some  time  expected  should  appear. 

They  waited  five  days  in  vain,  beguiling  the  interval  with  frequent 
skirmishes,  in  which  they  were  always  worsted,  then  began  hastily  to  retreat 
in  confused  lines  along  the  somber  forest  pathways,  while  the  Iroquois,  sally- 
ing from  their  stronghold,  showered  arrows  on  their  flanks  and  rear.  Their 
wounded — Champlain  among  the  rest — had  been  packed  in  baskets  for  trans- 
portation, each  borne  on  the  back  of  a  strong  warrior,  "bundled  in  a  heap," 
says  Champlain,  "  doubled  and  strapped  together  after  such  a  fashion  that 
one  could  move  no  more  than  an  infant  in  swaddling-clothes.  ...  I  lost 
all  patience,  and  as  soon  as  I  could  bear  my  weight  I  got  out  of  this  prison, 
or,  to  speak  plainly,  out  of  hell." 

At  length  the  dismal  march  was  ended.  They  reached  the  spot  where 
their  canoes  were  hidden,  found  them  untouched,  embarked,  and  recrossed  to 
the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario.  The  Hurons  had  promised  Champlain 


196  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

an  escort  to  Quebec;  but,  as  the  chiefs  had  little  power,  in  peace  or  war, 
beyond  that  of  persuasion,  each  warrior  found  good  reason  for  refusing  to  go 
or  lend  his  canoe. 

Champlain,  too,  had  lost  prestige.  The  "man  with  the  iron  breast" 
had  proved  not  inseparably  wedded  to  victory ;  and  though  the  fault  was 
their  own,  yet  not  the  less  was  the  luster  of  their  hero  tarnished.  There  was 
no  alternative.  He  must  winter  with  the  Hurons.  The  great  war-party 
broke  into  fragments,  each  band  betaking  itself  to  its  hunting-ground.  A 
chief  named  Durantal  offered  Champlain  the  shelter  of  his  lodge,  and  he  was 
fain  to  accept  it. 

Winter  wore  away,  spring  came,  and  finally  summer.  It  was,  in  truth, 
a  novel  and  stirring  time  for  Champlain.  Here  his  many  adventures  "  by 
flood  and  field"  cannot  be  recounted.  -  Our  space  is  too  small.  We  must 
hasten  on.  It  was  the  nth  of  July,  1616,  as  he  again  trod  the  rude  streets  of 
Quebec,  accompanied  by  his  Huron  host,  Durantal.  Great  were  the  rejoic- 
ings, for  the  Indians  had  reported  that  he  was  dead.  Father  Le  Caron — who 
had  retured  a  little  before  him — welcomed  the  brave  companion  of  his  toils ; 
and  the  Franciscans  offered  up  a  solemn  Mass  of  thanksgiving  in  their  little 
chapel. 

Serious  work  now  remained  for  Champlain.  In  his  absence  the  puny 
colony  had  been  daily  wasting  away,  and,  without  the  constant  support  of  his 
strong  arm  and  magic  presence,  it  must  soon  ingloriously  perish.  He  was 
the  life  and  soul  of  Canada,  yet  there  were  colonists  on  whose  friendship  he 
dare  not  count.  His  was  a  stern  and  thankless  toil. 

The  picture  of  affairs  given  by  Parkman  is  dismal.  At  Quebec  all  was 
discord  and  disorder.  Champlain  was  the  nominal  commander;  but  the 
actual  authority  was  with  the  merchants,  who  held,  excepting  the  Franciscan 
fathers,  nearly  every  one  in  their  pay.  Each  was  jealous  of  the  other,  but 
all  were  united  in  a  common  jealousy  of  Champlain.  From  a  short-sighted 
view  of  self-interest,  they  sought  to  check  the  colonization  which  they  were 
pledged  to  promote.  Some  of  the  merchants  were  of  Rouen,  some  of  St. 
Malo ;  some  were  Catholics,  some  were  Huguenots.  Hence  unceasing  bicker- 
ings. All  exercise  of  the  reformed  religion,  on  land  or  water,  was  pro- 
hibited within  the  limits  of  New  France;  but  the  Huguenots  set  the  prohibi- 
tion at  naught,  roaring  their  heretical  psalmody  with  such  vigor  from  their 
ships  in  the  river  that  the  unhallowed  strains  polluted  the  ears  of  the  Indians 
on  shore.  Champlain,  in  this  singularly  trying  position,  displayed  a  mingled 


FRENCH  VALOR  IN  THE  NORTH. 


197 


zeal  and  fortitude.     He  went  every  year  to  France,  laboring  for  the  interests 
of  the  colony. 

The  founder  of  Quebec  remained  in  France  during  1619.  In  the  midst 
of  the  events  which  then  agitated  that  kingdom,  it  was  scarcely  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  distant  colony  of  Canada  would  command  much  attention. 
Still  the  young  Duke  de  Montmorency  purchased  from  the  Prince  of  Conde 
the  profitable  lieutenancy  of  the  colony.  He  paid  n,ooo  crowns  for  the  bar- 
gain, and  constituted  Champlain  his  lieutenant-general. 

Louis  XIII,  recognizing  the  services  rendered  to  religion  and  to  France, 
addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  intrepid  explorer: 

"  Champlain :  Having  learned  of  the  commission  which  you  have  received 
from  my  cousin,  the  ^Duke  de  Montmorency,  admiral  of  France,  and  my 
viceroy  in  Canada,  to  proceed  to  that  country  as  his  lieutenant,  and  to  have 
a  care  for  what  concerns  my  service,  I  have  great  pleasure  in  addressing  you 
this  letter,  in  order  to  assure  you  how  very  agreeable  shall  be  the  services 
which  you  will  render  me  on  this  occasion,  above  all,  if  you  preserve  the 
colony  in  my  obedience,  leading  the  inhabitants  to  live  in  conformity  with 
the  laws  of  France,  and  having  due  care  for  the  progress  of  the  Catholic 
Faith,  to  the  end  that  you  may  thereby  call  down  the  Divine  blessing  on 
yourself,  and  that  you  may  succeed  in  all  your  enterprises  for  the  glory  of 
God,  whom  I  beseech  to  keep  you  in  His  holy  Grace.  Given  at  Paris,  the 
yth  day  of  May,  1620." 

The  prospects  of  the  colony  were  growing  brighter.  Champlain  en- 
gaged a  number  of  persons  to  emigrate  with  him  to  Canada,  and  he  even  de- 
cided to  make  his  own  permanent  residence  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
He  sailed  from  France,  accompanied  by  his  wi£e  and  several  of  her  relations, 
and  landed  at  Quebec  in  the  summer  of  1620.  The  governor  was  received 
with  every  mark  of  joy  and  respect.  A  solemn  Tc  Deum  was  chanted  in  the 
chapel  of  the  Franciscans,  and  new  life  and  happiness  seemed  to  be  infused 
into  the  rough  motley  society  of  the  little  rock  built  capital  of  Canada. 

During  the  four  years  that  Madame  De  Champlain  remained  in  Canada, 
she  learned  the  language  of  the  Algonquins,  taught  the  little  savages  the 
catechism,  and  shed  a  happy  influence  around  her.  Immigration  began  to 
swell  the  number  of  inhabitants  A  settlement  was  formed  at  Three  Rivers. 
The  capital  was  making  fair  progress;  but  religious  troubles  blasted  the  hap- 
piness of  the  colony.  Misfortune,  however,  did  her  worst,  when  the  sorely- 
tried  Champlain  was  obliged  to  surrender  Quebec  to  an  English  armament: 
under  Sir  David  Kirk  in  1629. 


I98  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  great  pioneer  hastened  to  Paris,  and  used  his  efforts  so  successfully 
that  Canada  was  restored  to  France  three  years  later.  In  1633,  he  landed  at 
Quebec,  bearing  his  commission  as  governor  of  Canada.  The  Indians  were 
delighted.  The  colony  grew  in  numbers  and  prosperity.  A  band  of  Jesuit 
fathers  arrived ;  and  the  illustrious  De  Bre"beuf  and  two  others  prepared  to 
labor  in  the  Huron  country.  Champlain  introduced  them  to  a  party  of  chiefs 
and  warriors.  "  These  are  our  fathers,"  said  the  venerable  man.  "  We  love 
them  more  than  we  love  ourselves.  The  whole  French  nation  honors  them. 
They  do  not  go  among  you  for  your  furs.  They  have  left  their  friends  and 
their  country  to  show  you  the  way  to  Heaven.  If  you  love  the  French  as 
you  say  you  love  them,  then  love  and  honor  these,  our  fathers."  The  won- 
derful story  of  the  Huron  mission  will  be  found  in  a  la^er  chapter. 

The  Jesuits  founded  at  Quebec  the  first  college  in  the  New  World  north 
of  Mexico.  "Its  foundation  was  laid,"  writes  Bancroft,  "under  happy  aus- 
pices, in  1635,  just  before  Champlain  passed  from  among  the  living;  and  two 
years  before  the  immigration  of  John  Harvard,  and  one  year  before  the  gen- 
eral court  of  Massachusetts  had  made  provisions  for  a  college." 

The  angel  of  death  came  in  the  midst  of  those  happy  circumstances.  It 
was  on  Christmas  Day,  1635,  that  the  bright,  heroic  spirit  of  Samuel  de 
Champlain,  fortified  by  all  the  consolations  of  that  holy  religion  he  had  loved 
and  practiced  so  well,  "  bade  adieu  to  the  frame  it  had  animated,  and  to  the 
rugged  cliff  where  he  had  toiled  so  long  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  a  Chris- 
tian empire." 

"  Of  the  pioneers  of  the  North  American  forests,"  says  Parkman,  "  his 
name  stands  foremost  on  the  list.  It  was  he  who  struck  the  deepest  and  bold- 
est strokes  into  the  heart  of  their  pristine  barbarism.  At  Chantilly,  at  Fon- 
tainebleau,  at  Paris,  in  the  cabinets  of  princes  and  royalty  itself,  mingling  with 
the  proud  vanities  of  the  court;  then  lost  from  sight  in  the  depths  of  Can- 
ada, the  companion  of  savages,  sharer  of  their  toils,  privations,  and  battles, 
more  hardy,  patient,  and  bold  than  they — such  for  successive  years  were  the 
alternations  of  his  life.  Here,  while  New  England  was  a  solitude,  and  the 
settlers  of  Virginia  scarcely  dared  venture  inland  beyond  the  sound  of  cannon- 
shot,  Champlain  was  planting  on  shores  and  islands  the  emblems  of  his 
Faith." 


THE  INDIAN  /VIISSIONS   IN  J1AINE. 


METHODS  OF  FRENCH  EVANGELISTS. — ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORK  INT  MAINE. — How  ST. 
SAUVEUR'S  WAS  NAMED— THE  ROYAL  COURT  OF  FRANCE.— A  STRIPLING  FROM 
THE  NEW  WORLD. — NOBLE  AND  Pious  LADIES. — SAILING  OF  Two  APOSTLES. — 
ANOTHER  EXPEDITION  FROM  HONFLEUR. — BAPTISM  WORKS  A  MIRACLE. — ARGALL 
THE  BUCCANEER. — INDIANS  MAKE  FRENCH  COURTESIES. — A  BETRAYED  SETTLE- 
MENT.— Two  CAPTIVE  PRIESTS. — MT.  DESERT  REALLY  DESERTED. — FATHER 
DRUILLETTES  ON  THE  KENNEBEC. — SAD  FAREWELLS. — JOY  AT  THE  FATHER'S 
RETURN. —ARRIVAL  OF  FATHER  RALE. — BURNING  THE  CHAPEL  AT  NORRIDGE- 
WOCK. — ENGLISH  VANDALISM  AND  SACRILEGE. — FAILURE  OF  A  BOSTON  PREACHER. 
— SUCCESS  OF  THE  HOLY  JESUIT. — ENGLISH  JEALOUSY  AND  RAGE. — FATHER 
RALE'S  INDIAN  CHILDREN. — PLOTS  AND  TEMPTATIONS.— AN  INDIAN'S  NOBLE 
ORATORY. — THE  DISCOMFITED  GOVERNOR. — MURDER  OF  FATHER  RALE. — DE- 
SOLATION OF  THE  ABNAKI  INDIANS. — AN  APOSTLE  OF  LATER  DAYS. — HONORS  TO 
THE  MARTYR  OF  MAINE. 


EFORE  giving  an  account  of  the  first  regular  missionary  establish- 
ments of  the  French,  it  will  be  useful  to  indicate  some  general 
features  in  which  they  differed  from  those  of  the  Spaniards. 

The  Spanish  missionaries,  as  we  have  seen,  first  went  alone 
to  found  missions  in  Florida  and  New  Mexico,  and  failing,  adopted 
another  system,  by  which  each  missionary  corps  consisted  of  mis- 
sionaries with  Spanish  soldiers,  Indians  already  converted,  and  mechanics. 
In  this  way  the  missions  of  New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  California  were 
carried  out. 

The  French  plan  was  different:  the  missionary  planted  his  cross  among 
the  heathen,  and  won  all  that  he  could  to  the  faith,  and  whenever  he  could 
formed  a  distinct  village  of  Christians;  but  these  villages  were  never  like  the 

mission  of  the  Spanish  missionaries :  the  French  priest  left  his  neophyte  free— 

199 


200  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

setting  him  no  task,  building  no  splendid  edifices  by  his  toil.  The  Spanish 
missions  contained  its  workshops,  dormitories,  infirmaries,  and  granaries;  the 
French  mission  was  a  fort  against  hostile  attack,  and  inclosed  merely  the 
church,  mission-house,  and  mechanics'  sheds — the  Indians  all  living  without 
in  cabins  or  houses,  and  entering  the  fort  only  in  time  of  danger. 

The  missions  of  the  French,  then,  bear  a  new  aspect:  tribes  remain 
tribes — the  Indian  free  in  his  idolatry  was  free  as  a  Christian.  As  of  the 
Spanish  missionaries,  so  of  the  French,  every  authority  bears  testimony  to 
their  worth  ;  many  were  men  of  eminent  sanctity  and  devotedness,  and 
America  no  less  than  Catholicity  claims  them  as  her  heroes. 

The  Franciscan,  Dominican,  and  Jesuit,  bore  the  heat  and  burden  of  the 
day,  and  reaped  the  most  bountiful  harvest  in  that  part  of  North  America 
now  known  as  the  State  of  Maine ;  and  the  first  mission  in  that  neighbor- 
hood was  planted  at  Mt.  Desert,  and  called  St.  Sauveur.  A  hotel  at  Bar 
Harbor  is  at  present  so  named,  but  not  'one  in  a  hundred  of  the  numerous 
guests  who  cross  its  threshold  knows  the  reason  of  the  French  name  of  their 
temporary  abiding-place. 

This  reason,  and  the  facts  connected  therewith,  will  prove  of  interest  to 
our  readers.  In  1610  Marie  de  Me"dicis  was  regent  of  France.  The  king, 
the  great  Henry  IV,  had  been  assassinated  in  the  streets  of  Paris  in  the  pre- 
vious month  of  May.  Sully  was  dismissed  from  court.  All  was  confusion 
and  dissension.  Twelve  years  of  peace  and  the  judicious  rule  of  the  king  had 
paid  the  national  debt  and  filled  the  treasury. 

The  famous  Father  Cotton,  confessor  of  the  late  king,  was  still  power- 
ful at  court.  He  laid  before  the  queen  the  facts  that  Henry  IV  had  been 
deeply  interested  in  the  establishment  of  the  Jesuit  order  in  Acadia,  arid  had 
evinced  a  tangible  proof  of  that  interest  in  the  bestowal  of  a  grant  of  two 
thousand  livres  per  annum. 

The  ambitious  queen  listened  indulgently,  with  a  heart  softened,  possibly, 
by  recent  sorrows,  and  consented  to  receive  the  son  of  the  Baron  Poutrin- 
court,  who  had  just  returned  from  the  New  World,  where  he  had  left  his 
father  with  Champlain.  Father  Cotton  ushered  the  handsome  youth  into  the 
presence  of  the  stately  queen  and  her  attendant  ladies.  Young  Biencourt  at 
first  stood  silent  and  abashed,  but  as  the  ladies  gathered  about  him  and  plied 
him  with  questions,  soon  forgot  himself  and  told  wondrous  tales  of  the  dusky 
savages — of  their  strange  customs  and  of  their  eagerness  for  instruction  in  the 
true  faith.  He  displayed  the  baptismal  register  of  the  converts  of  Father 


THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE.  201 

Fldche,  and  implored  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  these  glittering  dames,  and 
not  in  vain;  for,  fired  with  pious  emulation,  they  tore  the  flashing  jewels 
from  their  ears  and  throats.  Among  these  ladies  was  one  whose  history  and 
influence  were  so  remarkable  that  we  must  furnish  some  account  of  her. 

Antoinette  de  Pons,  Marchioness  De  Guercheville,  had  been  famed 
throughout  France,  not  only  for  her  grace  and  beauty,  but  for  qualities  more 
rare  at  the  court  where  her  youth  had  been  passed. 

When  Antoinette  was  La  Duchesse  de  Rochefoucauld,  the  king  begged 
her  to  accept  a  position  near  the  queen.  "  Madame,"  he  said,  as  he  presented 
her  to  Marie  de  Medicis,  "I  give  you  a  lady  of  honor  who  is  a  lady  of  honor 
indeed." 

Twenty  years  had  come  and  gone.  The  youthful  beauty  of  the  mar- 
chioness had  faded,  but  she  was  fair  and  stately  still,  and  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant ornaments  of  the  brilliant  court;  and  yet  she  was  not  altogether  worldly. 
Again  a  widow  and  without  children,  she  had  become  sincerely  religious,  and 
threw  herself,  heart  and  soul  into  the  American  missions,  and  was  restrained 
only  by  the  positive  commands  of  her  mistress,  the  queen,  from  herself  seek- 
ing the  New  World. 

Day  and  night  she  thought  of  these  perishing  souls.  On  her  knees  in 
her  oratory  she  prayed  for  the  Indians,  and  contented  herself  not  with  this 
alone.  From  the  queen  and  from  the  ladies  of  the  court  she  obtained  money 
and  jewels  that  could  be  converted  into  money.  Charlevoix  tells  us  that  the 
only  difficulty  was  to  restrain  her  ardor  within  reasonable  bounds. 

Two  French  priests,  Paul  Biard  and  Enemond  Masse",  were  sent  to 
Dieppe,  there  to  take  passage  for  the  colonies.  The  vessel  was  engaged  by 
Poutrincourt  and  his  associates,  and  was  partially  owned  by  two  Huguenot 
merchants,  who  persistently  and  with  indignation  refused  to  permit  the  em- 
barkation of  the  priests.  No  entreaties  or  representations  availed,  and  finally 
the  marchioness  bought  out  the  interest  of  the  two  Protestant  merchants  in 
the  vessel  and  cargo,  and  transferred  it  to  the  priests  as  a  fund  for  their  sup- 
port. 

At  last  the  fathers  set  sail  on  the  26th  of  January,  1611.  Their  troubles, 
however,  were  by  no  means  over;  for  Biencourt,  a  mere  lad,  clothed  in  a  lit- 
tle brief  authority — manly,  it  is  true,  beyond  his  years — hampered  them  at 
every  turn.  They  arrived  at  Port  Royal  in  June,  after  a  hazardous  and  tem- 
pestuous voyage,  having  seen,  as  Father  Biard  writes,  icebergs  taller  and  lar- 
ger than  the  Church  of  Notre  Dome.  The  fathers  became  discouraged  by 


202  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  constant  interference  of  young  Biencourt,  and  determined  to  return  to 
Europe,  unless  they  could,  with  Madame  De  Guercheville's  aid,  found  a  mis- 
sion colony  in  some  other  spot. 

Their  zealous  protectress  obtained  from  De  Monts — who,  though  a 
Protestant,  had  erected  six  years  before  the  first  cross  in  Maine  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Kennebec — a  transfer  of  all  his  claims  to  the  lands  of  Acadia,  and  soon 
sent  out  a  small  vessel  with  forty  colonists,  commanded  by  La  Saussaye,  a 
nobleman,  and  having  on  board  two  Jesuit  priests,  Fathers  Du  Thet  and 
Quentin. 

It  was  on  the  ist  of  March,  1613,  that  this  vessel  left  Honfleur,  laden 
with  supplies,  and  followed  by  prayers  and  benedictions. 

On  the  1 6th  of  May  La  Saussaye  reached  Port  Royal,  and  there  took  on 
board  Fathers  Masse"  and  Biard,  and  then  set  sail  for  the  Penobscot.  A 
heavy  fog  arose  and  encompassed  them  about;  if  it  lifted  for  a  moment,  it 
was  but  to  show  them  a  white  gleam  of  distant  breakers  or  a  dark,  overhang- 
ing cliff. 

«  Our  prayers  were  heard,"  wrote  Biard,  "and  at  night  the  stars  came 
out,  and  the  morning  sun  devoured  the  fogs,  and  we  found  ourselves  lying  in 
Frenchman's  Bay  opposite  Mt.  Desert." 

Mt.  Desert  Island  had  been  visited  and  so  named  by  Champlain  in  1604, 
and  Frenchman's  Bay  gained  its  title  from  a  singular  incident  that  had  there 
taken  place  in  the  same  spring. 

De  Monts  had  broken  up  his  winter  encampment  at  St.  Croix.  Among 
his  company  was  a  young  French  ecclesiastic,  Nicholas  d'Aubri,  who,  to 
gratify  his  curiosity  in  regard  to  the  products  of  the  soil  in  this  new  and 
strange  country,  insisted  on  being  set  ashore  for  a  ramble  of  a  few  hours.  He 
lost  his  way,  and  the  boatmen,  after  an  anxious  search,  were  compelled  to 
leave  him.  For  eighteen  days  the  young  student  wandered  through  woods, 
subsisting  on  berries  and  the  roots  of  the  plant  known  as  Solomon's  Seal. 
He,  however,  kept  carefully  near  the  shore,  and  at  the  end  of  this  time  he 
distinguished  a  sail  in  the  distance.  Signaling  this,  he  was  fortunate  enough 
to  be  taken  off  by  the  same  crew  that  had  landed  him.  On  these  bleak  shores 
the  colonists  decided  to  make  their  future  home,  and,  with  singular  infelicity, 
selected  them  as  the  site  of  the  new  colony.  It  is  inconceivable  how  Father 
Biard,  who  had  already  spent  some  time  in  the  New  World,  could  have  failed 
to  suggest  to  La  Saussaye  and  to  their  patroness,  that  a  colony,  to  be  a  suc- 
cess, must  be  not  only  in  a  spot  easily  accessible  to  France,  but  that  a  small 


THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE.  203 

force  of  armed  men  was  imperative;  for,  to  Biard's  own  knowledge,  the  En- 
glish had  already  seized  several  French  vessels  in  that  vicinity. 

On  these  frowning  shores  La  Saussaye  landed,  and  erected  a  cross,  and 
displayed  the  escutcheon  of  Madame  De  Guercheville;  the  fathers  offered  the 
Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  and  gave  to  the  little  settlement  the  name  of  St. 
Sauveur,  or  Holy  Savior. 

Four  tents — the  gift  of  the  queen — shone  white  in  the  soft  spring  sun- 
shine. The  largest  of  these  was  used  as  a  chapel,  the  decorations  of  which, 
with  the  silver  vessels  for  the  celebration  of  the  Mass,  and  the  rich  vestments, 
were  presented  by  Henriette,  Marchioness  of  Verneuil. 

While  the  colonists  were  raising  a  little  fort  and  houses,  Father  Biard, 
with  Lieut.  La  Motte,  landed  on  the  coast  and  advanced  into  the  interior 
of  the  country,  in  order  to  explore  it  and  if  possible  open  friendly  communi- 
cations with  the  natives.  When  they  at  last  descried  a  village,  their  ears 
were  saluted  by  fearful  yells  and  cries,  and  supposing  it  to  be  a  funeral  cere- 
mony they  hastened  on  till  they  met  an  Indian,  who  told  them  that  a  child 
was  dying.  In  hopes  of  arriving  in  time  to  baptize  it,  the  missionary  ran  with 
all  speed,  and  on  reaching  the  village  found  all  ranged  in  a  double  line,  with 
the  father  of  the  child  at  the  end,  holding  the  little  sufferer  in  his  arms.  At 
every  sigh  it  uttered  he  gave  a  fearful  yell,  which,  taken  up  and  repeated  on 
either  side,  produced  the  noise  which  had  attracted  the  missionary.  Biard, 
who  with  Masse"  had  made  some  progress  in  the  Algonquin  at  Port  Royal, 

advanced  to  the  father  and  asked  him  whether  he  was  willing  to  have  his  child 

•  • 

baptized.     He  silently  laid  it  in  the  arms  of  the  missionary,  who,  handing  it 

to  La  Motte,  ran  for  water  and  baptized  it,  amid  the  silent  wonder  of  the  In- 
dians. He  then  knelt  and  implored  the  Almighty  to  vouchsafe  some  sign  of 
his  power  in  order  to  confirm  his  ministry  in  the  eyes  of  this  blind  but  docile 
people.  His  prayer  was  not  refused.  The  child,  being  now  handed  over  to 
its  mother,  was  to  all  appearance  well,  and  applied  its  lips  to  her  breast.  So 
striking  a  wonder  disposed  all  to  receive  the  missionaries  as  men  of  superior 
power;  and,  grateful  to  God,  with  a  heart  elated  by  hope,  Father  Biard  re. 
turned  to  St.  Savior's.  The  fort  was  soon  finished;  the  various  articles  were 
landed;  those  who  were  not  to  remain  prepared  to  embark,  and  the  vessel, 
all  ready  for  sea,  lay  at  anchor,  when  a  storm  arose  which  annihilated  all  their 
hopes. 

This  storm  had  been  felt  twenty-four  hours  earlier  off  the  Isles  of  Shoals 
by  a  British  vessel  commanded  by  one  Samuel  Argall.  Thick  fogs  bewil- 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

dered  him,  and  a  strong  wind  drove  him  to  the  northeast,  and  when  the 
weather  cleared  Argall  found  himself  off  the  coast  of  Maine.  Canoes  came 
out  like  flocks  of  birds  from  each  small  bay.  The  Indians,  who  were  all  of 
the  Algonquin  tribe  called  Abnakis,  climbed  the  ship's  side,  and  greeted  the 
new-comers  with  such  amazing  bows  and  flourishes  that  Argall,  with  his  na- 
tive acuteness,  felt  certain  that  they  could  have  learned  them  only  from  the 
French,  who  could  not  be  far  away.  Argall  plied  the  Indians  with  cunning 
questions,  and  soon  learned  of  the  new  settlement.  He  resolved  to  investi- 
gate farther,  and  set  sail  for  the  wild  heights  of  Mt.  Desert.  With  infinite 
patience  he  crept  along  through  the  many  islands,  and,  rounding  the  Porcu- 
pines, saw  a  small  ship  anchored  in  the  bay.  At  the  same  moment  the 
French  saw  the  English  ship  bearing  down  upon  them  <*  swifter  than  an  ar- 
row," writes  Father  Biard,  "with  every  sail  set,  and  the  English  flags  stream- 
ing from  masthead  and  stern." 

La  Saussaye  was  within  the  fort,  Lieut.  La  Motte  on  board  with  Father 
Du  Thet,  an  ensign,  and  a  sergeant.  Argall  bore  down  amid  a  bewildering 
din  of  drums  and  trumpets.  "  Fire !"  cried  La  Motte.  Alas !  the  gunner  was 
on  shore.  Father  Du  Thet  seized  and  applied  the  match. 

Another  scathing  discharge  of  musketry  and  the  brave  priest  lay  dead. 
He  had  his  wish;  for  the  day  before  he  left  France  he  prayed  with  uplifted 
hands  that  he  might  not  return,  but  perish  on  that  holy  enterprise.  He  was 
buried  the  following  day  at  the  foot  of  the  rough  cross  he  had  helped 
to  erect. 

La  Motte,  clear-sighted  enough  to  see  the  utter  uselessness  of  any  further 
attempt  at  defense,  surrendered,  and  Argall  took  possession  of  the  vessel  and 
of  La  Saussaye's  papers,  from  among  .which  he  abstracted  the  royal  com- 
mission. 

St.  Savior's  was  now  a  ruin — the  broken  cross  alone  remained 
above  the  body  of  Du  Thet  to  guard  that  land  for  Catholicity;  all  was 
silent — no  hymn,  no  voice  of  prayer;  no  savages  reclaimed  for  God  and 
society  were  gathered  there.  Thus  the  first  Abnaki  mission  was  crushed  in 
its  very  cradle  by  men  who  founded  a  colony  in  which  the  gospel  was  never 
announced  to  the  aborigines. 

On  La  Saussaye's  return  from  the  woods,  where  he  had  retreated  with 
the  colonists,  he  was  met  by  Argall,  who  informed  him  that  the  country  be- 
longed to  his  master,  King  James,  and  finally  asked  to  see  his  commission. 
In  vain  did  the  French  nobleman  search  for  it.  Argall's  courtesy  changed  to 


THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE.  205 

wrath;  he  accused  the  officer  of  piracy,  and  ordered  the  settlement  to  be 
given  up  to  pillage,  but  offered  to  take  any  of  the  settlers  who  had  a  trade 
back  to  Virginia  with  him,  promising  them  protection.  Argall  counted, 
however,  without  his  host;  for  on  reaching  Jamestown  the  governor  swore 
that  the  French  priests  should  be  hung.  Useless  were  Argall's  remonstrances, 
and  finally,  seeing  no  other  way  to  save  the  lives  of  the  fathers,  he  produced 
the  commission  and  acknowledged  his  stratagem. 

The  wrath  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale  was  unappeased,  but  the  lives  of  the 
priests  were,  of  course,  safe.  He  despatched  Argall  with  two  additional  ships 
back  to  Mt.  Desert,  with  orders  to  cut  down  the  cross  and  level  the  defenses. 

Father  Biard  was  on  board,  as  well  as  Father  Masse;  they,  with  refined 
cruelty,  being  sent  to  witness  the  destruction  of  their  hopes. 

This  work  of  destruction  completed,  Argall  set  sail  for  Virginia.  Again 
a  storm  arose,  and  the  vessel  on  which  were  the  ecclesiastics  was  driven  to  the 
Azores.  Here  the  Jesuits,  who  had  been  so  grossly  ill-treated,  had  but  a  few 
words  to  say  to  be  avenged.  The  captain  of  the  vessel  was  not  without  un- 
easiness, and  entreated  the  priests  to  remain  in  concealment  when  the  vessel 
was  visited  by  the  authorities.  This  visit  over,  the  English  purchased  all 
they  needed  and  weighed  anchor  for  England.  Arrived  there,  a  new 
difficulty  occurred;  for  there  was  no  commission  to  show.  The  captain  was 
treated  as  a  pirate,  thrown  into  prison,  and  released  only  on  the  testimony  of 
the  Jesuit  fathers,  who  thus  returned  good  for  evil. 

Father  Biard  hastened  to  France,  where  he  became  professor  of  theology 
at  Lyons,  and  died  at  Avignon  on  the  iyth  of  November,  1622.  Father  Masse* 
returned  to  Canada,  where  he  labored  without  ceasing  until  his  death,  in  1646. 

With  the  destruction  of  St.  Sauveur,  the  pious  designs  of  Madame  De 
Guercheville  seem  to  have  perished.  At  any  rate,  the  most  diligent  research 
fails  to  find  her  name  again  in  the  annals  of  that  time.  Probably  the 
troubled  state  of  France  made  it  impossible  for  her  to  provide  the  sinews  of 
war  or  of  evangelization.  Nevertheless,  the  good  seed  was  planted,  and 
zeal  for  the  mission  cause  again  revived  in  Europe,  particularly  in  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  Young  men  left  court  and  camp  to  share  the  privations  and  life 
of  the  missionaries.  Even  the  convents  partook  of  the  general  enthusiasm, 
and  Ursuline  nuns  came  to  show  the  Indians  Christianity  in  daily  life,  minis- 
tering to  the  sick  and  instructing  the  young. 

Many  years  after  the  melancholy  failure  of  the  mission  at  Mt.  Desert, 
an  apparent  accident  recalled  the  Jesuit  fathers  to  the  coast  of  Maine. 


2o6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

In  1642  there  was  a  mission  at  Sillery,  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  where  had 
been  gathered  together  a  large  number  of  Indian  converts,  who  lived,  with 
their  families  about  them,  in  peace  and  harmony  under  the  watchful  care  of 
the  kind  fathers.  Among  these  converts  was  a  chief  who,  to  rescue  some  of 
his  tribe  who  had  been  taken  prisoners,  started  off  through  the  pathless 
wilderness,  and  finally  reached  the  English  at  Coussinoe,  now  known  as 
Augusta,  on  the  Kennebec. 

There  the  Indian  convert  so  extolled  the  Christian  faith  and  its  mighty 
promises  that  he  took  back  with  him  several  of  the  tribe.  These  were 
baptized  at  Sillery,  and  became  faithful  servants  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
In  consequence  of  the  entreaties  of  these  converts,  Father  Gabriel  Druillettes 
was  sent  to  the  lonely  Kennebec. 

Here  he  built  a  chapel  of  fir-trees  in  a  place  now  known  as  Norridge- 
wock,  a  lovely,  secluded  spot.  Some  years  before  Father  Biard  had  been 
there  for  a  few  weeks,  so  that  the  Abnakis  were  not  totally  unprepared  to 
receive  religious  instruction.  Father  Druillettes  was  greatly  blessed  in  his 
teaching,  and  converted  a  large  number,  inspiring  them  with  a  profound  love 
for  the  Catholic  faith,  which  the  English,  twenty  years  before,  had  failed  to 
do  for  the  Protestant  religion.  He  taught  them  simple  prayers,  and  translated 
for  their  use,  into  their  own  dialect,  several  hymns.  The  savages  even 
learned  to  sing,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  solemn  strains  of  the  Dies  Ira 
awakened  strange  echoes  in  the  primeval  forests. 

Even  the  English,  biased  as  they  were  against  the  Catholics,  watched 
the  good  accomplished  by  the  faithful  servant  of  the  great  Master,  and 
learned  to  regard  his  coming  as  a  great  blessing,  though  at  this  very  time  the 
stern  Puritans  at  Plymouth  were  enacting  cruel  laws  against  his  order. 

When  the  Abnakis  went  to  Moosehead  Lake  to  hunt  and  fish,  Father 
Druillettes  went  with  them,  watching  over  the  flock  with  unswerving  solici- 
tude. But  the  day  of  his  summons  to  Quebec  came,  and  a  general  feeling  of 
despair  overwhelmed  his  converts.  He  went,  and  the  Assumption  Mission 
was  deserted ;  for,  by  that  name,  as  it  was  asked  for  on  that  day,  was  this 
mission  always  designated. 

Year  after  year  the  Abnakis — for  so  were  called  the  aborigines  of 
Maine — sent  deputations  to  Quebec  to  entreat  the  return  of  their  beloved 
priest,  but  in  vain ;  for  the  number  of  missionaries  was  at  that  time  very 
limited.  Finally,  in  1650,  Father  Druillettes  set  out  with  a  party  on  the  last 
day  of  August  for  the  tiresome  eight  days'  march  through  the  wilderness ; 


THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE.  207 

the  party  lost  their  way,  their  provisions  were  gone,  and  it  was  not  until 
twenty-four  days  afterwards  that  they  reached  Norridgewock,  the  chief 
Abnaki  village. 

All  the  tribe  were  forthwith  in  motion,  and,  amid  a  volley  of  firearms, 
the  chief  embraced  the  missionary,  crying:  "  I  see  well  that  the  Great  Spirit, 
who  rules  in  the  heavens,  deigns  to  look  favorably  on  us,  since  he  sends  us 
back  our  patriarch."  Universal  joy  prevailed:  men,  women,  children,  all 
sought  to  express  their  happiness  at  the  missionary's  return.  A  banquet  was 
spread  in  every  cabin,  and  he  was  forced  to  visit  all.  "  We  have  thee,  at 
last,"  they  cried;  "  thou  art  our  father,  our  patriarch,  our  countryman.  Thou 
livest  like  us,  thou  dwellest  with  us,  thou  art  an  Abnaki  like  us.  Thou 
bringest  back  joy  to  all  the  country.  We  had  thought  of  leaving  this  land 
to  seek  thee,  for  many  have  died  in  thy  absence.  We  were  losing  all  hopes 
of  reaching  heaven.  Those  whom  thou  didst  instruct,  performed  all  they 
had  learned,  but  their  heart  was  weary,  for  it  sought  and  could  not  find  thee." 

On  every  side  he  heard  gentle  reproaches:  here  a  father  led  him  to  the 
cross-covered  grave  of  his  children,  whom  he  had  baptized  in  death,  yet 
feared  that  he  had  erred,  and  that  they  would  not  enjoy  eternal  life. 

From  a  letter  written  at  this  time  by  Father  Druillettes  we  transcribe 
the  following:  "  In  spite  of  all  that  is  painful  and  crucifying  to  nature  in  these 
missions,  there  are  also  great  joys  and  consolations.  More  plenteous  than  I 
can  describe  are  those  I  feel,  to  see  that  the  seed  of  the  gospel  I  scattered 
here  four  years  ago,  in  land  which  for  so  many  centuries  has  lain  fallow,  or 
produced  only  thorns  and  brambles,  already  bears  fruit  so  worthy  of  the 
Lord."  Nothing  could  excel  the  veneration'and  affection  of  the  Indians  for 
their  missionary;  and  when  an  Englishman  vehemently  accused  the  French 
priest  of  slandering  his  nation,  the  chiefs  hurried  to  Augusta,  and  warned  the 
authorities  to  take  heed  and  not  attack  their  father  even  in  words. 

The  following  spring -Father  Druillettes  was  sent  to  a  far-distant  station, 
and  years  elapsed  before  he  returned  to  Quebec,  where  he  died  in  1681,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-eight. 

About  this  time  two  brothers,  Vincent  and  Jacques  Bigot,  men  of  rank 
and  fortune,  left  their  homes  in  sunny  France  to  share  the  toil  and  privations 
of  life  in  the  New  World.  They  placed  themselves  and  their  fortunes  in 
the  hands  of  the  superior  at  Quebec,  and  were  sent  to  labor  in  the  foot- 
prints of  Father  Druillettes.  During  their  faithful  ministrations  at  Norridge- 
wock, the  chapel  built  by  their  predecessor  was  burned  by  the  English,  but 


2o$  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

was  rebuilt  in  1687  by  English  workmen  sent  from  Boston,  according  to 
treaty  stipulations.  And  now  appears  upon  the  scene  me  stately  form  of  one 
of  the  greatest  men  of  that  age;  but  before  we  attempt  to  bring  before  our 
readers  the  character  and  acts  of  Sebastian  Rale,  we  must  beg  them  to  return 
from  Norridgewock,  the  scene  of  his  labors  and  martyrdom,  to  the  little 
village  of  Castine.  For  in  1688  Father  Thury,  a  priest  of  the  diocese  of 
Quebec,  a  man  of  tact  and  ability,  had  gathered  about  him  a  band  of  converts 
at  Panawauski,  on  the  Penobscot.  This  settlement  was  protected  by  the 
Baron  Saint-Castine.  This  Saint-Castine  was  a  French  nobleman  and  a 
soldier  who  originally  went  to  Canada  in  command  of  a  regiment.  The 
regiment  was  disbanded,  and  Saint-Castine's  disappointed  ambition  and  a 
heart  sore  from  domestic  trials  decided  him,  rather  than  return  to  France,  to 
plunge  into  the  wilderness,  and  there,  far  from  kindred  and  nation,  create  for 
himself  a  new  home. 

After  a  while  the  baron  married  a  daughter  of  one  of  the  sachems  of 
the  Penobscot  Indians,  and  became  himself  a  sagamore  of  the  tribe.  The 
descendants  of  this  marriage  hold  at  the  present  day  some  portion  of  the 
Saint-Castine  lands  at  Normandy. 

We  turn  to  Father  Sebastian  Rale,  S.J.,  who  left  his  native  France 
in  1689  for  America.  After  remaining  for  nearly  two  years  in  Quebec,  he 
went  thence  to  Norridgewock.  He  found  the  Abnakis  nearly  all  converted, 
and  at  once  applied  himself  to  learning  their  dialect.  To  this  work  he 
brought  his  marvelous  patience  and  energy,  and  all  his  wondrous  insight 
into  human  nature.  He  began  his  dictionary,  and  erected  a  chapel  on 
the  spot  known  now  as  Indian  Old  Pou.t.  This  chapel  he  supplied  with  all 
the  decorations  calculated  to  engage  the  imagination  and  fix  the  wandering 
attention  of  the  untutored  savage.  The  women  contended  with  holy  emu- 
lation in  the  embellishment  of  the  sanctuary.  They  made  mats  of  the  soft 
and  brightly-tinted  plumage  of  the  forest  birds  and  of  the  white-breasted 
sea-gulls.  They  brought  offerings  of  huge  candles,  manufactured  from  the 
fragrant  wax  of  the  bayberry,  with  which  the  chapel  was  illuminated.  A 
couple  of  nuns  from  Montreal  made  a  brief  sojourn  at  Norridgewock,  that 
they  might  teach  the  Indian  women  to  sew  and  make  a  kind  of  lace  with 
which  to  adorn  the  altar.  Busied  with  his  dictionary  and  with  his  flock, 
Father  Rale  thus  passed  the  most  peaceful  days  of  his  life;  but  this  blessed 
quiet  ended  only  too  soon. 

In   1705   a  party  of  English,  under  the  command  of  a   Capt.   Hilton, 


THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE.  209 

burst  from  out  the  forest,  attacking  the  little  village  from  all  sides  at  once, 
finishing  by  burning  the  chapel  and  every  hut.  The  Indians  were  absent  at 
the  time  of  this  valiant  attack,  but  on  their  return  quickly  raised  a  bark 
chapel  to  replace  their  handsome  church.  Soon  after,  their  beloved  mission- 
ary, on  a  painful  journey,  fell  and  broke  both  legs.  On  his  recovery  he 
returned  to  his  mission,  though  doubly  exposed  to  danger,  for  the  English 
had  offered  a  reward  for  his  head,  and  used  every  effort  to  induce  the  Indians 
to  betray  him;  but  the  Abnakis  were  faithful,  and  all  the  expeditions  against 
this  mission  failed. 

About  the  same  time,  the  governor-general  of  New  England  sent  to  the 
lower  part  of  the  Kennebec  the  ablest  of  the  Boston  divines  to  instruct  the 
Indian  children.  As  Baxter's  (the  missionary )  salary  depended  on  his  suc- 
cess, he  neglected  no  means  that  could  attract. 

For  two  months  he  labored  in  vain.  His  caresses  and  little  gifts  were 
thrown  away;  for  he  made  not  one  convert. 

Father  Rale  wrote  to  Baxter  that  his  neophytes  were  good  Christians, 
but  far  from  able  in  disputes. 

This  same  letter,  which  was  of  some  length,  challenged  the  Protestant 
clergyman  to  a  discussion.  Baxter,  after  a  long  delay,  sent  a  brief  reply  in 
Latin  so  bad  that  the  learned  priest  says  it  was  impossible  to  understand  it. 

In  1717  the  Indian  chiefs  held  a  council.  The  governor  of  Xew  Eng- 
land offered  them  an  English  and  an  Indian  Bible,  and  Mr.  Baxter  as  their 
expounder. 

The  Abnakis  refused  them  one  and  all,  and  elected  to  adhere  to  their 
Catholic  faith,  saying:  "All  people  love  their  own  priests!  Your  bibles  we 
do  not  care  for,  and  God  has  already  sent  us  teachers." 

Thus  years  passed  on  in  monotonous  labor.  The  only  relaxation  per- 
mitted to  himself  by  Father  Rale  was  the  work  on  his  dictionary.  The  con- 
verts venerated  their  priest;  their  keen  eyes  and  quick  instincts  saw  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  life,  the  reality  of  his  affection  for  them,  and  recognized  his  self- 
denial  and  generosity.  They  went  to  him  with  their  cares  and  their  sorrows, 
with  their  simple  griefs  and  simpler  pleasures.  He  listened  with  unaffected 
sympathy  and  interest.  No  envious  rival,  no  jealous  competitor,  no  heretical 
teacher,  disturbed  the  relations  between  pastor  and  fl.ock.  So,  too,  it  was  but 
natural  that  they  should  look  to  him  for  advice  when  they  gathered  about 
their  council-fires. 

The  wrono-s  which  the  Eastern  Indians  were  constantly  enduring  at  the 


210  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

hands  of  the  English  settlers  kindled  to  a  living  flame  the  smoldering  hatred 
in  their  hearts,  which  they  sought  every  opportunity  of  wreaking  in  ven- 
geance on  their  foe.  Thus,  like  lightning  on  the  edge  of  the  horizon,  they 
hovered  on  the  frontier,  making  daring  forays  on  the  farms  of  the  settlers. 

It  was  not  unnatural  that  the  English,  bristling  with  prejudices  against 
the  French,  and  still  more  against  Catholics,  should  have  seen  fit  to  look  on 
Father  Rale  as  the  instigator  of  all  these  attacks,  forgetting — what  is  unde- 
niably true — that  Father  Rale's  converts  were  milder  and  kinder  and  more 
Christian-like  than  any  of  their  Indian  neighbors.  The  good  father  was  full 
of  concern  when  he  heard  that  a  fierce  and  warlike  tribe,  who  had  steadily 
resisted  all  elevating  influences,  were  about  settling  within  a  day's  journey  of 
Norridgewock.  He  feared  lest  his  children  should  be  led  away  by  perni- 
cious examples;  so  he  with  difficulty  persuaded  some  of  the  strangers  to  enter 
the  chapel,  and  to  be  present  at  some  of  the  imposing  ceremonies  of  the 
mother  church.  At  the  close  of  the  service  he  addressed  them  in  simple 
words,  and  thus  concluded : 

"Let  us  not  separate,  that  some  may  go  one  way  and  some  another.  Let 
us  all  go  to  heaven.  It  is  our  country,  and  the  place  to  which  we  are  invited 
by  the  sole  Master  of  life,  of  whom  I  am  but  the  interpreter."  The  reply  of 
the  Indians  was  evasive;  but  it  was  evident  that  an  impression  was  made,  and 
in  the  autumn  they  sent  to  him  to  say  that  if  he  would  come  to  them  they 
would  receive  his  teachings. 

Father  Rale  gladly  went  at  this  bidding,  erected  a  cross  and  a  chapel, 
and  finaHy  baptized  nearly  the  whole  tribe. 

At  this  time  Father  Rale  wrote  to  his  nephew  a  letter,  in  which  he  says: 
"  My  new  church  is  neat,  and  its  elegantly-ornamented  vestments,  chasubles, 
copes,  and  holy  vessels  would  be  esteemed  highly  appropriate  in  almost  any 
church  in  Europe.  A  choir  of  young  Indians,  forty  in  number,  assist  at  the 
Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  and  chant  the  divine  offices  for  the  consecration 
of  the  Holy  Sacrament;  and  you  would  be  edified  by  the  beautiful  order  they 
preserve  and  the  devotion  they  manifest.  After  the  Mass  I  teach  the  young 
children,  and  the  remainder  of  the  morning  is  devoted  to  seeing  those  who 
come  to  consult  me  on  affairs  of  importance.  Thus,  you  see,  I  teach  some, 
console  others,  seek  to  re-establish  peace  in  families  at  variance,  and  to  calm 
troubled  consciences." 

Another  letter,  still  later,  in  speaking  of  the  attachment  of  the  converts 
to  their  faith,  says:  "And  when  they  go  to  the  sea-shore  in  summer  to  fish, 


THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE.  2 1 1 

I  accompany  them ;  and  when  they  reach  the  place  where  they  intend  to  pass 
the  night,  they  erect  stakes  at  intervals  in  the  form  of  a  chapel,  and  spread  a 
tent  made  of  ticking.  All  is  complete  in  fifteen  minutes.  I  always  carry 
with  me  a  beautiful  board  of  cedar,  with  the  necessary  supports.  This  serves 
for  an  altar,  and  I  ornament  the  interior  with  silken  hangings.  A  huge  bear- 
skin serves  as  a  carpet,  and  divine  service  is  held  within  an  hour." 

While  away  on  one  of  the  excursions  which  Father  Rale  thus  describes, 
the  village  was  attacked  by  the  English;  and  again,  in  1722,  by  a  party  of 
two  hundred  under  Col.  Westbrook.  New  England  had  passed  a  law  im- 
posing imprisonment  for  life  on  Catholic  priests,  and  a  reward  was  offered 
for  the  head  of  Father  Rale.  The  party  was  seen,  as  they  entered  the  valley 
of  the  Kennebec,  by  two  braves,  who  hurried  on  to  give  the  alarm ;  the  priest 
having  barely  time  to  escape  to  the  woods  with  the  altar  vessels  and  vest- 
ments, leaving  behind  him  all  his  papers  and  his  precious  Abnaki  dictionary, 
which  was  enclosed  in  a  strong  box  of  peculiar  construction.  It  had  two 
rude  pictures  on  the  lid,  one  of  the  scourging  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  and  the 
other  of  the  Crowning  of  Thorns.  This  box  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  while  the  dictionary  itself  is  at  Harvard. 

Father  Rale  saved  himself  by  taking  refuge  in  a  hollow  tree,  where  he 
remained  for  thirty-six  hours,  suffering  from  hunger  and  a  broken  leg. 

With  wonderful  courage  Father  Rale  built  up  another  chapel,  and  writes 
thus,  after  recounting  the  efforts  of  the  English  to  take  him  prisoner:  "  In 
the  words  of  the  apostle,  I  conclude:  I  do  not  fear  the  threats  of  those  who 
hate  me  without  a  cause,  and  I  count  not  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that  I 
might  finish  my  course  and  the  ministry  which  I  have  received  of  the  Lord 
Jesus." 

Again,  over  the  council-fires,  the  Indian  chiefs  assembled.  They  decided 
to  send  an  embassy  to  Boston,  to  demand  that  their  chapel,  which  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  English,  should  be  rebuilt.  „ 

The  governor,  anxious  to  secure  the  alliance  of  the  tribe,  listened  patiently, 
and  told  them  in  reply  that  it  belonged  properly  to  the  governor  of  Canada 
to  rebuild  their  church;  still,  that  he  would  do  it  provided  they  would  agree 
to  receive  the  clergy  he  would  choose,  and  would  send  back  to  Quebec  the 
French  priest  who  was  then  with  them.  We  cannot  forbear  repeating  here 
the  unequaled  satire  of  the  Indian's  reply: 

"  When  you  came  here,"  answered  the  chief,  "  we  were  unknown  to  the 
French  governor,  but  no  one  of  you  spoke  of  prayer  or  of  the  Great  Spirit. 


212 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


You  thought  only  of  my  skins  and  furs.  But  one  day  I  met  a  French  black- 
coat  in  the  forest.  He  did  not  look  at  the  skins  with  which  I  was  loaded,  but 
he  said  words  to  me  of  the  Great  Spirit,  of  paradise  and  of  hell,  and  of 
prayer,  by  which  is  the  only  path  to  heaven. 

"  I  listened  with  pleasure,  and  at  last  begged  him  to  teach  and  to 
baptize  me. 

"  If,  when  you  saw  me,  you  had  spoken  to  me  of  prayer,  I  should  have 
had  the  misfortune  to  pray  as  you  do;  for  I  was  not  then  able  to  know  if 
your  prayers  were  good.  So,  I  tell  you,  I  will  hold  fast  to  the  prayers  of  the 
French.  I  will  keep  them  until  the  earth  burn  up  and  perish." 

At  last  the  final  and  fatal  effort  on  the  life  of  Father  Rale  was  made 
in  1724. 

All  was  quiet  in  the  little  village.  The  tall  corn  lay  yellow  in  the  slant- 
ing rays  of  an  August  sun,  when  suddenly  from  the  adjacent  woods  burst 
forth  a  band  of  English  with  their  Mohawk  allies.  The  devoted  priest, 
knowing  that  they  were  in  hot  pursuit  of  him,  sallied  forth  to  meet  them, 

hoping,  by  the 
sacrifice  of  his 
own  life,  to  save 
his  own  flock. 
Hardly  had  h  e 


reached  the  mis- 
sion cross  in  the 
center  of  the  vil- 
lage than  he  fell 
at  its  foot,  pierced 
by  a  dozen  bul- 
lets. Seven  In- 
dians, who  had 
sought  to  shield 
him  with  their 
bodies,  lay  dead 
beside  him. 

Then  followed  a  scene  that  beggars  description.    Women  and  children 

were  killed  indiscriminately ;  and  it  ill  became  those  who  shot  women  as  they 

swam  across  the  river  to  bring  a  charge  of  cruelty  against  the  French  fathers. 

The  chapel  was  robbed  and  then  fired;  the  bell  was  not  melted,  but  was 


MURDER    OF    FATHER    SEBASTIAN    RALE. 


THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE, 


213 


probably  afterward  buried  by  the  Indians,  for  it  was  revealed  only  a  few 
years  since  by  the  blowing  down  of  a  huge  oak-tree,  and  was  presented  to 
Bowdoin  College. 

The  soft,  dewy  night  closed  on  the  scene  of  devastation,  and  in  the 
morning,  as  one  by  one  the  survivors  crept  back  to  their  ruined  homes  with 
their  hearts  full  of  consternation  and  sorrow,  they  found  the  body  of  their 
beloved  priest,  not  only  pierced  by  a  hundred  balls,  but  with  the  skull 
crushed  by  hatchets,  arms  and  legs  broken,  and  mouth  and  eyes  filled  with 
dirt.  They  buried  him  where  the  day  before  had  stood  the  altar  of  the  little 
chapel,  and  sent  his  tattered  habits  to  Quebec. 

It  was  by  so  precious  a  death  that  this  apostolical  man  closed  a  career  of 
nearly  forty  years  of  painful  missionary  toil.  His  fasts  and  vigils  had  greatly 
enfeebled  his  constitution,  and,  when  entreated  to  take  precautions  for  his 
safety,  he  answered:  "My  measures  are  taken.  God  has  committed  this 
flock  to  my  charge,  and  I  will  share  their  fate,  being  too  happy  if  permitted 
to  sacrifice  myself  for  them." 

Well  did. his  superior  in  Canada,  M.  de  Bellemont,  reply,  when  requested 
to  offer  Masses  for  his  soul:  "  In  the  words  of  S.  Augustine,  I  say  it  would 
be  wronging  a  martyr  to  pray  for  him." 

There  can  be  no  question  that  Sebastian  Rale  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  his  day.  A  devoted  Christian  and  finished  scholar,  com- 
manding in  manners  and  elegant  in  address,  of  persuasive  eloquence  and  great 
administrative  ability,  he  courted  death  and  starvation  for  the  sole  end  of 
salvation  for  the  Indian. 

From  the  death  of  Father  Rale  until  1730  the  mission  at  Norridgewock 
was  without  a  priest.  In  that  year,  however,  the  superior  at  Quebec  sent 
Father  James  de  Sirenne  to  that  station.  The  account  given  by  this  father 
of  the  warmth  with  which  he  was  received,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
Indians  had  sought  to  keep  their  faith,  is  very  touching.  The  women  with 
tears  and  sobs  hastened  with  their  unbaptized  babes  to  the  priest. 

In  all  these  years  no  Protestant  clergyman  had  visited  them,  for  Eliot 
was  almost  the  only  one  who  devoted  himself  to  the  conversion  of  the  Indians, 
though  even  he,  as  affirmed  by  Bancroft,  had  never  approached  the  Indian 
tribe  that  dwelt  within  six  miles  of  Boston  Harbor  until  five  years  after  the 
cross  had  been  borne  by  the  religious  zeal  of  the  French  from  Lake  Superior 
to  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

But  Father  Sirenne  could  not  be  permitted  to  remain  any  length  of  time 


2 1 4  THE  COL  UMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

with  the  Abnakis.  Again  were  they  deserted,  having  a  priest  with  them 
only  at  long  intervals. 

Then  came  the  peace  of  1763,  in  which  France  surrendered  Canada. 
This  step  struck  a  most  terrible  blow  at  the  missions;  for  although  the 
English  government  guaranteed  to  the  Canadians  absolute  religious  freedom, 
they  yet  took  quiet  steps  to  rid  themselves  of  the  Jesuit  fathers. 

A  short  breathing  space,  and  another  war  swept  over  the  land,  and  with 
this  perished  the  last  mission  in  Maine.  In  1775  deputies  from  the  various 
tribes  in  Maine  and  Nova  Scotia  met  the  Massachusetts  council.  The  Indians 
announced  their  intention  of  adhering  to  the  Americans,  but  begged,  at  the 
same  time,  for  a  French  priest.  The  council  expressed  their  regret  at  not 
being  able  to  find  one. 

"  Strange  indeed  was  it,"  says  Shea,  "  that  the  very  body  which,  less 
than  a  century  before,  had  made  it  felony  for  a  Catholic  priest  to  visit  the 
Abnakis,  now  regretted  their  inability  to  send  these  Christian  Indians  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  same  faith  and  nation." 

Years  after,  when  peace  was  declared,  and  the  few  Catholics  in  Mary- 
land had  chosen  the  Rev.  John  Carroll — a  member  of  the  proscribed  Society 
of  Jesus — as  bishop,  the  Abnakis  of  Maine  sent  a  deputation  bearing  the 
crucifix  of  Father  Rale.  This  they  presented  to  the  bishop,  with  earnest 
supplications  for  a  priest. 

Bishop  Carroll  promised  that  one  should  be  sent,  and  Father  Ciquard  was 
speedily  despatched  to  Norridgewock,  where  he  remained  for  ten  years.  Then 
ensued  another  interval  during  which  the  flock  was  without  a  shepherd. 

At  last  a  missionary  priest  at  Boston,  Father  (afterward  Cardinal) 
Cheverus,  turned  his  attention  to  the  study  of  the  Abnaki  dialect,  and  then 
visited  the  Penobscot  tribe. 

Desolate,  poor,  and  forsaken  as  they  had  been,  the  Indians  still  clung  to 
their  faith.  The  old  taught  the  young,  and  all  gathered  on  Sundays  to  chant 
the  music  of  the  Mass  and  Vespers,  though  their  altar  had  no  priest  and  no 
sacrifice. 

Father  Cheverus,  after  a  few  months, was  succeeded  by  Father  Romagne", 
who  for  twenty  years  consecrated  every  moment  and  every  thought  to  the 
evangelization  of  the  Penobscot  and  Passamaquoddy  tribes.  In  July,  1827, 
Bishop  Fenwick  visited  this  portion  of  his  disocese,  and  in  1831  sent  them 
a  resident  missionary.  A  beautiful  church  stood  at  last  in  the  place  of 
Romagne"'s  hut,  and  two  years  later  B;shop  Fenwick,  once  a  father  in  the 


THE  INDIAN  MISSIONS  IN  MAINE.  215 

Society  of  Jesus,  erected  a  monument  to  Father  Rale  on  the  spot  where  he  was 
slain  a  hundred  and  nine  years  before.  From  far  and  near  gathered  the  crowd, 
Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  to  witness  the  ceremony.  The  monument 
stands  in  a  green,  secluded  spot,  a  simple  shaft  of  granite  surmounted  by  a 
cross,  and  an  inscription  in  Latin  tells  the  traveler  that  there  died  a  faithful 
priest  and  servant  of  the  Lord.  Bishop  Fenwick  became  extremely  anxious 
to  induce  some  French  priest  to  go  to  that  ancient  mission,  and  a  year  later 
the  Society  of  Picpus,  in  Switzerland,  sent  out  Fathers  Demilier  and  Petit- 
homme  to  restore  the  Franciscan  missions  in  Maine.  They  conquered  the 
difficulties  of  the  Abnaki  dialect  with  the  aid  of  a  prayer-book  which  the 
bishop  had  caused  to  be  printed,  and  in  this  small  and  insignificant  mission 
Father  Demilier  toiled  until  his  death  in  1843. 

The  successor  of  Bishop  Fenwick  resolved  to  restore  the  Abnaki  mission 
to  the  fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  by  whom  it  had  been  originally  founded. 
Therefore,  since  1848,  the  Penobscots  and  Passamaquoddys  have  been  under 
the  care  of  the  Jesuits,  who  in  that  year  sent  out  from  Switzerland  Father 
John  Bapst  to  Old  Town,  on  the  Penobscot — a  short  distance  from  Bangor — 
where  he  ministered  faithfully  to  the  Abnakis  until  he  nearly  lost  his  life  in 
a  disgraceful  know-nothing  riot  in  1854. 

As  we  find  ourselves  thus  at  the  conclusion  of  our  narration,  incidents 
crowd  upon  our  memory  of  the  wondrous  sacrifices  made  by  the  Catholic 
clergy  in  the  old  missions  of  Maine;  but  we  are  admonished  that  our  space  is 
limited. 

Little  attention,  however,  has  been  paid  to  the  fact  that  to  these  Catholic 
priests  alone  under  God  is  due  the  evangelization  of  the  many  Indian  tribes 
which  formerly  haunted  our  grand  old  forests.  Of  these  tribes,  only  a  few 
of  the  Penobscots  are  left,  and  these  cling  still  to  the  cross  as  the  blessed 
symbol  of  the  faith  first  brought  to  them  "  as  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness," by  Fathers  Biard  and  Du  Thet  at  St.  Sauveur  in  1613. 


THRGG    SAINTfcV    fcADIGS 


MOTHER  MARY  OF  THE  INCARNATION. —  A  HOLY  CHILDHOOD  IN  TOURS. — TRIALS 
OF  A  YOUNG  WIFE.  —  THE  WIDOW  SEEKS  THE  CLOISTER.  —  VISION  FROM 
THE  QUEEN  OF  HEAVEN. — VOCATION  TO  THE  NEW  WORLD. — THE  LADY  OF  THE 
VISION. — AN  EXPEDITION  OF  URSULINES. — DANGERS  OF  THE  VOYAGE. — WEL- 
COME AT  QUEBEC. — THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  CHEVALIER  SILLER Y. —  URSULINES 
AMONG  THE  INDIANS.— SCANT  QUARTERS  AND  PROVISIONS. — THE  POT  OF  SAG- 
AMITE. — TEACHING  YOUNG  SAVAGES. — THE  NEW  CONVENT. — DISASTROUS  FIRE. 
— HEROINES  OF  CHRIST.  —  A  HOLY  DEATH.  —  MADAME  DE  LA  PELTRIE. — 
BEAUTY  THAT  NEVER  GROWS  OLD.— Miss  JANE  MANCE. — How  SHE  REACHED 
MONTREAL. — STORY  OF  THE  FAIR  CITY. — FAMOUS  ABBE  OLIER.  —  THE  BRAVE 
SIEUR  DE  MAISONNEUVE. — HOSPITAL  WORK  AT  VILLE  MARIE. — WRESTLING 
WITH  POVERTY. — SUCCESS  OF  THE  ORDER. — TRIALS  AND  GRIEFS. — THE  ANGEL 
OF  DEATH. 


FTER  the  pillage  and  destruction  of  St.  Sauveur's,  in  Maine,  as 
recorded  in  the  preceding  chapter,  missionary  zeal  in  France  was 
enkindled  to  such  a  fervor  as  to  invade  even  the  convents.  Many 
of  their  gentle  inmates  aspired  to  be  heralds  of  the  Cross  in  the 
New  World,  and  as  the  influence  of  these  pious  ladies  on  the 
religious  life  of  America — of  which  the  St.  Lawrence  was  still  the 
chief  northern  gateway — has  been  potent  as  well  as  enduring,  a  detailed  no. 
tice  of  some  of  them  will  here  be  appropriate. 

Mary  Guyard,  known  in  history  and  religion  as  Mother  Mary  of  the 
Incarnation,  stands  first  on  the  long  roll  of  great  and  saintly  women  who 
have  shed  a  luster  on  the  annals  of  Canada.  She  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Tours,  France,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1599.  Her  parents  were  in  very 
modest  circumstances,  but  were  persons  of  eminent  piety  and  spotless  lives. 
To  their  little  daughter  they  gave  the  name  of  Mary,  and  in  the  gift  of  that 

216 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  217 

beautiful  name  was  shadowed  forth  the  grandeur  of  a  noble  life — the  life  of  a 

Christian  heroine. 

"  Mary!  sweet  name  revered  above, 

And  O  how  dear  below! 
In  it  are  hope  and  holy  love, 

And  blessings  from  it  flow." 

Placed  in  such  a  school  of  life,  and  endowed  with  rare  dispositions,  we 
are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  the  girl  grew  in  wisdom,  age,  and  grace. 
In  one  of  her  letters,  written  years  afterwards,  she  says:  "  The  good  educa- 
tion which  I  had  received  from  my  parents,  who  were  most  pious  Christians, 
laid  an  excellent  foundation  in  my  soul ;  and  I  cannot  but  bless  the  God  of 
goodness  for  his  gracious  kindness  to  me  in  this  connection.  It  is  a  great 
step  in  the  way  of  virtue  and  a  precious  preparation  for  a  high  degree  of 
piety,  to  fall  into  hands  which  carefully  mold  the  first  years  of  our  existence." 

There  are  many  mansions  in  heaven,  and  it  seems  that  all  who  reach 
them  do  not  travel  the  same  road  of  life.  Though  manifesting  some  desire 
for  the  religious  state,  Mary  Guyard,  in  her  eighteenth  year,  and  in  obedience 
to  the  wishes  of  her  parents,  gave  her  hand  in  marriage  to  Claudius  Joseph 
Martin.  He  was  a  silk  manufacturer,  and  a  young  man  of  most  estimable 
character. 

The  first  care  of  Madame  Martin  in  her  new  state  was  to  make  the  fear 
of  God  reign  in  her  house.  She  was  a  model  of  order  and  industry,  and  such 
was  her  life  of  faith  that  we  are  assured  by  her  biographers  that  her  most 
common  actions  were  transformed  into  practices  of  piety.  For  her  husband, 
who  was,  to  use  her  own  words,  "  a  good,  God-fearing  man,"  she  always  en- 
tertained the  most  affectionate  respect;  and  yet  their  married  life  was  far  from 
being  happy.  But  the  cause  of  this  we  know  not.  Two  years  after  his 
marriage,  however,  Mr.  Martin  died,  leaving  his  young  wife,  scarcely  twenty 
years  of  age,  with  an  infant  some  six  months  old,  without  fortune,  and  even 
with  very  scanty  means  of  support. 

When  Mary  Guyard  was  about  to  become  a  bride,  more  through  obe- 
dience than  love  or  inclination,  she  had  said  to  her  mother:  "  Mother,  since 
the  resolution  is  taken,  and  that  my  father  absolutely  wills  it,  I  believe  that  I 
am  obliged  to  bow  to  his  decision  and  to  yours,  but  if  God  will  grant  me  the 
grace  of  giving  me  a  son,  I  now  promise  to  consecrate  him  to  the  Divine  ser- 
vice ;  and  if,  afterwards,  He  should  restore  to  me  the  liberty  which  I  am  now 
losing,  I  also  promise  to  consecrate  myself  to  Him."  There  is  something 
singularly  prophetic  in  these  words. 


2i8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

But  a  long  road  of  sorrow  and  suffering  was  to  be  traveled  before  either 
of  these  sublime  objects  was  accomplished.  Solitude,  meditation,  fast- 
ing, prayer,  continual  attention  to  the  holy  presence  of  God,  the  use  of 
the  hair-shirt  and  all  kinds  of  mortification,  and  wonderful  favors  from 
heaven — these  might  form  the  headings  of  so  many  chapters  in  relation  to 
this  period  in  the  life  of  this  heroic  woman.  "  I  should  regard  as  lost,"  she 
writes,  "  a  day  passed  without  suffering." 

At  length,  after  twelve  years  had  brought  her  son  beyond  the  helpless- 
ness of  infancy,  Madame  Martin  confided  him  to  her  sister's  care,  tore  herself 
from  his  presence,  and  entered  the  cloister.  Truly  these  years  of  probation 
had  been  to  her  the  narrow,  thorny  path  leading  to  the  mountain  heights  of 
sanctity.  Long  before  pronouncing  her  vows  as  a  religious,  she  had 
practised  the  counsels  of  evangelical  perfection. 

On  the  25th  of  January,  1631,  Madame  Martin  entered  the  convent  of 
the  Ursulines,  in  the  city  of  Tours.  Two  years  after  she  made  her  religious 
profession,  and  henceforth  she  will  be  known  as  Mother  Mary  of  the  In- 
carnation. 

It  may,  perhaps,  seem  strange  that  this  lady,  capable  of  such  exalted 
spirituality,  was  also  gifted  to  a  rare  degree  with  the  faculties  most  useful  in 
the  practical  affairs  of  life.  During  the  several  years  she  spent  in  the  house 
of  her  brother-in-law,  she  proved  how  able  and  efficient  she  was  to  aid  him 
in  the  conduct  of  his  business.  Her  heart  was  far  away  from  these  mundane 
interests,  but  her  talent  for  business  was  not  the  less  displayed.  Of  this  her 
spiritual  gu'des  were  aware,  and  saw  clearly  that  gifts  so  useful  to  the  world 
might  be  made  equally  useful  to  the  Church.  Hence  it  was  that  she  was  made 
superioress  of  the  convent  which  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  was  about  to  endow 
at  Quebec. 

"  I  now  see,"  wrote  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation  towards  the  end  of 
her  days,  "  that  all  the  states  of  life,  trials,  and  labors  through  which  I  have 
passed,  have  had  but  one  object — to  form  me  for  the  work  to  be  done  in 
Canada." 

Not  long  after  her  admittance  into  the  Ursuline  convent,  a  mysterious 
dream  or  vision  shadowed  forth  her  future  career.  Over  a  dark  and  perilous 
way  the  holy  novice  seemed  to  grope  hand  in  hand  with  an  unknown  lady. 
A  venerable  personage  directed  the  travelers  by  a  motion  of  his  hand  and 
they  entered  a  spacious  court,  formed  by  the  buildings  of  a  religious  institution. 
The  pavement  was  of  white  marble,  intersected  by  lines  of  vermilion.  Over 


THREE  SAINTL  Y  LADIES.  2 1 9 

all  seemed  to  breathe  the  spirit  of  peace.  On  one  side  arose  a  chapel  of  the 
purest  alabastre,  upon  the  summit  of  which,  as  upon  a  throne,  were  seated 
the  Holy  Virgin  and  the  divine  Child. 

The  Queen  of  Heaven  seemed  to  be  gazing  upon  a  desolate  country, 
covered  with  fogs,  and  traversed  by  mountains,  valleys,  and  vast  precipices. 
In  the  midst  of  these  gloomy  wastes,  the  spires  and  gable  ends  of  a  little 
church  could  be  discerned,  just  visible  above  the  misty  atmosphere.  She 
looked  with  sadness  on  the  dismal  scene  before  her;  and  as  Mary  of  the 
Incarnation  pressed  forward,  close  to  her  seat,  the  dear  Mother  of  Mercy 
turned  towards  her  with  a  sweet  smile  of  welcome,  and,  gently  bending  down, 
she  kissed  the  fair  traveler's  forehead.  Then  she  seemed  to  whisper  some 
message  to  the  divine  Child.  It  concerned  the  salvation  of  souls.  Our  hero- 
ine heard  not  the  words,  but  she  caught  their  purport;  and,  on  awaking,  her 
glowing  heart  burned  more  than  ever  for  the  conversion  of  pagan  nations. 

A  year  later  the  mystery  was  removed.  A  voice  within  the  soul  of 
Mary  of  the  Incarnation  called  upon  her  to  found  a  convent  of  her  order  in 
Canada.  She  appeared  to  hear  the  Master  of  Life  urging  her  to  go  to  that 
new  land,  and  "  build  a  house  to  Jesus  and  Mary."  The  Church  in  Canada 
was  then  in  its  infancy.  Its  foundation  stone  had  recently  been  laid,  through 
the  lofty  zeal  of  Champlain.  As  we  shall  read  later  on,  the  illustrious  Father 
John  de  Bre*beuf,  S J.,  and  a  band  of  Jesuits  were  toiling  among  the  Hurons 
of  Upper  Canada  ;  and  other  apostolic  priests  of  the  same  society  were 
laboring  at  Quebec,  or  scattered  at  various  points  along  the  St.  Lawrence. 

The  "Jesuit  Relations,"  which  the  Canadian  missionaries  began  to  pub- 
lish in  1632,  found  their  way  to  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Tours,  and  helped 
to  fan  the  flame.  It  is  for  the  Almighty  to  provide  the  way  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  own  designs.  In  what  manner  this  was  brought  about,  we 
shall  now  briefly  relate. 

Near  the  little  town  of  Alengon,  in  Normandy,  stood  the  castle  of  the 
Lord  of  Vaubougon,  the  ancestral  home  of  Mary  Magdalene  de  Chauvigny, 
better  known  by  the  name  of  Madame  de  la  Peltrie.  Like  Mary  of  the 
Incarnation,  she  had  entered  the  married  state  through  pure  compliance  to  the 
will  of  her  parents. 

Madamoiselle  De  Chauvigny  wished  to  be  a  religious.  Her  father,  how- 
ever, passionately  fond  of  his  beautiful  daughter,  resisted  her  inclination  for 
the  cloister,  and  sought  to  wean  her  back  to  the  world ;  but  she  escaped  from 
the  chateau  to  a  neighboring  convent,  where  she  resolved  to  remain.  Her 


$26    -  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

father  followed,  carried  her  home,  and  engaged  her  in  a  round  of  fetes  and 
hunting  parties,  in  the  midst  of  which  she  found  herself  surprised  into  a  be- 
trothal to  M.  de  la  Peltrie,  a  young  gentleman  of  rank  and  character. 

The  marriage  proved  a  happy  one,  and  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  with  an 
excellant  grace,  bore  her  part  in  the  world  she  had  wished  to  renounce. 
After  a  union  of  five  years,  her  husband  died,  and  she  was  left  a  widow  and 
childless  at  the  age  of  twenty-two.  She  now  gave  her  life  and  freedom  to 
charity  and  devotion.  The  good  lady  had  heard  of  Canada;  and  when 
Father  Le  Jeune's  first  "  Relations"  appeared,  she  read  them  with  delight. 
"Alas!"  wrote  the  father,  "is  there  no  charitable  and  virtuous  lady  who  will 
come  to  this  country  to  gather  up  the  blood  of  Christ  by  teaching  His  word 
to  the  little  Indian  girls?" 

This  warm  appeal  found  a  prompt  and  vehement  answer  from  the  thrill- 
ing breast  of  Madame  de  la  Peltrie.  Henceforth  she  thought  of  nothing  but 
Canada.  A  high  and  noble  purpose  filled  her  soul.  She  resolved  to  go  to 
that  heathen  land  and  gather  up  the  precious  blood  of  Christ.  But  before 
she  had  actually  taken  any  step  towards  the  fulfillment  of  her  pious  project, 
she  fell  dangerously  ill.  Her  life  was  despaired  of.  In  this  extremity,  she 
made  a  solemn  vow  to  go  to  Canada  and  to  found,  in  honor  of  St.  Joseph,  an 
Ursuline  convent  for  the  instruction  of  the  little  Indian  and  French  girls. 

Suddenly,  as  from  the  brink  of  the  grave,  she  arose  to  perfect  health. 
But  many  difficulties  yet  remained  to  be  overcome.  Family  interests  changed 
them  to  persecution.  She  was  harassed  by  legal  proceedings.  Those  who 
coveted  the  wealth  she  was  giving  to  good  works  were  even  determined  to 
deprive  her  of  her  liberty  in  order  to  obtain  it.  By  the  advise  of  wise  and 
learned  priests,  however,  she  adopted  measures  which  thwarted  all  opposition 
and  began  to  carry  out  her  design  of  proceeding  to  the  wilderness  of  the  New 
World  in  order  to  found  an  Ursuline  convent  on  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

It  remained  to  obtain  nuns  for  the  proposed  foundation.  Madame  de  la 
Peltrie  sought  the  advice  of  Father  Poncet,  S.  J.,  who  was  charged  with 
Canadian  missions;  and  to  her  great  joy  learned  from  him  the  particulars  of 
the  life  and  vocation  of  Mary  of  the  Incarnation.  Not  many  weeks  later,  the 
pious  widow  was  at  Tours,  negotiating  the  affair  with  the  archbishop. 

Madame  de  la  Peltrie  was  no  sooner  admitted  into  the  convent,  than 
Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation  recognized  in  her  the  unknown  companion 
with  whom,  in  that  mysterious  dream,  eight  years  before,  she  had  toiled 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  221 

along  a  perilous  pathway  through  the  wilderness  of  a  strange  land.  It  was 
necessary  to  choose  a  companion  for  Mother  Mary,  and  this  was  equally  over- 
ruled by  Providence.  All  were  anxious  to  obtain  the  nomination. 

One  alone,  in  her  humility,  judged  herself  unworthy  of  such  a  distinc- 
tion ;  but  she  was  the  chosen  one.  Of  noble  birth,  gentle  mien,  and  delicate 
health,  the  youthful  and  accomplished  Mary  de  la  Troche,  known  in  religion 
as  Mother  St.  Joseph,  was  too  timid  and  too  modest  to  think  of  herself  as  a 
candidate  for  the  wild  Canadian  mission.  Yet  this  sweet,  delicate  girl  was 
chosen,  and  wisely  chosen. 

It  now  remained  to  regulate  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  projected  founda- 
tion, and  to  receive  the  benediction  of  the  archbishop  of  Tours.  The  assem- 
bly was  held  in  the  archiepiscopal  residence.  The  venerable  prelate,  who  was 
in  his  eightieth  year,  was  deeply  moved.  And  when  the  moment  for  part- 
ing came,  he  arose,  presented  the  two  nuns  to  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  and 
addressed  her  in  these  remarkable  words: 

"  These  are  the  two  foundation  stones  of  the  temple  which  you  are 
about  to  erect  in  the  new  world  for  the  glory  of  God.  For  this  end,  and 
according  to  your  request,  I  entrust  them  to  you.  On  the  model  of  the 
Jerusalem  above,  may  they  be  two  precious  stones  in  the  foundation.  May 
this  edifice  be  a  mansion  of  peace  and  grace  and  celestial  blessings,  more 
abundant  than  those  of  the  ancient  Temple  of  Solomon.  May  the  efforts  of 
hell  never  prevail  against  it,  any  more  than  against  the  Holy  Church.  And 
since  this  house  is  to  be  built  for  the  Almighty,  may  He  fix  His  dwelling 
there,  as  the  Father  and  as  the  Spouse,  not  only  of  the  nuns  whom  I  confide 
to  you,  but  of  all  who  may  accompany  them,  or  who  will  live  there  after 
them,  to  the  end  of  time." 

On  May  4,  1639,  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, Mother  Mary  of  St.  Joseph,  and  another  Ursuline  embarked  at  Dieppe 
for  Canada.  In  the  ship  were  also  three  young  hospital  nuns,  sent  out  to 
found  at  Quebec  a  Hotel  Dieu,  endowed  by  the  duchess  of  Aiguillon,  the 
famous  niece  of  Cardinal  Richelieu.  Here,  too,  were  Father  Poncet,  S.  J., 
and  Father  Chaumonot,  S.  J.,  on  the  way  to  their  mission,  together  with 
Father  Vimont,  S.  J.,  who  was  to  succeed  Father  Le  Jeune,  S.  J.,  in  his  post 

of  superior. 

To  the  nuns,  pale  from  the  cloistered  seclusion,  there  must  have  been  a 
strange  and  startling  novelty  in  this  new  world  of  life  and  action — the  ship, 
the  sailors,  the  shouts  of  command,  the  flapping  of  sails,  the  salt  wind,  and 


222  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  tossing,  boisterous  sea.  The  voyage  was  long  and  tedious.  Sometimes 
they  lay  in  their  berths,  sea-sick  and  woe-begone;  sometimes  they  sang  in 
choir  on  deck,  or  heard  Mass  in  the  cabin. 

Once,  on  a  misty  morning,  a  wild  cry  of  alarm  startled  crew  and  passen- 
gers alike.  A  huge  iceberg  was  drifting  close  upon  them.  The  peril  was 
extreme.  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  clung  to  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation, 
who  stood  perfectly  calm.  In  this  moment  of  peril  they  made  a  vow  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  Joseph ;  Father  Vimont  offered  it  in  behalf  of  all  the 
company,  and  the  ship  glided  into  the  open  sea  unharmed. 

It  was  midsummer  when  they  arrived  in  the  harbor  of  Tadoussac,  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Saguenay  with  the  St.  Lawrence.  Our  travelers,  no  doubt, 
were  impressed  with  the  stern,  savage  grandeur  of  the  scenery.  There  stood 
frowning  the  bleak,  impending  cliffs,  rising  perpendicularly,  and  forming  a 
gigantic  gateway,  through  which  the  dark  waters  of  the  somber  Saguenay 
issue — a  fathomless  flood — reminding  the  spectator  of  long  ages  past,  and  the 
terrible  convulsions  of  nature  since  her  birth. 

The  dense,  lonely  forests  were  unbroken,  save  by  the  curling  smoke  of 
the  wigwam  fire,  or  the  rude  sheds  of  the  trading  station.  Strange  and  wild 
were  these  swarthy  hunters,  the  roving  Algonquins,  who  had  come  to  this 
point,  bringing  their  furs — the  skin  of  the  beaver,  the  seal,  and  the  marten, 
to  exchange  for  knives,  kettles,  blankets,  and  other  European  commodities. 
The  poor  Indians  gazed  with  amazement  on  these  fair  "  daughters  of 
sachems,"  who,  they  were  told,  had  left  their  happy  homes  beyond  the 
"  Great  Sea "  to  teach  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  red  man  how  to  live 
in  this  world,  and  prepare  themselves  for  the  next. 

The  apostolic  passengers  were  impatient  to  reach  their  destination. 
Leaving  the  ship  in  which  they  had  traversed  the  Atlantic  to  its  traffic,  they 
pushed  up  the  river  in  a  smaller  vessel.  It  was  the  ist  of  August,  1639,  as 
they  neared  the  still  rude  fortress  of  Quebec.  All  labor  ceased,  and  the 
cannon  boomed  welcome  from  the  heights  of  Cape  Diamond.  The  wooden 
tenements  and  the  Indian  camp-lodges  alike  sent  forth  their  inhabitants  to  view 
the  religious  strangers.  The  gallant  Governor  Montmagny,  in  brilliant 
uniform,  surrounded  by  his  staff,  some  Jesuit  fathers,  and  a  file  of  soldiers, 
were  all  ranged  on  the  shore. 

On  landing,  the  nuns  fell  prostrate,  and  kissed  the  soil  of  Canada.  The 
pious  cortege  moved  on,  climbing  the  zig-zag  pathway  up  the  steep  now 
known  as  Mountain  street.  At  the  top  of  the  hill,  to  the  left,  was  the  little 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  223 

chapel  of  our  Lady  of  Recovery,  which  had  been  built  by  Champlain  in 
1632.  Mass  was  offered  up  by  the  father  superior  of  the  missions.  The 
Te  Deum  was  chanted.  Then  they  dined  at  the  fort,  and  presently  set  forth 
to  visit  the  new  settlement  of  Sillery,  four  miles  above  Quebec. 

Nogl  Brulart  de  Sillery,  a  knight  of  Malta,  who  had  once  filled  the 
highest  offices  under  the  queen  Marie  de  Me"dicis,  had  now  severed  his  con- 
nection with  his  order,  renounced  the  world,  and  become  a  priest.  He 
devoted  his  vast  revenues  to  the  founding  of  religious  establishments.  Among 
other  endowments,  he  had  placed  ample  funds  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuit 
fathers  for  the  formation  of  a  settlement  of  Christian  Indians  at  the  spot 
which  still  bears  his  name.  On  the  strand  of  Sillery  between  the  river  and 
the  woody  heights  behind,  were  clustered  the  small  log-cabins  of  a  number 
of  Algonquins,  converts,  together  with  a  church,  a  mission  house,  and  an 
infirmary — the  whole  surrounded  by  a  palisade.  It  was  to  this  place  that 
Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  Mary  of  the  Incarnation,  and  their  companions  were 
now  conducted  by  the  Jesuits.  The  scene  delighted  and  edified  them ;  and  in 
the  transports  of  their  zeal,  they  seized  and  kissed  every  female  Indian  child 
on  whom  they  could  lay  hands,  "  without  minding,"  says  Father  Le  Jeune, 
"  whether  they  were  dirty  or  not."  "  Love  and  charity,"  he  adds, "  triumphed 
over  every  human  consideration." 

When  the  nuns  visited  the  chapel  they  heard  for  the  first  time  the  voices 
of  the  Indians  singing  hymns — hymns,  too,  in  a  language  that  seemed  like 
the  chattering  and  twittering  of  birds.  Father  Le  Jeune  announced  that  a 
neophyte  was  to  be  baptized,  and  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  stood  as  godmother. 

The  Ursulines  retired  to  their  humble  abode.  It  was  a  small  building 
on  the  wharf,  and  they  had  merely  the  loan  of  it.  It  was,  perhaps,  prefer- 
able to  an  Indian  wigwam ;  in  which,  however,  the  heroic  Mother  Mary  of 
the  Incarnation  declared  that  she  was  prepared  to  lodge. 

Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation  and  her  Ursulines  began  laboring, 
"according  to  their  Institute,"  for  the  French  pupils  at  the  same  time  that 
they  were  tasking  their  energies  to  acquire  the  Indian  languages.  In  Father 
Le  Jeune,  S.  J.,  they  had  an  able  and  willing  teacher,  who  had  become  learned 
in  the  barbarous  dialects  of  America  only  at  the  expense  of  hard  toil,  and  many 
months  of  forest  life  with  the  roving  savages. 

We  must,  however,  have  a  peep  at  the  interior  of  the  little  convent  and 
academy.  This  stately  residence  consisted  of  two  rooms,  the  larger  being 
sixteen  feet  square.  The  other  was  smaller,  and  was  enriched  with  a  cellar 


224  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  garret.  The  larger  apartment  served  as  a  dormitory,  the  beds  being  ar- 
ranged in  tiers  along  the  wall;  but  it  was  also  a  parlor,  choir,  kitchen,  refec- 
tory, and  recreation  room.  The  smaller  apartment  was  the  class-room.  An 
additional  wing — a  sort  of  shed — served  as  a  kind  of  exterior  parlor,  where, 
through  the  usual  grating,  the  nuns  could  speak  of  God  and  religion  to  feath- 
ered chiefs  and  dusky  warriors. 

Happily,  the  Canadian  colonists  had  invented  an  order  of  architecture 
which  was  not  very  expensive.  A  few  strong  posts  of  oak,  maple,  or  some 
other  hard  wood,  were  driven  into  the  ground,  some  bars  bound  them  to- 
gether; the  whole  was  then  covered  with  planks,  and  finished  off  with  rough 
plastering.  The  edifice  was  thus  completed.  A  chapel  in  this  style,  before 
the  winter  closed  in,  was  raised,  and  received  the  "  gilded  tabernacle,"  the 
parting  gift  of  a  friend.  It  is  a  delightfully  "devout  chapel" — so  one  who 
saw  it  affirms — "agreeable  for  its  poverty;"  and,  above  all,  precious  to 
Mother  Mary  and  her  companions,  for  it  was  the  residence  of  the  hidden 
Redeemer. 

The  Ursulines  had  scarcely  time  to  put  their  humble  abode  in  order, 
when  that  terrible  scourge,  the  small-pox,  suddenly  transformed  it  into  a  hos- 
pital. The  Indian  children  especially  were  attacked  with  virulence,  and  the 
nuns  had  abundant  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  kindness,  patience,  and  charity. 

Night  and  day  the  little  tawny  sufferers  were  tended  by  their  indefati- 
gable nurses.  Four  children  died  of  the  frightful  malady,  and  then  it  en- 
tirely disappeared ;  but  not  until  the  whole  stock  of  linen  for  the  use  of  the 
Indian  children  and  the  convent  was  exhausted.  This  was  a  serious  loss. 
There  was  no  supply  to  be  got  nearer  than  France. 

Winter  passed  away,  and  the  annual  fleet  from  the  mother  country 
brought  two  more  Ursulines  to  the  little  convent  at  Quebec,  where  they  "live 
in  admirable  peace  and  union."  "  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation,"  wrote 
one  of  the  religious  newcomers,  "treats  me  with  too  much  honor.  The  sweet 
odor  of  sanctity  seems  to  surround  her,  and  to  embalm  all  who  approach  her. 
Mother  St.  Joseph  is  a  charming  person,  most  accomplished  in  every  way. 
During  recreation  she  often  makes  us  laugh  till  we  fairly  cry.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  be  melancholy  in  her  company.  She  loves  the  little  Indian  girls  like  a 
mother.  After  catechism,  she  teaches  them  to  sing  hymns  and  to  touch  the 
viol.  Sometimes  she  leaves  them  to  perform  one  of  their  own  pantomime 
dances,  and  the  little  scholars  make  no  ceremony  of  inviting  Madame  de  la 
Peltrie  to  dance  with  them,  which  she  does  with  the  best  grace  in  the  world." 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  225 

Such  incidents  in  the  past  belong  to  the  beauties  of  American  Catholic 
history.  The  Ursulines  had,  indeed,  come  to  Canada  at  the  opportune 
moment.  The  field  in  which  apostolic  missionaries  labored  long  with  but 
little  success  had,  at  last,  begun  to  yield  fruit.  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarna- 
tion and  her  Ursulines  considered  themselves  supremely  happy  in  being  called 
to  aid  in  gathering  in  the  precious  harvest. 

The  difficulties  of  the  situation,  however,  were  enormous.  The  expenses 
were  large.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Indian  pupils — and  sometimes 
even  their  families — had  to  be  fed  and  clothed  gratis.  At  the  parlor,  where 
the  nuns  exercised  their  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  warriors,  it  was  not  merely  the 
bread  of  instruction  that  was  to  be  broken;  but,  according  to  the  Indian  laws 
of  hospitality,  the  food  of  the  body  was  indispensable. 

Among  those  hardy  rovers  of  the  wilderness  in  Canada,  it  was  con- 
sidered an  affront  to  send  away  a  guest  without  inviting  him  to  eat.  The 
"pot  of  sagamite"  had  to  be  constantly  on  the  fire.  From  time  to  time,  a 
more  "  splendid  banquet"  was  prepared  for  sixty  or  eighty  dusky  visitors. 
On  such  occasions  it  required  "  a  bushel  of  black  plums,  twenty-four  pounds 
of  bread,  a  due  quantity  of  Indian  meal  or  ground  peas,  a  dozen  of  tallow 
candles  melted,  and  two  or  three  pounds  of  fat  pork" — all  well  boiled  together. 
"  It  would  be  a  pity,"  writes  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation,  "  to  deprive 
these  poor  people  of  such  a  feast,  since  it  requires  no  more  to  content  even 
their  sachems  and  war-chiefs." 

It  must  be  confessed  that  this  was  remarkable  work  for  five  Ursulines  to 
accomplish.  The  toil  was  beyond  their  strength.  The  visits  to  the  wonder- 
ful parlor  were  unceasing.  "  But,"  says  the  great  Mother  Mary,  "  the 
providence  of  our  Heavenly  Father  supplies  all  things.  The  pot  of  sagamite 
was  never  empty." 

Let  us  glance  at  another  side  of  the  picture  in  which  the  heroic  Mother 
Mary  of  the  Incarnation  was  the  chief  figure.  In  a  moral  sense,  the  distance 
was  infinite  from  the  forest-home  of  the  Indian  girl  to  the  convent.  She  was 
as  frolicsome  and  wild  as  the  little  animals  which  roamed  the  woods,  and  she 
knew  as  little  as  they  of  obedience  and  wholesome  restraint.  The  only 
authority  she  was  invited  to  respect  was  that  of  her  mother,  or,  perhaps,  of 
her  aged  grand-parents.  But  if  she  choose  to  be  willful,  on  no  account  was 
she  punished  or  compelled  to  obey. 

The  young  Indian  beauty's  clothing  was  scanty  and  of  the  roughest 
material.  In  winter  only  were  her  feet  covered  with  coarse  moccasins.  She 


226  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

knew  of  no  cosmetics  save  suet  and  bear's  grease;  and  her  matted  hair  had 
never  been  visited  by  either  comb  or  scissors.  Her  bed  had  always  been  the 
ground,  near  the  wigwam  fire ;  and  this  was  shared  equally  by  dogs,  fleas, 
papooses,  warriors,  and,  in  short,  by  whole  families.  It  is  not  very  surprising 
to  learn  that  some  of  these  "wild  birds,"  caged  for  the  first  time,  occasionally 
flew  off  to  the  forest;  but  when  the  affection  and  great  patience  of  Mother 
Mary  of  the  Incarnation  had  tamed  them,  they  proved  most  open  to  instruc- 
tion and  quite  exemplary  to  piety. 

The  little  Algonquins  of  Sillery  were  the  first  pupils  the  Ursulines  under- 
took to  form;  and  as  neither  understood  the  language  of  the  other,  the  diffi- 
culty must  have  been  extreme.  But  "  a  great  desire  to  speak,"  wrote  Mother 
Mary,  "is  a  great  help  towards  doing  so."  We  may  readily  believe  it,  when 
we  are  told  that  the  nuns  were  able  to  begin  to  instruct  in  Algonquin  before 
the  end  of  two  months. 

Their  holy  toil  was  blessed  with  remarkable  success.  Mother  Marv  of 
the  Incarnation  declares  that  these  new  Christians  were  as  meek  as  little 
lambs,  and  that  after  their  baptism  they  preserved  an  admirable  purity  of  con- 
science. Among  the  first  Indian  pupils,  the  venerable  lady  mentions  Mary 
Gamitiens,  who  was  but  six  years  of  age,  and  was  no  sooner  awake  in  the 
morning  than  her  little  lips  began  to  speak  in  the  language  of  prayer.  She 
said  her  beads  during  Mass,  and  sang  hymns  in  her  own  language. 

Mary  Negalamat  was  a  wild  child  of  the  woods,  and  at  first  did  not 
relish  school-life  at  the  convent.  Once  she  ran  off  to  the  forest,  tearing  her 
red  tunic  to  shreds.  But  she  was  brought  back,  and  became  a  good  girl. 
She  was  one  of  a  small  band  preparing  for  First  Communion.  The  instructors 
were  Father  Pigart,  SJ.,  and  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation.  Mary, 
especially,  was  in  great  jubilation. 

"Why  are  you  so  joyful?"  inquired  somebody. 

"Oh!"  cried  this  dear  little  dusky  daughter  of  the  wilderness,  "I  shall 
soon  receive  Jesus  into  my  heart.'' 

Mother  Mary's  first  Huron  pupil  was  a  niece  of  the  famous  war-chief 
Chihatenhwa.  On  a  visit  to  Quebec  he  had  seen  the  "  holy  virgins,"  robed  in 
black,  who  had  come  to  teach  the  little  Indian  girls  the  way  to  heaven.  He 
was  delighted,  and  great  was  the  admiration  of  his  tribe  when  he  recounted 
what  wonders  he  had  seen. 

Chihatenhwa  brought  his  little  Teresa  to  the  convent,  where  we  are  told 
that  she  became  a  prodigy  of  piety  and  knowledge.  When  next  the  Huron 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  227 

flotilla  covered  the  river,  the  fond  uncle,  from  afar,  pointed  out  to  the  chief 
and  warriors  who  accompanied  him  the  "House  of  Jesus,"  as  the  Indians 
termed  the  convent.  He  hastened  to  meet  his  niece.  Teresa  was  only 
thirteen,  but  we  are  assured  she  had  the  zeal  of  .an  apostle. 

Battle- scared  warriors  gave  willing  ear  to  her  girlish  exhortations;  and, 
on  returning  to  the  Huron  country,  they  published  her  fame  to  the  whole 
tribe.  "  Teresa  has  more  sense,"  they  exclaimed,  "  than  any  one  who  has 
ever  appeared  in  our  country.  Doubtless,  the  one  who  has  taught  her  is  also 
the  greatest  genius  among  the  French." 

She  was  deeply  attached  to  her  convent  home,  where  she  remained  for 
over  two  years.  When  the  day  of  separation  came,  it  was  most  painful. 
The  Jesuit  fathers  of  the  Huron  country  were  anxious  to  have  the  influence 
of  the  pious  young  seminarist  among  her  tribe ;  and  her  parents  could  no 
longer  endure  her  absence.  Teresa,  like  a  brave  girl,  made  the  sacrifice,  and 
bade  adieu  to  her  dear  teachers.  From  Three  Rivers,  she  wrote  to  Mother 
Mary  of  the  Incarnation: 
"My  DEAR  MOTHER: 

"  I  am  going  to  my  distant  home.  We  are  ready  to  start.  I  thank  you  for  all 
the  care  you  have  bestowed  upon  me.  I  thank  you  for  having  taught  me  to  serve  God. 
Is  it  for  a  thing  of  small  value  that  I  offer  you  my  thanks?  Never  shall  I  forget  you. 

TERESA." 

There  is,  we  fear,  many  a  "  young  lady"  of  this  "  enlightened  age" 
whose  numberless  "  accomplishments"  would  scarcely  enable  her  to  write 
with  the  good  sense  and  pointed  brevity  of  this  Indian  girl  of  the  seventeenth 
century ;  and  who  could  not  truthfully  say  to  her  teachers,  "  I  thank  you  f or 
having  taught  me  to  serve  God."  In  many  institutions  of  to-day  such  a  study 
is  not  even  elective.  God  is  absolutely  dismissed  from  the  curriculum,  and 
religion  is  politely  told  to  "get  out,"  or  to  "stand  at  the  door."  And  what 
is  more  amazing  is,  that  this  is  considered  "  fashionable,"  and  many  persons 
who  have  never  been  confined  in  a  lunatic  asylum  are  impressed  with  its 
"  respectability." 

The  conversion  of  the  Canadian  Indians,  which  Mother  Mary  of  the  In- 
carnation had  seen  prefigured  as  a  church  just  emerging  from  clouds  and 
darkness,  was  now  rapidly  progressing.  Whole  tribes  embraced  the  faith, 
and  the  fervor  of  the  primitive  ages  was  revived. 

In  order  to  meet  the  growing  wants  of  the  colony,  a  new  convent  was 
erected.  In  1642  it  was  completed,  and  Mother  Mary  and  her  daughters 
bade  adieu  to  the  little  tenement  on  the  wharf,  and  took  up  their  quarters  in 


228  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

a  more  suitable  edifice.  It  was  stately  for  the  times — built  of  dark-colored, 
roughly-shaped  blocks  of  stone.  It  was  three  stories  in  height,  twenty -eight 
feet  wide,  and  ninety-two  feet  long.  To  the  Indians,  this  new  "  House  of 
Jesus  "  was  a  wonder,  and  many  a  long  journey  was  made  to  see  it. 

The  regular  Indian  pupils,  boarders,  who  were  fed  and  clothed  at  the 
expense  of  the  convent,  soon  amounted  to  eighty.  But  besides  these,  the 
nuns  were  daily  called  upon  to  give  instruction  to  squaws  in  their  class-rooms, 
and  to  warriors  in  their  parlor.  This  was  a  large  family  to  attend  to,  but  the 
skill,  piety,  genius,  and  wonderful  business  capacity  of  Mother  Mary  of  the 
Incarnation  made  her  equal  to  every  demand. 

The  letters  of  the  illustrious  woman  during  this  period  are  most  charac- 
teristic. It  is  not  concerning  her  pupils,  her  labors,  and  her  wants,  that  she 
chiefly  entertains  her  friends.  In  her  boundless  charity  she  identifies  herself 
with  all  who  labor  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  Her  eagle  glance 
sweeps  over  the  vast  fields  of  missionary  zeal,  from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  Great  Lakes.  She  numbers  the  chapels  that  are  built,  the  baptisms,  the 
holy  deaths.  Well  she  knows  all  the  roving  clans  that  come  to  be  instructed. 
And,  after  filling  ten  or  more  pages  with  such  topics,  she  adds:  "A  word 
now  of  our  pupils.  They  give  us  every  possible  satisfaction.  Their  piety, 
their  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  their  docility,  their  generosity  in 
overcoming  their  defects — all  this  is  ravishing.  But  it  strikes  us  less,  now 
that  we  are  accustomed  to  it." 

At  other  times  she  merely  says:  "  God  has  blessed  our  labors  this  year, 
as  in  preceding  ones.  We  have  as  much  as  we  can  do,  especially  during  the 
winter  months,  when  the  braves  leave  us  their  children  while  they  go  to 
hunt." 

Adversity,  however,  was  about  to  frown  on  this  fair  scene.  The  year 
1650,  so  fertile  in  trials  and  disasters,  was  drawing  to  a  close.  The  dim 
shadows  of  a  clear,  cold  December  evening  cast  themselves  over  the  snow- 
white  landscape;  and  the  beautiful  constellations  which  lighted  the  wintry 
firmament  with  splendor  were  marking  the  progress  of  the  night.  The 
happy  inmates  of  the  convent  had  gone  to  rest;  but  there  was  something  that 
did  not  sleep. 

It  was  a  pan  of  coals,  which  one  of  the  sisters,  charged  with  baking,  had 
placed  beneath  her  bread-trough,  well  closed  round  with  the  napkin  that  cov- 
ered the  dough.  It  was  not  her  custom  to  take  this  precaution  to  hasten  the 
action  of  the  yeast;  but  this  was  bread  for  New  Year's  day.  It  was  her  wish 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  229 

to  have  it  light.  The  coals  thus  placed  on  duty  were  unperccived,  and,  alas! 
forgotten. 

The  fire  was  making  sad  havoc,  when  one  of  the  nuns  suddenly  leaped 
from  her  humble  couch.  All  were  asleep.  The  flames  were  just  bursting 
through  the  door  of  the  sleeping-room,  as  she  cried  out:  "  Up  for  your  lives, 
children,  and  fly!"  She  rushed  to  the  nun's  dormitory,  and  gave  the  alarm: 
"  Wake!  Wake!  the  house  is  on  fire.  Quick,  and  save  the  children!" 

In  a  moment  one  and  all  were  aware  of  the  peril.  The  fire  was  upon 
them  on  every  side.  A* nun  rushed  to  the  bell  to  give  warning  of  their  dan- 
ger. The  door  was  opened,  and  the  startled  inmates  of  the  doomed  convent 
began  to  pass  out.  But  the  smoke  blinded,  and  the  flames  flew  like  lightning. 
Each  sister  became  a  heroine,  and  seizing  the  little  innocents  in  their  arms, 
they  hurried  them  out.  Suddenly  the  door  gave  way,  but  those  brave  ladies, 
regardless  of  the  danger  of  suffocation,  dashed  through  passage-ways,  and 
hastened  with  their  precious  charges  to  a  place  of  safety. 

Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation,  chief  of  those  heroines,  ever  calm  and 
self-possessed,  did  what  she  could  to  save  the  lives  of  her  dear  pupils  and 
companions;  and  then,  with  thoughtful  care,  she  grasped  the  papers  of  the 
community,  and  attempted  to  carry  away  some  clothing  for  the  nuns,  who 
had  all,  in  their  night-dresses,  rushed  from  the  house  with  the  children.  She 
was  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  burning  mass.  The  flames  were  consuming 
the  rooms  beneath;  the  crackle  of  the  victorious  fire  could  be  heard  overhead, 
and  was  rapidly  approaching  her  person,  when,  after  bowing  to  her  crucifix, 
to  signify  her  perfect  submission  to  the  will  of  God,  she  flew  along  the  pas- 
sage of  the  dormitory  to  a  staircase — now  the  only  exit  possible.  Happily,  it 
was  free,  and  in  a  moment  she  was  at  the  door,  where  she  met  the  father 
superior  of  the  Jesuits  and  all  his  household,  who  had  hurried  to  the  rescue. 

Not  one  perished  on  that  eventful  night;  some,  it  is  true,  were  nearly 
naked,  but  all  were  saved  from  the  savage  flames.  As  they  gazed  at  their 
late  home,  they  saw  the  flames  rising  higher  and  higher,  wreathing  their  way 
through  the  wooden  roof.  At  length,  the  heavy  timbers  bent  and  fell  with 
a  crash.  It  was  the  brightness  of  day  at  this  sad  midnight  scene;  and  the 
cold,  silent  stars  looked  down  unmoved. 

"  My  heart,"  wrote  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation,  "  preservecf^fts 
usual  peace.  I  felt  neither  grief  nor  anxiety,  but  united  my  will  to  His 
whose  hand  has  passed  over  us,  leaving  us  in  the  state  in  which  He  himself 
was  at  this  season,  in  the  cave  of  Bethlehem." 


230  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  Ursulines  and  their  pupils  were  fit  subjects  for  New  Year's  hospital- 
ity. The  hospital  sisters,  of  whom  we  shall  presently  hear,  did  everything  to 
alleviate  the  distress  of  the  sufferers.  During  three  weeks,  with  indefatigable 
zeal  these  "friends  in  need"  furnished  materials,  and  aided  in  putting  together 
complete  suits  of  apparel  for  each  of  the  Ursulines.  The  two  communities 
made  but  one;  they  sat  at  the  same  table,  and  slept  under  the  same  roof. 
Mother  Mary  and  her  religious  companions  next  moved  to  the  house  of 
Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  and  there  remained  during  the  building  of  another 
new  convent. 

Fifteen  months  passed  away,  and  by  the  blessing  of  Providence  and  the 
energetic  mind  of  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation,  the  Ursulines  and  their 
pupils  had  once  more  a  suitable  and  substantial  residence.  It  is  the  central 
building  of  that  pile  which  to-day  constitutes  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Quebec. 
The  nuns  effected  their  removal  on  the  vigil  of  Pentecost,  1652;  and  we  are 
assured  that  few  baggage- wagons  were  required  on  the  occasion. 

The  educational  programme  of  this  pioneer  female  academy  of  Canada 
was  most  sensible,  practical,  and  Christian.  It  was  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, we  must  remember,  and  there  were  fewer  subjects  taught  than  at 
present.  But  what  was  done,  was  done  thoroughly.  The  pupils  were  taught 
reading,  grammar,  the  Christian  religion,  sacred  history,  practical  arithmetic, 
penmanship,  and  needlework.  We  hear  no  mention  of  a  piano,  and  the  for- 
midable ologies  were  omitted ;  but  it  remained  for  our  day  to  try  the  ridiculous 
experiment  of  studying  everything — a  sure  road  to  the  mastery  of  nothing. 

During  the  winter  of  1662,  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  class  of  novices.  These  young  religious  were  eager  to  render 
themselves  useful,  and  to  avail  themselves  of  her  knowledge  of  the  Indian 
languages.  For  their  benefit,  and  for  the  use  of  the  other  nuns,  the  venerable 
lady  prepared  at  this  time  a  catechism  in  Huron,  three  catechisms  in  Algon- 
quin, and  a  large  dictionary  in  French  and  Algonquin.  After  completing 
this  literary  labor  of  love  for  the  Indian  race,  she  wrote  in  1664:  "  We  are 
still  more  occupied  in  the  classes  for  the  French  children ;  and  it  is  certain 
that  if  God  had  not  sent  the  Ursulines  to  Canada,  they  would  be  left  to  the 
most  deplorable  ignorance.  All  the  young  girls  in  the  country  pass  through 
our  hands;  and  this  causes  piety  and  religion  to  flourish  everywhere.  The 
French  population  being  rapidly  on  the  increase,  our  employments  must  keep 
pace  with  that  increase." 

To  the  last  day  of  her  beautiful  life,  this  heroic  woman  was  the  great 


THREE  SA1XTLY  LADIES. 


231 


teacher,  model,  and  mother  of  her  community.  She  wrote  several  text-books 
in  French,  Huron,  and  Algonquin.  She  excelled  in  all  kinds  of  needle-work 
and  emhroidery,  as  well  as  in  painting  and  gilding.  She  sanctified  these 
accomplishments  by  contributing  the  fruit  of  her  own  hands  to  the  decoration 
of  chapels,  churches  and  altars  all  over  the  colony.  She  even  possessed 
remarkable  skill  in  sculpture  and  architecture,  and  patiently  instructed  the 
workmen  who  were  employed  in  decorating  the  interior  of  the  church,  guid- 
ing them  in  relation  to  the  proportions  of  the  columns  and  entablature.  Not 
the  minutest  detail  of  the  art  escaped  her  eye,  so  trained  and  artistic. 

Early  in  January,  1672,  a  serious  illness  threatened  the  precious  life  of 
Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation.  Her  pupils  and  her  spiritual  daughters 
were  overwhelmed  with  grief,  and  besought  Heaven  to  spare  their  beloved 
friend  and  mother.  Even  the  venerable  patient  herself  was  unable  to  refuse 
them  the  consolation  of  joining  in  their  petitions  so  far  as  to  say:  "My  God, 
if  I  may  yet  be  of  service  to  this  little  community,  I  refuse  neither  labor  nor 
fatigue.  Thy  will  be  done." 

"No,  my  good  Mother,"  urged  the  kind  Father  Lallament,  S.  J.,  "  you 
must  join  our  petitions,  and  ask  to  recover."  The  very  soul  of  obedience, 
she  did  as  commanded,  and  a  few  weeks  more  were  obtained. 

At  length,  on  the  2pth  of  April,  it  became  necessary  to  administer  the 
last  sacraments;  and  from  that  moment  there  was  something  so  divine  about 
Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation  that  she  seemed  no  longer  of  this  earth. 
Fond  hearts  surrounded  the  dying  saint,  whose  humble  pillow  seemed  to  be 
the  very  porch  of  paradise. 

One  of  her  old  companions  reminded  her  of  her  gifted  son — Dom  Claude 
Martin,  who  had  become  a  learned  Benedictine  father — and  asked  a  message 
for  him.  Maternal  love  seemed,  for  an  instant,  to  recall  the  venerable  lady 
to  this  world,  and  she  answered  with  emotion,  "  Tell  him  that  I  bear  him 
away  with  me  in  my  heart.  In  heaven  I  will  ask  for  his  perfect  santification." 

Her  French  and  Indian  pupils  knelt  around  her  to  receive  her  last  bless- 
ing, and  to  look  on  that  holy  and  majestic  countenance,  which  seemed  to  be 
illumined  by  a  ray  of  immortality.  She  died  on  the  3Oth  of  April,  1672, 
aged  seventy-two  years,  thirty-three  of  which  she  had  spent  in  Canada. 

Of  the  pious  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  mentioned  above  as  the  foundress  of 
this  convent,  it  may  be  briefly  stated  that  she  was  born  of  a  wealthy  and 
noble  family  at  Alen«jon,  France,  in  1603;  and,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  in 
compliance  with  her  father's  wishes,  she  married  Charles  de  la  Peltrie,  a 


232 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


gentleman  of  rank  and  character.     Five  years  later,  her  husband  died,  and 
she  found  herself  a  widow  and  childless. 

A  perusal  of  the  first  Jesuit  "  Relations"  attracted  her  attention  to  Canada. 
There  was  no  school  for  girls  in  the  wilderness,  and  she  nobly  determined  to 
spend  her  life  and  fortune  in  founding  such  an  institution.  But  it  was  only 
after  overcoming  a  host  of  obstacles  that  she  found  herself  free  to  devote  her- 
self to  the  good  work. 

From  Father  Poncet,  S.  J.,  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  learned  of  the  remark- 
able Ursuline  nun — venerable  Mother  Mary  of  the  Incarnation — and  subse- 
quently on  a  visit  to  Tours,  made  her  acquaintance.  She  decided  to  found  an 
Ursuline  convent  at  Quebec,  the  formation  and  sailing  of  their  party  being 
narrated  above. 

When  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  visited  an  Indian  village  near  Quebec,  she 
pressed  every  little  dusky  girl  she  met  to  her  bosom,  "and  kissed  her  with  a 
mother's  fondness,  unmindful  of  much  that  might  have  created  disgust." 
Canada  was  now  to  have  its  pioneer  school  for  the  instruction  of  girls — 
humble  at  first,  but  destined  to  grow  in  fame  and  usefulness. 

"  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  who  had  never  desired  to  be  rich,"  says  the  historian 
of  New  France,  "  and  who  had  so  cheerfully  become  poor  for  Christ's  sake, 
could  not  refrain  from  saying  that  she  wished  to  have  at  her  disposal  enough 
to  draw  all  the  tribes  of  Canada  to  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God ;  and  she 
took  a  firm  resolution,  which  she  observed  her  whole  life,  to  spare  herself  in 
nothing  where  the  salvation  of  souls  was  to  be  effected.  Her  zeal  led  her 
even  to  till  the  soil  with  her  own  hands,  to  have  wherewith  to  relieve  the 
poor  neophytes.  In  a  few  days  she  had  stripped  herself  of  all  she  had  re- 
tained for  her  own  use,  so  as  to  reduce  herself  to  want  of  actual  necessaries, 
in  order  to  cloth  the  children  brought  to  her  almost  naked;  and  her  whole  life 
was  but  a  series  of  acts  of  the  most  heroic  charity." 

Within  the  walls  of  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Quebec  both  French  and 
Indian  girls  received  a  solid,  refined,  and  religious  education.  From  time  to 
time,  when  the  little  dusky  pupils  were  permitted  to  have  one  of  their  pan- 
tomimic dances  they  invited  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  to  join  in  the  sport,  and  the 
charming,  kind-hearted  lady,  who  knew  how  to  be  all  to  all,  did  so  "  with 
the  best  grace  in  the  world." 

She  was  present  at  the  foundation  of  Montreal,  and  helped  to  decorate 
its  first  rustic  altar.  When  Governor  De  Maisonneuve  erected  a  large  cross 
on  Mont  Royal,  and  Mass  was  said,  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  received  Holy 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES. 


233 


Communion    "on   the   mountain. top,  a  spectacle  to  the  virgin   world   out- 
stretched below." 

The  joy  of  the  pupils  at  the  convent  of  Quebec  was  unbounded,  when 
the  foundress  returned  to  leave  them  no  more.  To  them  she  devoted  her 
life.  She  shared  the  labors  of  the  nuns,  washing,  dressing,  and  teaching  the 


MADAME    DE    LA    PELTRIE    WASHING    INDIAN    CHILDREN. 

little  Indian  girls  committed  to  their  care;  and  the  whole  colony  mourned  her 
loss,  when,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight,  the  angel  of  death  called  her  to  receive 
the  reward  of  the  fa'.thful  Christian,  on  the  i8th  of  November,  1671. 

This  pious,  high-born  lady  gave  Canada  its  first  female  academy ;  and 
for  thirty-two  years,  devoted  her  time,  and  gifts,  and  wealth  to  its  progress 
and  prosperity.  It  must  be  understood  that  she  was  not  an  Ursuline  nun 
under  vows;  but  simply  a  religious  woman,  who  chose  to  live  in  a  poor  little 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

cottage  at  the  convent  she  had  founded.  She  often  heard  the  war-whoops  of 
the  Iroquois  thirsting  for  scalps.  To  the  last  she  preserved  her  gay  amiability 
and  handsome  countenance,  spiritualized  by  a  beautiful  life.  "  No  one  ever 
thought  she  was  growing  old,"  writes  an  Ursuline. 

As  a  fitting  append  to  the  biographies  of  these  noble  ladies,  we  now  give 
a  third,  of  one  who  for  a  time  was  known  to  both,  and  is  no  less  deserving  of 
our  grateful  veneration.  Miss  Jane  Mance,  whose  name  is  justly  famous  in 
the  early  history  of  Canada,  was  born  in  1606,  at  Nogent-le-Roi,  which  is  some 
distance  from  Langres,  in  France.  She  belonged  to  a  most  honorable  family. 

In  more  than  one  place  the  lives  of  the  saints  display  the  fact  that  there 
are  certain  children  on  whom  God  has  particular  designs,  and  whose  spiritual 
nature  becomes  singularly  developed  even  in  their  most  tender  years.  Such 
a  child  was  Jane  Mance.  At  six  or  seven  years  of  age  she  formed  the  aston- 
ishing resolution'  of  consecrating  herself  to  God  by  a  vow  of  perpetual 
chastity.  "  Often,"  writes  one  of  her  religious  companions,  "  she  herself 
related  to  me  this  incident  of  her  childhood." 

But  the  beautiful  piety  which  she  professed  was  entirely  free  from  those 
faults  but  too  common  to  devout  persons.  It  was  clothed  in  no  stiff  mannerism. 
It  never  stood  in  the  way  of  other  duties.  It  was  never  disagreeable.  The 
great  rectitude  of  the  young  girl's  soul,  the  elevation  and  nobility  of  her  sen- 
timents, and,  above  all,  the  Divine  wisdom  by  which  she  was  guided,  made 
her  learn  to  do  all  for  God  without  in  any  way  offending  the  claims  and 
courtesies  of  the  world.  Thus  she  grew  up,  and  in  time  became  an  accom- 
plished woman,  of  delicate  constitution  and  dignified,  graceful  bearing. 

Though  leading  the  life  of  a  religious  in  this  world,  Miss  Mance  felt  no 
vocation  for  the  cloister.  On  the  death  of  her  parents,  therefore,  she  found 
herself  entire  mistress  of  her  actions.  She  placed  no  bounds  to  her  fervor. 
She  felt  gradually  taking  possession  of  her  soul  a  great  desire  to  serve  Christ 
and  His  Holy  Mother  in  some  barbarous  country.  The  perusal  of  the  Jesuit 
"Relations"  and  the  report  of  Madame  de  la  Peltrie's  labors  in  Canada  fanned 
the  flame  in  her  breast,  and  she  felt  that  she  had  now  found  her  true  vocation. 
It  was  to  go  to  the  wild  banks  of  the  historic  St.  Lawrence. 

What  Canada  is  she  has  no  idea,  or,  at  least,  a  very  confused  and  indis- 
tinct one.  Her  friends  think  it  is  a  notion  caught  from  the  perusal  of  some 
traveler's  story.  Her  confessor  is  consulted;  He  has  never  heard  of  Montreal, 
and  he  treats  his  penitent  as  a  visionary ;  but,  as  she  persists  in  her  notions,  he 
writes  to  Paris  for  information. 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  235 

The  answers  confirm  the  purpose  of  Miss  Mance.  She  goes  to  Paris,  is 
introduced  to  the  Duchess  de  Bullion,  a  great  friend  of  the  Montreal  scnemc. 
The  vocation  is  tried,  ascertained  and  followed.  "I  will  go,"  she  said,  "  give 
me,  madame,  a  letter  to  the  directors  of  the  company."  The  pious  duchess 
gave  her  a  note  to  Monsieur  de  la  Dauversiere,  and  a  purse  of  20,000  livres 
for  expenses. 

She  pursued  her  way  to  New  Rochelle,  whence  ships  were  to  sail  for 
Canada.  On  the  day  after  her  arrival  in  that  city,  as  she  entered  the  church 
of  the  Jesuit  fathers,  she  met  a  gentleman  coming  out.  It  was  Dauversiere. 

"  Then,"  says  the  Abbe1  Faillon,  "  these  two  persons,  who  had  never 
seen  nor  heard  of  each  other,  were  enlightened  supernaturally,  whereby  their 
most  hidden  thoughts  were  mutually  made  known."  A  long  conversation 
passed  between  them ;  and  the  delights  of  this  interview  were  never  effaced 
from  the  mind  of  Miss  Mance.  "  She  used  to  speak  of  it  like  a  seraph," 
writes  Sister  Mary  Morin,  "  and  far  better  than  many  a  learned  doctor  could 
have  done." 

In  all  probability  she  was  warned  that  the  rude  walls  of  Montreal  must 
be  cemented  in  blood;  that  there  were  tribes  of  hostile  savages  who  would 
oppose,  perhaps  destroy  the  struggling  colony ;  and,  finally,  that  she  would 
be  all  alone  to  care  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  But  when  these  representa- 
tions only  increased  the  heroic  lady's  zeal,  the  good  old  man  blessed  God  and 
bade  her  go  in  His  holy  name.  And  when  he  did  that,  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  famous  Hotel  Dieu  in  Montreal,  where  now  dozens  of  devoted  nuns 
are  consecrated  to  the  service  of  Christ  in  his  poor! 

The  largest  city  on  the  St.  Lawrence  had  a  remarkable  origin.  The  story 
of  its  early  days  has  become  a  part  of  American  history.  We  must  glance  at 
it  here, 

While  Canada  was  yet  nearly  all  a  wilderness,  God  inspired  a  pious  lay- 
man to  establish  a  colony  in  honor  of  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin  on  the  Island 
of  Montreal.  This  was  Jerome  le  Royer  de  la  Dauversiere,  a  gentleman  of 
Anjou,  in  France. 

There  lived  at  Paris,  at  this  time,  a  young  priest,  the  Abbe*  John  James 
Olier,  afterwards  known  as  the  illustrious  founder  of  the  seminary  of  St. 
Sulpice.  The  Almighty,  it  seems,  inspired  him  with  a  similar  design. 

Dauversiere  pondered  the  revelation  which  he  had  received,  became  con- 
vinced that  it  was  from  God,  and  set  out  for  Paris  to  find  some  means  of 
accomplishing  the  assigned  task.  As  he  prayed  for  rew  light  in  the  famous 


236  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

church  of  Notre  Dame,  he  was  favored  with  a  vision  in  which  Christ  assured 
him  that  he  would  not  want  for  wisdom  and  strength  to  do  his  work.  He 
was  comforted. 

From  Paris  this  good  gentleman  went  to  the  neighboring  chateau  of 
Meudon,  which  overlooks  the  valley  of  the  Seine,  not  far  from  St.  Cloud. 
He  entered  the  gallery  of  the  old  castle,  and  saw  a  priest  approaching  him. 
It  was  the  Abbe  Olier.  They  had  never  seen  or  even  heard  of  each  other; 
yet,  impelled  by  a  kind  of  inspiration,  they  recognized  one  another  at  once, 
even  to  the  depths  of  their  hearts;  and  saluting  each  other  by  name,  as  we 
read  of  St.  Anthony  and  St.  Paul  the  Hermit,  they  embraced  like  two  friends 
who  had  met  after  a  long,  long  separation. 

"Sir,"  exclaimed  the  Abbe"  Olier,  "I  know  your  design,  and  I  go  to 
commend  it  to  God  at  the  holy  altar." 

And  he  went  at  once  to  say  Mass  in  the  chapel.  Dauversiere  received 
the  Holy  Communion  at  his  hands;  and  then,  after  thanksgiving,  they 
walked  for  three  hours  in  the  park,  discussing  their  plans.  They  were  of 
one  mind  in  respect  both  to  objects  and  means;  and  when  they  parted  the 
Abbe*  Olier  gave  Dauversiere  a  hundred  louis,  saying:  "This  is  to  begin 
the  work  of  God." 

The  pious  undertaking  at  once  began  to  shape  itself.  A  society  was 
formed.  It  was  in  1 636  that  the  company  of  Montreal  was  founded  "  for 
the  conversion  of  the  savages  and  the  maintenance  of  the  Catholic  religion  in 
Canada."  Five  priests,  a  cardinal,  a  duchess,  two  dukes,  twelve  other  nobles, 
and  a  simple  Sister  of  Charity,  formed  the  association ;  and,  for  four  years, 
they  labored  faithfully  to  bring  their  scheme  into  successful  operation.  Their 
plan  was  this — to  build  upon  the  Island  of  Montreal  a  town  which  should  be 
at  once  a  home  for  the  missions,  a  defense  against  the  Indians,  a  center  of 
commerce  for  the  neighboring  people,  which  should  be  consecrated  to  the 
Most  Holy  Virgin  and  be  called  Ville-Marie. 

"So,  when  all  was  ready,  on  the  morrow  of  the  Feast  of  our  Lady's 
Purification,  the  associates  assembled  in  the  cathedral  church  of  Notre 
Dame.  The  Abbd  Olier  offered  up  the  Holy  Sacrifice  at  the  altar  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  whereat  all  the  laics  communicated,  while  those  of  the  com- 
pany who  were  priests  said  Mass  at  other  altars  with  the  same  intention,  fer- 
vently imploring  the  Queen  of  Angels  to  bless  their  enterprise,  and  to  take 
the  Island  of  Montreal  under  her  holy  and  most  especial  protection." 

The  collection,  after  this  ceremony,  was  200,000  francs. 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  237 

"Now,"  writes  the  non-Catholic  Parkman,  "  to  look  for  a  moment  at 
their  plan.  Their  eulogists  say,  and  with  perfect  truth,  that,  from  a  worldly 
point  of  view,  it  was  mere  folly.  The  partners  mutually  bound  themselves 
to  seek  no  return  for  the  money  expended.  Their  profit  was  to  be  reaped  in 
the  skies ;  and,  indeed,  there  was  none  to  be  reaped  on  earth.  The  feeble  settle- 
ment at  Quebec  was  at  this  time  in  danger  of  utter  ruin,  for  the  Iroquois, 
enraged  at  the  attacks  made  on  them  by  Champlain,  had  begun  a  fearful  course 
of  retaliation,  and  the  very  existence  of  the  colony  trembled  in  the  balance. 

"  But  if  Quebec  was  exposed  to  their  ferocious  inroads  Montreal  was  in- 
comparably more  so.  A  settlement  here  would  be  a  perilous  outpost — a  hand 
thrust  into  the  jaws  of  the  tiger.  It  would  provoke  attack,  and  lie  almost  in 
the  path  of  the  war-parties.  The  associates  could  gain  nothing  by  the  fur- 
trade,  for  they  were  not  allowed  to  share  in  it. 

"On  the  other  hand,  danger  apart,  the  place  was  an  excellent  one  for  a 
mission:  for  here  met  two  great  rivers — the  St.  Lawrence,  with  its  countless 
tributaries,  flowed  in  from  the  west,  while  the  Ottawa  descended  from  the 
north,  and  Montreal,  embraced  by  their  uniting  waters,  was  the  key  to  a  vast 
inland  navigation.  Thither  the  Indians  would  naturally  resort;  and  thence 
the  missionaries  could  make  their  way  into  the  heart  of  a  boundless  heathen- 
dom. None  of  the  ordinary  motives  of  colonization  had  part  in  this  design. 
It  owed  its  conception  and  its  birth  to  religious  zeal  alone." 

Dauversiere  and  his  companions  purchased  the  Island  of  Montreal,  and 
matured  their  glorious  undertaking.  First,  they  would  send  out  forty  men 
to  take  possession  of  the  island,  intrench  themselves  and  raise  crops.  Then 
they  would  build  a  house  for  the  missionaries,  and  two  convents  for  the  nuns. 
In  the  meantime,  the  Abbe"  Olier  was  toiling  near  Paris  to  found  the  semin- 
ary of  priests,  and  Dauversiere,  at  La  Fleche,  bent  himself  to  the  work  of 
forming  a  community  of  hospital  nuns.  How  the  school  nuns  were  pro- 
vided we  shall  learn  in  the  life  of  Mother  Margaret  Bourgeois. 

The  associates  needed  a  soldier-governor  to  take  charge  of  their  forty 
men;  and,  no  doubt  directed  by  Providence,  they  soon  found  a  rare  man. 
This  was  Paul  de  Chomedey,  Sieur  de  Maisonneuve,  a  devout  and  valiant 
gentleman,  whose  bright  sword  had  flashed  on  many  a  hard-contested  field, 
who,  in  an  age  of  heresy,  had  kept  the  Faith  intact,  and  whose  life  shone 
like  a  star  in  the  midst  of  the  unbridled  license  by  which  he  was  surrounded. 
He  had  made  a  vow  of  chastity.  He  loved  his  profession  of  arms,  and  wished 
to  consecrate  his  sword  to  the  Church. 


238  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

One  of  the  vessels  that  bore  this  gallant  soldier  and  his  forty  men  had 
the  honor  of  carrying  Miss  Mance  across  the  stormy  Atlantic  on  her  heroic 
mission  of  charity.  The  expedition  landed  at  Quebec  too  late  in  the  season 
of  1641  to  ascend  to  Montreal.  The  long  and  dreary  winter  had  to  be 
passed  at  Quebec. 

Early  in  May  Maisonneuve  and  his  followers,  accompanied  by  Miss 
Mance,  began  to  push  their  way  up  the  St.  Lawrence.  They  had  gained  an 
unexpected  recruit  during  the  winter  in  the  person  of  Madame  de  la  Peltrie, 
the  pious  foundress  of  the  Ursuline  convent  at  Quebec.  This  little  band  of 
chosen  Catholics  was  to  found  the  greatest  city  in  Canada. 

"  On  the  iyth  of  May,  1643,  Maisonneuve's  little  flotilla — a  pinnace,  a 
flat-bottomed  craft  moved  by  sails,  and  two  row-boats — approached  Montreal; 
and  all  on  board  raised  in  unison  a  hymn  of  praise.  Montmagny  was  with 
them,  to  deliver  the  island,  in  behalf  of  the  company  of  the  hundred  as- 
sociates, to  Maisonneuve,  representative  of  the  associates  of  Montreal.  And 
here,  too,  was  Father  Vimont,  superior  of  the  missions,  for  the  Jesuits  had 
been  prudently  invited  to  accept  the  spiritual  charge  of  the  young  colony. 

"  On  the  following  day,  they  glided  along  the  green  and  solitary  shores, 
now  thronged  with  the  life  of  a  busy  city,  and  landed  on  the  spot  which 
Champlain,  thirty-one  years  before,  had  chosen  as  the  fit  site  of  a  settlement. 
It  was  a  tongue  or  triangle  of  land,  formed  by  the  junction  of  a  rivulet  with 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  known  afterwards  as  Point  Calliere.  The  rivulet  was 
bordered  by  a  meadow,  and  beyond  rose  the  forest  with  its  vanguard  of 
scattered  trees.  Early  spring  flowers  were  blooming  in  the  young  grass,  and 
birds  of  varied  plumage  flitted  among  the  boughs. 

"Maisonneuve  sprang  ashore,  and  fell  on  his  knees.  His  followers 
imitated  his  example;  and  all  joined  their  voices  in  enthusiastic  songs  of 
thanksgiving.  Tents,  baggage,  arms,  and  stores  were  landed.  An  altar  was 
raised  on  a  pleasant  spot  near  at  hand  ;  and  Mademoiselle  Mance,  with 
Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  aided  by  the  servant,  Charlotte  Barre",  decorated  it 
with  a  taste  which  was  the  admiration  of  the  beholders. 

**  Now  all  the  company  gathered  before  the  shrine.  Here  stood  Vimont, 
in  the  rich  vestments  of  his  office.  Here  were  the  two  ladies,  with  their 
servant ;  Montmagny,  no  very  willing  spectator;  Maisonneuve,  a  warlike 
figure,  erect  and  tall,  his  men  clustering  around  him — soldiers,  sailors,  artisans, 
and  laborers — all  alike  soldiers  at  need.  They  knelt  in  reverent  silence  as 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  239 

the  Host  was  raised  aloft,  and   when  the  rite  was  over,  the  priest  turned  and 
addressed  them: 

"  'You  are  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  that  shall  rise  and  grow  till  its 
branches  overshadow  the  earth.  You  are  few,  but  your  work  is  the  work  of 
God.  His  smile  is  on  you,  and  your  children  shall  fill  the  land.' 

"  The  afternoon  waned,  the  sun  sank  behind  the  western  forest,  and  twi- 
light came  on.  Fire-flies  were  twinkling  over  the  darkened  meadow.  They 
caught  them,  tied  them  with  threads  into  shining  festoons,  and  hung  them 
before  the  altar  where  the  Host  remained  exposed.  Then  they  pitched  their 
tents,  lighted  their  bivouac  fires,  stationed  their  guards,  and  lay  down  to  rest. 
Such  was  the  birth-night  of  Montreal." 

The  intrepid  Miss  Mance  now  began  her  work — a  work  which  is  con- 
tinued to  this  day.  A  house  and  chapel  rose  up  swiftly,  and  on  the  I5th  of 
August,  1643,  it  was  opened  to  celebrate  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption  of  the 
Most  Holy  Virgin.  As  the  colony  grew,  the  number  of  its  sick  augmented. 
Miss  Mance  was  alone.  The  house  was  soon  found  too  small,  and  the  labor 
too  great  for  any  one  person,  however  zealous. 

But  let  us  glance  aside  for  a  moment  at  the  brave  protectors  of  Ville- 
Marie.  While  all  others  there  were  contributing  to  the  honor  of  their 
heavenly  patroness,  their  safety  was  watched  over  by  the  veteran  guard  of 
De  Maisonneuve.  This  good  commander  had  enrolled  from  among  his  sol- 
diers sixty-three  volunteers,  all  specially  vowed  to  defend  the  town  of  Our 
Lady.  This  number  was  suggested  by  the  years  of  her  blessed  life  on  earth; 
and  these  hardy  sons  of  Old  France  formed  thus,  in  the  forests  of  America,  a 
sort  of  military  confraternity. 

They  met  daily  for  the  recital  of  the  Rosary.  They  wore  the  medal  of 
their  order  as  a  military  decoration;  and  they  approaced  the  holy  sacra- 
ments on  all  the  feasts  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven.  But  it  was  just  on  this 
account  that  they  were  the  first  to  confront  the  cannon  of  the  English,  or  to 
answer  with  their  battle-cry  of  Ave  Purissima  !  the  war-whoop  of  the  fierce 
Iroquois. 

Miss  Mance  shared  with  joy  the  hardships,  dangers,  and  untold  priva- 
tions which  marked  the  beginning  of  the  new  town  of  Ville-Marie.  During 
seventeen  years  she  had  no  one  to  aid  her,  except  four  or  five  charitable 
women,  whom  she  had  brought  from  France,  and  who  shared  with  her  the 
ceaseless  but  holy  duties  of  attending  to  the  sick  and  the  wounded  in  the  little 
hospital. 


240  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

There  was  something  about  this  admirable  lady  which  impressed  all  with 
whom  she  conversed.  Once  she  visited  the  venerable  Olier  in  France,  and  he 
is  said  to  have  remarked  that  she  was  "  full  of  the  light  of  God,  by  which 
she  was  surrounded  as  by  a  sun." 

"Mademoiselle  Mance,"  writes  Parkman,  "found  no  lack  of  hospital 
work,  for  blood  and  blows  were  rife  at  Montreal,  where  the  woods  were  full 
of  Iroquois,  and  not  a  moment  was  without  its  peril.  Though  years  began 
to  tell  upon  her,  she  toiled  patiently  at  her  dreary  task,  till,  in  the  winter  of 
1657,  she  fell  on  the  ice  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  broke  her  right  arm,  and  dislo- 
cated the  wrist.  Bouchard,  the  surgeon  of  Montreal,  set  the  broken  bones, 
but  did  not  discover  the  dislocation.  The  arm  in  consequence  became  totally 
useless,  and  her  health  wasted  away  under  incessant  and  violent  pain. 

"  Maisonneuve,  the  civil  and  military  chief  of  the  settlement,  advised  her 
to  go  to  France  for  assistance  in  the  work  to  which  she  was  no  longer  equal ; 
and  Margaret  Bourgeois  whose  pupils,  white  and  red,  had  greatly  multi- 
plied, resolved  to  go  with  her  for  a  similar  object.  They  set  out  in  Septem- 
ber, 1658,  landed  at  Rochelle,  and  went  thence  to  Paris.  Here  they  repaired 
to  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice;  for  the  priests  of  this  community  were  joined 
with  them  in  the  work  at  Montreal,  of  which  they  were  afterwards  to  become 
the  feudal  proprietors.  .  . 

"  Olier,  the  founder  of  St.  Sulpice,  had  lately  died,  and  the  two  pilgrims 
would  fain  pay  their  homage  to  his  heart,  which  the  priests  of  his  community 
kept  as  a  precious  relic  enclosed  in  a  leaden  box.  The  box  was  brought, 
when  the  thought  inspired  Mademoiselle  Mance  to  try  its  miraculous  efficacy 
and  invoke  the  intercession  of  the  departed  founder.  She  did  so,  touching 
her  disabled  arm  gently  with  the  leaden  casket.  Instantly  a  grateful  warmth 
pervaded  the  shriveled  limb,  and  from  that  hour  its  use  was  restored." 

Her  next  care  was  to  visit  Madame  de  Bullion,  a  devout  lady  of  great 
wealth,  who  was  usually  designated  at  Montreal  as  "  the  unknown  benef ac 
tress,"  because  she  did  not  trumpet  her  good  acts,  and  her  charities  were  the 
main  stay  of  the  feeble  colony.     This  lady  received  Miss  Mance  with  enthu- 
siasm, and  gave  her  the  munificent  sum  of  22,000  francs. 

Our  heroine  next  repaired  to  the  town  of  La  Fleche  to  visit  her  friend 
Dauversiere.  Miss  Mance,  as  we  have  already  learned,  was  the  pioneer  who 
went  to  Montreal  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  hospital  nuns,  that  for  the  last 
eighteen  years  Dauversiere  had  labored  to  form  at  La  Fleche.  The  time  at 
length  was  come. 


THREE  SAINTLY  LADIES.  2^  , 

Three  of  the  hospital  nuns  of  St.  Joseph,  Sisters  Judith  Moreau  de 
Bre"soles,  Catherine  Mace",  and  Mary  Maillet,  were  chosen,  and  after  encounter- 
ing many  difficulties,  embarked  with  Miss  Mance  at  Rochelle.  Margaret 
Bourgeois  was  also  on  board. 

During  the  long  and  stormy  voyage,  these  heroines  of  charity  had 
abundant  opportunity  to  exercise  their  zeal  in  the  service  of  the  sick.  The 
filthy  and  infected  ship  was  buffeted  by  storms  for  two  months,  and  the  woe- 
begone passengers  were  wasted  by  a  contagious  fever.  Nearly  nil  were 
attacked.  Miss  Mance  was  reduced  to  extremity.  Eight  or  ten  died  and 
were  dropped  overboard,  after  a  prayer  from  the  two  priests.  At  length 
land  hove  in  sight;  the  piny  odors  of  the  forest  regaled  their  languid  senses 
as  they  sailed  up  the  broad  estuary  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  anchored  under 
the  rock  of  Quebec. 

Miss  Mance  and  her  religious  companions  soon  set  out  for  Montreal. 
The  journey  cost  them  fifteen  days  more  of  danger  and  hardship.  But  they 
were  warmly  received;  and  at  once  bent  themselves  to  the  grand  work  of 
their  lives. 

The  poverty  of  the  nuns,  at  first,  was  almost  incredible.  "  When  their 
clothes  were  worn  out,"  says  Parkman,  "  they  were  unable  to  replace  them, 
and  were  forced  to  patch  them  with  such  material  as  came  to  hand.  Maison- 
neuve,  the  governor,  and  the  pious  Madame  d'Allebout,  being  once  on  a  visit 
to  the  hospital,  amused  themselves  with  trying  to  guess  of  what  stuff  the 

habits  of  the  nuns  had  originally  been  made,  and  were  unable  to  agree  on  the 

• 
point  in  question. 

"  Their  chamber,  which  they  occupied  for  many  years,  being  hastily  built 
of  ill-seasoned  planks,  let  in  the  piercing  cold  of  the  Canadian  winter  through 
countless  cracks  and  chinks;  and  the  driving  snow  sifted  through  in  such 
quantities  that  they  were  sometimes  obliged,  the  morning  after  a  storm,  to  re- 
move it  with  shovels.  Their  food  would  freeze  on  the  table  before  them, 
and  their  coarse  brown  bread  had  to  be  thawed  on  the  hearth  before  they 
could  cut  it.  These  women  had  been  nurtured  in  ease,  if  not  in  luxury." 
This  picture  is  drawn  by  a  non-Catholic  pen. 

Nor  were  poverty,  cold,  and  hardship,  the  only  enemies  with  which  Miss 
Mance  and  her  pioneer  nuns  had  to  battle.  There  were  other  perils.  The 
terrible  Iroquois  were  always  prowling  near,  and  even  those  gentle  ladies 
were  not  beyond  the  reach  of  the  tomahawk. 

During  summer,    a    month    rarely  passed  without  a  fight,  sometimes 


242  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

within  sight  of  their  windows.  A  burst  of  yells  from  the  ambushed  marks- 
men, followed  by  a  clatter  of  musketry,  would  announce  the  opening  of  the 
fray,  and  promise  the  nuns  addition  to  their  list  of  patients.  On  these  occa- 
sions they  bore  themselves  according  to  their  several  natures.  Sister  Morin, 
who  had  joined  their  number  three  years  after  their  arrival,  relates  that  Sister 
Bre"soles  and  she  used  to  run  to  the  belfry  and  ring  the  tocsin  to  call  the  in- 
habitants together. 

"  From  our  high  station,"  writes  Sister  Morin,  "  we  could  sometimes  see 
the  combat,  which  terrified  us  extremely,  so  that  we  came  down  again  as  soon 
as  we  could,  trembling  with  fright,  and  thinking  that  our  last  hour  was  come. 
When  the  tocsin  sounded,  my  Sister  Maillet  would  become  faint  with  ex- 
cess of  fear;  and  my  Sister  Mace,  as  long  as  the  alarm  continued,  would 
remain  speechless,  in  a  state  pitiable  to  see.  They  would  both  get  into  a  cor- 
ner of  the  rood-loft  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  so  as  to  be  prepared  for 
death ;  or  else  go  into  their  cells. 

"As  soon  as  I  heard  that  the  Iroquois  were  gone,  I  went  to  tell  them, 
which  comforted  them  and  seemed  to  restore  them  to  life.  My  Sister  Bre"- 
soles  was  stronger  and  more  courageous;  her  terror,  which  she  could  not  help, 
did  not  prevent  her  from  attending  the  sick  and  receiving  the  dead  and 
wounded  who  were  brought  in." 

And  now,  what  more  have  we  to  say  of  our  heroine,  Miss  Mance  ?  She 
labored  to  the  end  at  the  work  so  dear  to  her  heart.  She  established  the 
Hotel  Dieu  of  Montreal  on  a  firm  basis.  Each  year  added  new  luster  to  her 
bright  and  beautiful  *life;  and,  finally,  the  Angel  of  Death  called  her  away  in 
June,  1673.  She  died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity.  There  is  no  more  to  tell. 
Hospital  sisters  have  no  stories.  Their  whole  lives  are  exquisite  praises  to 
the  gracious  God,  and  are  written  only  in  His  Book  of  Life  on  high. 


SAD  HISTORV  OF  ACADIA. 


ARGALL,  THE  FREEBOOTER. — SURPRISE  OF  A  SLEEPING  COLONY. — REVIEW  OF  THE 
PAST. — SENT  TO  RAVAGE  AND  DESTROY. — FATHER  BIARD'S  SINGULAR  FOR- 
TUNE.— BEAUTIFUL  PORT  ROYAL. — FIFTY  YEARS  AFTER. — THE  MICMACS  AND 
ABNAKIS.  —  LEGEND  OF  GOD'S  PIPE. — RECOLLECTS  COME  ON  THE  SCENE.— CAP- 
TURE OF  PORT  ROYAL  BY  THE  ENGLISH. — DESOLATION  ONCE  MORE. — A  SOLI- 
TARY JESUIT. — THE  FRENCH  RECLAIM  THE  COLONY. — OLIVER  CROMWELL'S 
EXPEDITION. — A  BORDERLAND  OF  CONTENTION. —  MASSACHUSETTS  TAKES  A 
HAND. — AN  ARMY  FROM  ENGLAND. — RAPINE  AND  TREACHERY. — A  LAND  WITH 
Two  FLAGS. — MATERIALISM  OF  THE  AGE. — EXPEDITION  FROM  BOSTON  TOWN. — 
FINAL  MASTERY  OF  THE  ENGLISH. — THE  UNHAPPY  COLONISTS. — SCORCHED  BY 
Two  FIRES. — SORROWS  AND  CONSOLATIONS. — THE  MISSIONARY'S  VAIN  APPEALS. 
— THE  DOOM  OF  BANISHMENT. — A  LOYAL  BUT  SCATTERED  RACE. 

T  the  risk  of  some  slight  repetition,  we  must  introduce  at  this  point 
the  pathetic  history  of  the  missions  in  Acadia — also  known  as  La 
Cadia  and  Acadie — this  name  applying  as  well  to  the  present 
British  provinces  of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia  as  to  that 
part  of  the  state  of  Maine  of  which  we  have  heretofore  treated. 

On  a  clear  night  in  the  middle  of  November.  A.  D.  1613,  three 
English  ships,  under  the  command  of  the  bold  freebooter,  Captain  Samuel 
Argall,  of  Virginia,  weathered  Brier  Island  in  the  bay  of  Fundy,  and,  sailing 
through  the  narrow  channel  now  called  Digby  Gut,  came  to  anchor  in  the 
basin  of  Port  Royal.  The  moon  was  nearly  at  full,  and  the  shores  of  the 
basin  could  be  distinctly  seen  on  all  sides,  at  a  distance  of  more  than  two 
leagues.  At  the  head  of  the  bay,  in  the  open  meadow  or  sea-marsh  fronting 
the  River  L'Equille — so  named  by  Champlain  on  his  first  voyage  to  Acadia, 
nine  years  before  —  the  forts  and  dwellings  erected  by  De  Monts  and 
Poutrincourt,  in  1605,  could  be  plainly  seen  standing  out  black  and  shadowy 
in  the  moonlight,  and  apparently  tenantless  and  deserted. 

243 


244  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

No  signs  of  alarm  were  visible  in  the  settlement.  The  silence  of  night 
reigned  over  the  great  marsh  meadows  on  either  side  of  the  river — broken 
only  by  the  faint  rumble  of  distant  waterfalls,  and  the  mournful  hooting  of 
the  great  horned  owl  on  the  edge  of  the  woods.  Biencourt,  the  French 
governor,  and  his  companions  in  the  little  colony,  slept  soundly  under  the 
shadow  of  the  fort,  unconscious  of  the  strange  sail  lying  in  the  bay ;  or  were 
stretched  out  before  the  brushfires  in  the  woods,  dreaming,  perhaps,  of  the 
arrival  of  the  long-expected  store-ship  from  Dieppe. 

On  board  Argall's  squadron  was  a  motley  company,  such  as  the  circum- 
stances only  of  that  adventurous  age  could  have  made  shipmates  together; 
freebooter,  Jesuit,  puritan,  cadets  of  impoverished  cavalier  families,  seeking 
to  mend  their  fortunes  in  the  New  World ;  Abnakis  fur-traders,  licensed  by  the 
London  company  of  adventurers,  and  French  prisoners  from  St.  Sauveur; 
their  hopes  and  feelings  with  regard  to  the  object  of  the  expedition  as  diverse 
as  their  race  and  creed. 

To  understand  the  situation,  it  will  be  necessary  to  go  back,  for  a  moment, 
to  the  events  that  had  occurred  in  the  spring  of  that  year.  On  the  I2th  of 
March,  1613,  M.  de  Saussaye,  who  had  been  appointed  governor  of  Acadia, 
sailed  from  Honfleur  in  Normandy  to  found  a  new  settlement  in  the  territory. 
Two  Jesuit  fathers,  Gilbert  du  Thet  and  Father  Quentin,  accompanied  the 
expedition.  Two  years  before,  Father  Pierre  Biard,  a  Jesuit,  professor  of 
theology  at  the  University  of  Lyons,  and  Father  Enemond  Masse,  of  the 
same  order,  had  sailed  from  Dieppe  for  the  newly-founded  colony  at  Port 
Royal,  there  to  establish  the  first  Jesuit  mission  in  New  France. 

They  carried  with  them  •  the  prayers  of  the  whole  court.  The  young 
king,  Louis  XIII.  gave  them  five  hundred  crowns  ;  the  Marchioness  de 
Verneuil  presented  them  with  vestments  and  the  sacred  vessels  for  saying 
Mass;  Madame  de  Sourdis  furnished  them  with  linen;  and  Madame  de  Guer- 
cheville,  with  whatever  else  they  required  for  the  voyage.  No  news  had 
been  received  from  them  for  many  a  day;  and  it  was  believed  that  they  were 
dead.  Fathers  Quentin  and  Du  Thet  were  to  replace  them  if  they  had 
perished;  otherwise  to  return  to  France.  De  Saussaye  arrived  at  Port  Royal 
in  May  and  found  Biard  and  Masse  alive,  and  working  courageously;  in- 
structing the  Indians  and  cheering  their  companions  in  the  little  colony  with 
the  hope  of  succor  from  France.  They  had  suffered  greatly,  however, 
during  the  winter,  living  on  acorns  and  roots  and  the  fish  they  caught  in  the 
river;  but  their  faith  was  unshaken,  and  the  good  disposition  shown  by  the 


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SAD  HISTORY  OF  AC  ADI  A.  245 

Indians  gave   the  Jesuit  fathers  sincere  hopes  of  their  conversion  when  they 
had  mastered  their  language. 

De  Saussaye  took  Father  Biard  and  Father  Masse  on  board,  and,  sailing 
along  the  coast  of  Maine,  chose  a  site  for  the  new  settlement  near  the  mouth 


BAPTISM    OF    INDIANS    AT    PORT    ROYAL. 

of  the  river  Penobscot.  All  the  people  of  the  colony,  being  about  thirty  in 
number,  and  the  crew  of  the  ship,  set  to  work  at  putting  up  buildings  and 
clearing  ground. 

Argall  was  on  the  coast  with  an  armed  vessel,  convoying  a  fleet  of 
Virginian  fishing-craft;  and  hearing  from  the  Indians  of  the  landing  of  the 
French  at  St.  Sauveur — as  they  had  named  the  new  colony — sailed  for  the 
Penobscot  and  attacked  De  Saussaye  by  surprise.  His  victory  was  complete; 
he  captured  the  French  ship,  pillaged  the  settlement,  and,  having  sent  De 
Saussaye  and  Father  Masse  with  fifteen  others  adrift  in  an  open  shallop, 
carried  off  the  remainder,  including  Fathers  Biard  and  Quentin,  prisoners  to 
Virginia.  Father  Masse  and  his  companions  crossed  the  Bay  of  Fundy  in 
their  open  boat,  and,  coasting  along  the  eastern  shore,  were  picked  up  off 
Sesumbre  (Sambro)  by  a  French  fishing- vessel  from  St.  Malo;  and  half  of 
their  number  having  been  put  on  board  another  ship  from  the  same  port, 


246  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

they  were  all  carried  back  to  France,  landing  at  St.  Malo,  where  they  were 
received  with  great  joy  by  the  magistrates  and  people. 

When  Argall  returned  to  Jamestown  with  his  prisoners,  bringing  the 
news  of  the  establishment  of  the  French  settlements  in  Acadia,  the  colony 
was  thrown  into  a  ferment  at  the  supposed  encroachment  upon  English  ter- 
ritory. It  was  a  time  of  profound  peace  between  the  French  and  English 
crowns;  but  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  the  governor  of  Virginia,  gave  Argall  a  com- 
mission to  return  north,  and  destroy  all  the  French  settlements  he  might  find 
on  the  coast  as  far  as  Cape  Breton,  that  is,  as  far  as  forty-six  degrees  and  a 
half,  north,  the  limits  of  the  English  patents.  • 

The  French  crown  maintained  a  rival  claim  to  the  territory.  In  1603, 
Henry  IV  of  France  had  appointed  De  Monts  his  lieutenant-general  "  in  all 
the  countries,  coasts,  and  confines  of  La  Cadia  (Acadia),  to  begin  from  the 
fortieth  degree  to  the  forty-sixth;  and  in  the  same  distance  to  make  known 
and  establish  his  name  and  authority."  Acting  under  this  charter,  De  Monts 
had  founded  the  settlements  of  St.  Croix  and  Port  Royal  in  1604-5.  But  it 
was  an  age  that  did  not  seek  to  inquire  too  closely  into  the  rights  of  prior 
discovery  or  occupation  where  the  claims  of  rival  companies  clashed  togethe1" 
in  the  New  World.  By  the  end  of  October,  Argall  had  burned  down  the 
deserted  fortifications  of  St.  Sauveur,  and  destroyed  the  remains  of  De  Monts' 
settlement  at  St.  Croix.  He  captured  an  Abnaki  chief  on  the  coast,  and, 
compelling  the  Indian  to  pilot  his  ships  to  Port  Royal,  was  now  lying  in  the 
bay,  waiting  for  the  first  streak  of  dawn  over  the  hills,  to  complete  the  de- 
struction of  the  last  French  settlement  in  Acadia.  His  sailors  were  flushed 
with  the  hope  of  a  rich  booty  in  the  spoil  of  a  colony  on  which,  according  to 
Charlevoix,  a  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns  had  been  already  ex- 
pended. The  work  promised  a  finer  harvest  of  prize-money  than  pillaging 
St.  Malo  fishermen  on  the  Grand  Banks;  and  the  fact  of  the  victims  being 
not  only  French,  but  Jesuits,  gave  a  keener  zest  to  the  enterprise. 

The  two  Jesuit  fathers,  Biard  and  Quentin,  were  on  board  of  one  of  the 
smaller  vessels  of  the  squadron,  commanded  by  Lieut.  Turnel.  They 
had  narrowly  escaped  being  hanged  at  Jamestown  by  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  as 
alleged  pirates  and  trespassers  on  English  territory;  but,  finally,  Argall,  had 
been  directed  to  carry  them  north,  and  send  them  back  to  France  by  any 
French  fishing-vessel  he  happened  to  fall  in  with  on  the  coast. 

Father  Biard's  fortune  had  been  a  singular  one.  On  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, two  years  before,  he  had  landed  at  Port  Royal,  full  of  hope  and  energy, 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  AC  ADI  A.  247 

believing,  as  he  touched  the  shores  of  the  New  World  for  the  first  time,  that 
Providence  had  chosen  him — an  unworthy  servant  of  the  Lord — to  plant  the 
first  seeds  of  the  Faith  that  should  afterward  spread  over  the  whole  of  the 
continent.  He  was  now  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  bitterest  enemies;  the 
French  settlements  had  been  destroyed;  his  brethren  were  scattered  or  dead; 
and,  after  sufferings  and  disasters  that  would  have  broken  the  spirit  of  any 
man  not  upheld  by  a  generous  and  liring  faith — famine,  illness,  toilsome 
journeys,  the  sickness  and  hope  deferred,  the  jealous  tyranny  of  the  French 
traders  and  the  sword  of  English  pirates — he  found  himself  at  last  an  un- 
\villing  witness  from  the  deck  of  an  armed  enemy  of  the  expected  ruin  of 
his  mission. 

The  prospect  was  a  gloomy  one;  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  more 
distant  than  ever! 

Morning  broke  at  last,  and  the  Jesuits  were  awakened  by  the  hoarse 
cry  of  the  mate  of  Turnel's  ship  calling  the  watch  to  heave  anchor,  and  move 
the  ship  up  stream  to  attack  the  fort.  The  anchor  was  lifted  over  the  bows, 
and  the  drowsy  crew  shook  out  the  damp  sails  to  the  light  puffs  of  air  that 
rippled  the  surface  of  the  basin.  An  unexpected  delay  took  place;  the  great 
tide  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  was  sweeping  out  of  the  river  like  a  mill-course; 
and  it  was  not  until  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  that  the  ships  were  slowly  warped 
up  within  close  range  of  the  fort. 

Such  an  air  of  stillness  hung  about  the  settlement  that  Argall  feared  an 
ambuscade;  but  as  his  men  rushed  into  the  fort — with  swords  drawn  and 
arquebuses  leveled — a  joyful  surprise  awaited  them.  Not  a  French  settler 
was  to  be  seen ;  the  fort  and  dwellings  were  deserted ;  shoes  and  other  goods 
lying  about,  indicating  recent  occupancy.  Biencourt  and  his  companions 
were  in  the  woods  trading  with  the  Indians;  and  the  colony  fell  an  unresist- 
ing prey  to  the  English.  Argall  pillaged  the  settlement  of  every  movable 
article,  even  to  the  locks  on  the  doors,  killed  and  carried  off  the  live-stock, 
and  then  set  fire  to  the  buildings — "a  thing  truly  pitiable,"  says  Father 
Biard ;  "  for  in  a  few  hours  one  saw  reduced  to  ashes  the  labors  of  many 
years  and  many  persons  of  merit." 

The  English  then  destroyed   every  mark   of  French  sovereignty  they 

could  find,  using  even  the  hammer  and  chisel  on  a  large  and  massive  stone,  on 

which  were  engraved  the  names  of  Pouti  incourt  and  other  captains,  with  the 

fleur-de-lis.    The  ruin  of  the  first  Jesuit  mission  in  the  New  World,  north  of 

Florida,  was  complete. 


248 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


The  scene  was  an  impressive  one,  and  fruitful  of  reflection  to  any  eyes 
but  those  inflamed  by  sectarian  bigotry  and  the  lust  of  rapine. 

From  the  basin  of  Port  Royal,  where  the  English  ships  rode  at  anchor, 
to  St.  Augustine  in  Florida,  the  continent  stretched  out,  west  and  south,  a 
vast  and  solitary  wilderness,  unbroken  by  any  European  settlement  except  the 
infant  colony  at  Jamestown,  planted  five  years  before;  the  wash  of  the  west- 
ern ocean  beat  in  sullen 
surges  on  the  naked 
beach  around  Plymouth 
Rock,  as  yet  untrodden 
by  the  feet  of  the  fathers 
of  New  England.  In 
the  northwest,  Cham- 
plain,  soldier,  navigator, 
missionary,  the  greatest 
hero,  perhaps,  in  that 
age  of  wonderful  adven- 
ture and  heroic  men, 
was  bearing  the  cross 
and  civilization  up  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  along  the  shores  of  the  great  lakes  ;  while  to  the  north 
the  fir  forests,  ever  growing  more  gloomy,  stunted,  and  monotonous,  extended 
to  the  confines  of  Hudson's  Bay,  unrelieved  by  any  trace  of  civilized  life 
except  the  little  chapel  at  the  French  trading-post  of  Tadoussac. 

The  basin  of  Port  Royal  was  distinguished  by  a  picturesque  and  diversi- 
fied beauty — ill  suited  to  the  scene  of  piracy  tnat  was  being  enacted  on  its 
shores — and  which  had  attracted  the  admiration  of  all  the  early  adventurers 
to  these  coasts.  Lescarbot,  describing  his  arrival  there  on  the  2yth  of  July, 
seven  years  before,  says: 

"Finally,  being  in  the  port,  it  was  a  thing  marvelous  to  see  the  fair  distance  and 
the  largeness  of  it,  and  I  wondered  how  so  fair  a  place  did  remain  desert,  being  all  filled 
with  woods,  seeing  that  so  many  pine  away  in  the  world  which  might  make  good  of 
this  land,  if  only  they  had  a  chief  governor  to  lead  them  thither.  At  the  very  begin- 
ning we  were  desirous  to  see  the  country  up  the  river,  where  we  found  meadows 
almost  continually  above  twelve  leagues  of  ground,  among  which  do  run  brooks  with- 
out number,  which  come  from  the  hills  and  mountains  adjoining.  Yea,  even  in  the 
passage  to  come  forth  from  the  said  fort  for  to  go  to  sea,  (here  is  a  brook  that  falleth 
from  the  high  rocks  down,  and  in  falling  disperseth  itself  into  a  small  rain,  which  is 
f  ery  delightful  in  summer." 


JAMESTOWN,    VA. 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  ACADIA.  249 

"  It  was  our  harvest  time,"  says  Father  Biard,  in  words  penetrated  with 
a  regret  the  tone  of  which  seems  to  reach  us  even  at  this  distant  day  —  "  our 
season  of  fruit.  We  had  composed  our  catechism  in  the  savage  tongue,  and 
commenced  to  be  able  to  speak  to  our  catechumens,  and  behold!  at  this 
moment  comes  the  enemy  of  all  good  to  put  the  torch  to  our  labors  and  carry 
us  out  of  the  field.  May  the  victorious  Jesus,  of  his  powerful  hand  and 
invincible  wisdom,  set  his  plans  at  naught!  Amen." 

So  the  Jesuit  missionary  closes  each  chapter  of  his  curious  narrative. 
The  words  of  a  recent  Protestant  writer,  describing  the  same  scene,  are  some 
what  different:  "In  a  semi-piratical  descent,"  says  Parkman,  "an  obscure 
stroke  of  lawless  violence  began  the  strife  of  England  and  France,  of  Pro- 
testantism and  Rome,  which  for  a  century  and  a  half  shook  the  struggling 
communities  of  the  New  World,  and  closed  at  last  in  the  memorable  triumph 
on  the  plains  of  Abraham." 

The  strife  has  not  closed;  the  prayer  of  the  persecuted  missionary  has 
been  heard.  In  the  busy  cities  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  along  the  spurs  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  among  the  great  lakes  and  unexplored  rivers  of 
Manitoba  and  the  northwest,  the  successors  of  Father  Biard  are  laboring  in 
their  glorious  mission  to-day ;  filled  with  the  same  ardent  zeal  that  stirred  the 
hearts  of  the  pioneers  of  his  order,  toiling  through  the  depths  of  the  wilder- 
ness on  the  stormy  days  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century.  And 
in  the  ancient  town  of  Port  Royal  the  little  Catholic  church  of  a  new  mission 
— where  the  people  of  another  race  no  less  zealous  in  the  Faith  mingle  in 
prayer  with  the  descendants  of  the  followers  of  Biencourt  and  Latour — may 
still  be  seen  by  the  tourist,  pointing  its  rustic  wooden  steeple  to  the  sky,  over 
the  shores  of  that  beautiful  basin  on  which  the  Jesuit  Biard  looked  with 
regretful  eyes  for  the  last  time  on  the  29111  day  of  November,  1613. 

For  a  period  of  fifty  years  after  the  date  of  Argall's  expedition,  the 
materials  for  any  notes  on  the  missions  of  Acadia  are  scanty  and  fragmentary. 
Biencourt  and  a  scattered  remnant  of  the  first  French  colonists  still  clung 
to  the  ruins  of  Port  Royal,  living,  however,  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
year  with  the  Indians,  fishing  and  fur-trading.  St.  Malo,  Dieppe,  Honfleur, 
and  Rochelle  sent  out  yearly,  in  the  spring,  their  fleets  of  fishermen  to  reap 
the  rich  harvest  of  these  seas;  but  the  jealousy  of  the  New  England  colonies 
was  always  on  the  alert  against  any  encroachment  upon  their  claims  to  the 
territory;  no  durable  settlement  appears  to  have  been  made  for  nearly  twenty 
years;  and  there  was  no  priest  resident  on  these  coasts.  Parceled  out  by  the 


250 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


sovereigns  of  Spain,  England,  and  France  into  huge  monopolies,  the  limits  of 
whose  patents  were  only  bounded  by  the  arbitrary  division  of  degrees  of 
latitude  north  and  south,  North  America,  at  that  day,  with  an  extent  of  ter- 
ritory large  enough  to  settle  uncounted  millions  at  peace  with  each  other  j 
was  the  disputed  prize,  with  varying  fortune,  of  a  handful  of  merchants  and 
adventurers,  who  planted  a  few  sparse  colonies  on  the  thin  edge  of  the 
Atlantic  seaboard.  The  Jesuits  had  transferred  their  missions  to  the  country 
of  the  Hurons  on  the  Great  Lakes ;  and  the  words  of  Fathers  Biard  and  Masse 
were  become  only  a  tradition  among  the  Micmacs  and  Abnakis  of  Acadia. 
"  Niscaminoii  hignemouy  ninern  marcodam" — "  Our  Sun,  or  our  God,  gives 
us  something  to  eat,"  was  the  only  prayer  that  ever  rose  from  the  lips  of 
these  wandering  savages,  scattered  in  shifting  tribes  at  the  mouths  of  the 
rivers  that  emptied  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  or  living  in  isolated  families  under 
the  shadow  of  the  granite  hills  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  peninsula,  where 
the  rolling  surf  of  the  wintry  ocean  dashed  forever  in  furious  white  breakers 
on  the  iron-bound  coast. 

The  superstitions  of  these  Indians  were  of  a  character  singular  and 
grotesque.  They  believed  in  certain  spirits,  whom  they  called  Cudoiiagni, 
and  with  whom  they  often  conversed  in  a  familiar  tone,  telling  them  the  kind 
of  weather  they  wanted.  If  the  spirit  was  angry  with  them,  he  threw  dust 
in  their  eyes.  Sagard,  the  Franciscan  historian,  writing  of  the  Sourignois  in 
1636,  relates  this  tradition,  told  by  one  of  their  sagamores  to  the  Sieur  Lescot: 

"  Once  upon  a  time,"  said  the  chief,  "  there  was  a  man  who  had  a  great  deal  of 
tobacco;  and  God  spoke  to  the  man,  and  asked  him  where  was  his  pipe.  The  man  took 
it  and  gave  it  to  God,  who  smoked  a  great  deal;  and  after  he  had  smoked  enough,  he^ 
broke  it  into  a  great  many  pieces.  The  man  asked  him,  '  Why  have  you  broken  my 
pipe?  Don't  you  see  that  I  have  no  other?'  And  God  took  one  that  he  had,  and  gave  it 
to  him,  saying,  'Here  is  one  that  I  will  give  you;  take  it  to  your  great  sagamore,  and 
let  him  take  care  of  it;  and  if  he  takes  good  care  of  it,  neither  he  nor  all  his  people 
shall  ever  want  for  anything  whatever.'  The  man  took  the  pipe  and  gave  it  to  his  great 
sagamore,  and  while  he  kept  it  the  Indians  never  wanted  for  anything  in  the  world. 
One  day,  however,  the  sagamore  happened  to  break  the  pipe,  and  since  that  time  they 
had  famine  often  among  them.  That  was  the  reason,  he  said,  that  they  didn't  think  a 
great  deal  of  God,  because  he  made  all  their  abundance  depend  on  a  little  clay  pipe,  and 
when  he  might  often  help  them,  he  let  them  suffer  more  than  all  the  other  tribes." 

The  Recollects,  a  reformed  branch  of  that  great  Franciscan  order  whose 
missionaries  had  already  penetrated  into  every  quarter  of  the  world,  east  and 
west,  where  European  adventure  had  gained  even  the  most  precarious  foot- 
hold, were  destined,  under  Providence,  to  be  the  first  apostles  and  missionaries 
of  those  Indians. 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  AC  ADI  A.  251 

It  was  an  age  of  great  religious  enthusiasm ;  the  attention  of  the  great 
missionary  orders  of  Europe  was  strongly  directed  to  the  wide  field  of  labor 
opened  to  their  zeal  by  the  settlement  of  North  America;  and  although  the 
violence  of  English  aggression  had  compelled  the  Jesuits  to  abandon  for  a 
time  the  missions  of  Acadia,  other  laborers  were  soon  found  to  enter  the  field. 

In  1619,  certain  associations  of  French  merchants,  formed  to  carry  on  the 
shore  fishery  and  fur-trade  in  Acadia,  applied  to  the  Recollect  friars  for  priests 
to  attend  to  the  religious  wants  of  the  men  whom  they  employed  in  those 
coasts;  holding  out,  as  a  more  brilliant  inducement,  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians  of  the  country.  The  proposal  was  gladly  accepted.  The  conversion 
of  the  savages  from  the  darkness  of  heathenism  was  the  most  glorious  work 
of  that  age;  and  the  means  that  the  Recollects  themselves  were  too  poor  to 
supply  were  placed  in  their  hands.  It  seemed  almost  a  direct  interposition  of 
Providence  to  grant  them  the  earnest  of  their  prayers! 

Three  of  the  fathers,  belonging  to  the  province  of  Aquitaine,  embarked 
with  joyful  hearts  for  a  mission  so  fruitful  of  difficulties  and  peril,  but  which 
promised  so  rich  harvest  for  their  labors.  They  fixed  their  chief  residence  on 
the  river  St.  John,  where  the  company  had  established  a  trading- post;  mak- 
ing frequent  journeys  from  that  mission  to  supply  the  spiritual  wants  of  the 
struggling  colony  at  Port  Royal,  as  well  as  of  the  Indians  on  the  Bay  of 
Fundy  and  the  southern  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  They  are  also 
said  to  have  commenced  some  Indian  missions  on  the  Isthmus  of  Bay  Verte. 

These  Recollects  were  also  driven  out  of  the  country  at  the  second  cap- 
ture of  Port  Royal  and  the  other  French  settlements,  by  Kirk,  in  1628,  shar- 
ing the  fate  of  the  Jesuits  at  Argall's  hands  in  1613,  while  the  same  thing 
occurred  once  again  in  1624. 

But  the  zeal  of  the  missionaries  was  unconquerable;  the  brethren  of  a 
third  order  left  their  peaceful  monastery  in  France  to  take  up  their  residence 
on  those  inhospitable  shores.  In  1644  the  Capuchins  had  established  a  hos- 
pice at  Penobscot,  under  the  powerful  protection  of  the  Sieur  D'Aulnay,  lieu- 
tenant-general of  the  territory.  There  they  labored  in  peace  for  several 
years,  performing  the  functions  of  cure's  for  the  settlement.  D'Aulnay  after- 
wards transferred  his  chief  residence  to  Port  Royal,  and  built  there  a  new 
hospice  for  the  Capuchin  fathers,  who  followed  the  fortunes  of  their  flock. 

Nor  was  the  indefatigable  ardor  of  the  Jesuits  easily  repulsed.  Father 
Enemond  Masse  had  twice  returned  to  New  France — his  Rachel,  as  he  called 
the  country  for  which  he  had  suffered  so  much — but  his  missions  now  lay  in 


2r3  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  country  of  the  Algonquins  and  Montaignais.  Otner  brethren  of  the  order 
had,  however,  established  themselves  at  St.  Anne's,  in  Cape  Breton,  and  at 
M*iscou,  on  the  gulf,  about  1640;  and  from  these  missions  the  fathers  extended 
their  labors  along  the  northern  poast  of  New  Brunswick  and  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  peninsula  of  Nova  Scotia.  A  solitary  Jesuit,  Gabriel  Druillettes, 
set  out  on  the  29th  of  August,  1647^  from  the  residence  of  Sillery,  near  Que- 
bec, to  found  the  mission  of  the  Assumption  among  the  Abnakis  of  Maine. 
"  I  shall  say  nothing,"  writes  Father  Lalemant,  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits  in 
New  France,  in  his  yearly  "Relation"  addressed  to  the  provincial  of  his  order 
at  Paris,  describing  Father  Druillettes'  mission  in  1647 — 

"  I  shall  say  nothing  of  the  difficulties  he  had  to  undergo  in  a  journey  of  nine  or 
ten  months,  where  one  meets  rivers  paved  with  rocks,  where  the  boats  that  carry  you 
are  made  only  of  bark;  where  the  dangers  to  one's  life  succeed  each  other  more  quickly 
than  the  days  and  nights;  where  the  frosts  of  winter  change  the  whole  face  of  the 
country  into  a  sheet  of  snow  and  ice;  where  one  has  to  carry  on  his  shoulders  his 
dwelling,  his  provisions,  and  his  supplies;  where  you  have  no  other  company  than  that 
of  savages,  as  far  removed  from  our  ways  of  living  as  the  earth  is  removed  from  the 
skies;  where  the  strength  of  body  with  which  these  savages  are  abundantly  supplied 
far  excels  all  the  beauties  of  the  spirit;  where  one  finds  neither  bread  nor  wine,  nor 
any  kind  of  food  that  one  is  used  to  in  Europe;  where  one  would  say  that  all  the  roads 
led  to  the  abyss,  so  frightful  are  they;  and  yet  they  lead  to  Paradise  those  who  love  the 
crosses  with  which  they  are  strewn:  it  was  in  his  sufferings  that  the  father  found  re- 
pose, meeting  more  often  mountains  like  those  of  Tabor  and  Olivet  than  that  of 
Calvary." 

Father  Druillettes  descended  the  river  Kennebec  to  the  sea;  and  his  In- 
dian guide,  after  reaching  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  conducted  the  father  to  Penob- 
scot,  where  he  was  hospitably  entertained  at  the  little  hospice  of  the  Capu- 
chins who  were  still  resident  there.  Father  Ignatius  de  Paris,  their  superior, 
gave  the  Jesuit  father  a  warm  welcome ;  and  Father  Druillettes,  having  rested 
and  recruited  himself,again  ascended  the  river  into  the  interior  of  the  country, 
where  he  commenced  his  first  mission  among  the  Abnakis,  which  God  after- 
wards blessed  with  a  wonderful  increase. 

Such  was  the  position  of  the  missions  in  Acadia  toward  the  end  of  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century :  The  Capuchins  were  at  Port  Royal ; 
a  few  scattered  missionaries,  Jesuits  and  Recollects  along  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  peninsula,  the  Recollects  on  the  St.  John  river,  and  Father  Druillettes 
commencing  his  missions  in  Maine. 

The  treaty  of  St.  Germain-au-Laye  had  restored  Acadia  to  the  French 
crown  in  1632;  but  New  England  had  always  secretly  resented  that  agree- 
ment and  never  relinquished  its  intention  of  regaining1  possession  of  the  terri- 
tory. The  lax  interpretation  of  international  obligations  that  distinguished 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  AC  ADI  A.  „  253 

the  protectorate  of  Cromwell,  gave  the  English  colonists  the  opportunity 
they  desired.  In  1653  Cromwell  fitted  out  an  expedition  designed  to  attack 
the  Dutch  colony  of  Manhadoes  (New  York).  The  English  ships  did  not, 
however,  arrive  at  Boston  until  June,  1654.  On  the  ninth  of  the  month,  the 
general  court  passed  resolutions  for  enlisting  five  hundred  men,  to  be  com- 
manded by  Major  Robert  Sedgwick  of  Charlestown,  "  a  man  of  popular 
manners  and  military  talents,"  who  had  once  been  a  member  of  the  artillery 
company  of  London;  this  force  was  to  aid  the  English  squadron  in  the  ex- 
pedition against  the  Dutch.  Ten  days  later,  the  news  reached  Boston  that  a 
treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed  between  the  Protector  and  the  Dutch  Re- 
public. Here  was  an  opportunity  not  to  be  neglected!  The  English  and 
French  governments  were  at  peace;  but  the  general  court  counted  upon  the 
acquiescence  of  Cromwell — not  without  some  previous  informal  assurances  to 
that  effect — and  it  was  determined  to  employ  the  force  that  had  been  raised 
by  the  colony,  and  the  English  ships  then  lying  in  the  harbor  of  Boston,  in 
the  reduction  of  the  French  settlements  of  Acadia. 

On  the  morning  of  the  i5th  of  August,  1654,  the  Capuchin  fathers,  look- 
ing from  the  windows  of  their  hospice  up  the  river,  saw  the  English  squadron 
sailing  up  the  basin  of  Port  Royal  for  the  third  time  in  forty  years.  All  was 
hurry  and  confusion  in  the  settlement.  The  fort  was  well  garrisoned  and 
provisioned,  and  with  a  capable  commander  might  have  made  a  stout  resist- 
ance; but  Le  Borgne,  who  had  obtained  possession  of  Port  Royal  under  a 
suit  against  the  estate  of  the  late  Sieur  D'Aulnay,  was  a  man  without  military 
knowledge  or  experience;  and,  after  a  faint  show  of  resistance,  he  capitulated 
next  day  to  the  English  on  favorable  terms.  The  other  settlements  submit- 
ted without  resistance.  Thus  for  the  third  time  Acadia  was  lost  to  Catho- 
licity and  New  France,  and  handed  over  to  the  sway  of  Puritanism  and 
New  England. 

Liberty  of  conscience  had  been  guaranteed  in  the  capitulation ;  but  the 
provincial  act  of  1647  against  the  Jesuit  order,  who  were  to  be  banished  if 
found  in  the  country,  and  on  return  from  banishment  to  suffer  death,  was  re- 
vived and  extended  to  priests  of  other  orders;  the  Capuchins  were  compelled 
to  abandon  their  hospice  and  return  to  France;  the  missions  were  broken  up; 
and  for  the  next  twelve  years  the  English  held  undisputed  possession  of 
Acadia.  Sir  Thomas  Temple,  the  English  governor,  was,  however,  a  man 
of  humane  and  generous  temper  and  tolerant  disposition;  and  the  French 
Acadians  who  remained  in  the  country  were  allowed  to  follow,  quietly,  the 


254 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


worship  of  their  fathers.  The  only  priest  of  whom  any  mention  is  made  as 
resident  in  the  country  at  this  time  was  Father  Laurent  Molin,  who  performed 
the  functions  of  cure"  at  Port  Royal. 

Plans  for  English  colonization  of  the  territory  now  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  home  government.  Sir  Thomas  Temple  urged  the  advantage  of 
settlement,  pointing  out  in  his  letters  to  the  Lords  of  the  Council  the  great 
value  of  the  fisheries,  mines,  and  timber  of  the  country. 

"  Nova  Scotia,"  he  says,  "  is  the  first  colony  which  England  has  possessed  in  all 
America  of  which  the  limits  have  been  fixed,  being  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  great 
rivers  of  Canada,  and  on  the  west  by  New  England.  It  contains  the  two  great  provinces 
of  Alexandria  and  Caledonia,  established  and  confirmed  by  divers  acts  of  the  parliament 
of  Scotland,  and  annexed  to  that  crown,  the  records  whereof  are  kept  in  the  Castle  of 
Edinburgh  to  this  day." 

But  the  plans  for  English  settlement  were  frustrated  by  the  treaty  of 
Breda,  1667,  which  again  restored  Acadia  to  the  French  crown,  notwithstand- 
ing the  remonstrances  of  New  England.  On  the  6th  day  of  July,  1670,  the 
Chevalier  Grand  Fontaine  delivered  to  Sir  Thomas  Temple,  at  Boston,  the 
order  of  Charles  II,  directing  him  to  deliver  up  possession  of  Acadia  and  at 
the  same  time  exhibited  to  him  his  commission  from  the  French  king  empow- 
ering Grand  Fontaine  to  receive  the  cession  of  the  territory.  The  formal  sur- 
render of  the  forts  and  settlements  was  made  before  the  end  of  the  year,  and 
the  country  was  opened  once  more  to  the  labors  of  the  missionaries. 

We  have  seen  the  Jesuits,  Recollects,  and  Capuchins  successively  enter- 
ing upon  the  missions  of  Acadia;  the  field  was  large,  their  difficulties  extreme; 
the  violence  of  English  aggression  always  imminent,  and  ceaselessly  over- 
turning the  foundations  laid  with  much  labor  and  zeal.  A  new  organization 
of  the  forces  of  the  Church  was  now  about  to  send  its  missionaries  into  the 
field.  The  Seminary  of  Foreign  Missions  of  Quebec,  founded  in  1663  by  the 
illustrious  Mgr.  Laval,  the  first  bishop  consecrated  for  New  France,  was  al- 
ready training  up  a  body  of  native  ecclesiastics,  who  joined  to  the  ardent  zeal 
of  the  first  missionaries  a  knowledge  of  the  country  more  intimate  and  pro- 
found. In  1687  the  priests  of  the  seminary  entered  upon  the  missions  of 
Acadia  with  an  energy  redoubled  by  the  knowledge  of  the  difficulties  that  had 
beset  the  labors  of  their  predecessors.  After  the  restoration  of  the  territory 
to  France  by  the  treaty  of  Breda,  it  was  included  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Bishop  of  Quebec;  and  in  the  instructions  given  by  Louis  XIV  to  De 
Menual,  appointed  governor  in  1687,  the  king  declares  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians  to  the  Christian  faith  to  be  his  chief  object,  and  refers  him  for  assist- 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  ACADIA.  255 

ance  in  procuring  missionaries  for  the  country  to  Mgr.  St.  Valier,  who  had 
succeeded  Mgr.  Laval.  The  diocese  of  Quebec  could  hardly,  at  that  time, 
supply  priests  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  its  own  missions;  but  the  necessity 
was  great,  the  harvest  of  souls  promised  to  be  abundant;  and  Mgr.  St.  Valier, 
casting  his  eyes  around  for  laborers  worthy  of  the  field,  found  willing  volun- 
teers in  the  priests  of  the  Seminary  of  Foreign  Missions.  M.  Petit  was  ap- 
pointed grand  vicar  and  cure"  at  Port  Royal;  M.  Trouve'  took  charge  of  the 
missions  up  the  river  and  at  Minas;  and  Father  Thury  commenced  his  heroic 
labors  among  the  Abnakis  and  Canibats,  which  were  destined  with  the  aid  of 
the  Jesuits  to  achieve  a  brilliant  success  in  the  entire  conversion  of  these  tribes. 
The  two  Jesuit  fathers,  James  and  Vincent  Bigot,  brothers  belonging  to  one 
of  the  noble  families  of  France,  and  Father  Gassot,  of  the  same  order,  joined 
with  ardor  in  the  work  of  converting  and  restoring  the  faith  among  the  In- 
dians; and  the  Recollect  Father  Simon  governed  a  devoted  mission  at  Medok- 
tek,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  John.  The  teachings  of  the  missionaries, 
and  the  examples  of  unselfish  devotion  that  their  lives  continually  presented, 
inspired  the  Indians  with  a  lasting  attachment  to  France  and  French  interests 
and  institutions,  which  made  them  the  most  effective  allies  of  that  power  in 
the  disastrous  warfare  that  never  ceased  on  the  borders.  The  Indian  policy 
of  New  England,  on  the  contrary — if,  indeed,  it  could  be  called  a  policy  the 
only  object  of  which  was  to  plunder  and  destroy — cost  the  English  colonists  a 
deplorable  loss  of  blood  and  treasure,  that  a  more  humane  and  generous  treat- 
ment of  these  savages  might  easily  have  averted.  With  the  single  exception 
of  the  missionary  Eliot,  no  effort  was  ever  sought  to  be  made  by  the  English 
to  Christianize  the  Indians  within  their  borders;  the  traders  plundered  them, 
and  the  war  parties  shot  them  down  like  wild  beasts  whenever  they  surprised 
an  Indian  village;  and  it  can  hardly  excite  surprise  that  the  Indian  reprisals 
proved  as  merciless  and  relentless  as  the  melancholy  history  of  those  times 
proves  them  to  have  been. 

Acadia  was  the  border-ground  on  which  New  England  and  New  France 
contended  for  the  possession  of  North  America.  Sometimes  the  wave  of 
English  conquest  swept  up  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  walls  of  the 
citadel  of  Quebec;  then  the  returning  tide  would  carry  the  French  soldiers 
and  their  Indian  allies  bearing  fire  and  sword  through  the  settlements  of 
Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Northern  New  York — almost  within  sound  of 
the  alarm  bells  of  Boston.  The  contest  appears  to  us  now  to  have  been  a 
very  unequal  one,  and  in  the  light  of  later  events  we  are  able  to  see  that  the 


256  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

final  preponderance  of  New  England  was  inevitable;  but  to  the  English 
colonist  of  the  seventeenth  century,  harassed  by  the  constant  dread  of  vigilant, 
ceaseless,  and  relentless  Indian  warfare  upon  the  scattered  settlements;  en- 
circled by  a  chain  of  fortified  posts  from  Quebec  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi;  and  threatened  by  powerful  French  fleets  upon  the  coast,  the 
struggle  appeared  to  be  one  for  the  security  of  his  very  foothold  upon  the 
continent.  The  conquest  of  Acadia  had  always  been  regarded  by  the 
commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  as  essential  to  the  continuance  of  a  durable 
peace;  but  the  importance  of  the  possession  of  the  territory  seems  to  have 
been  better  recognized  by  the  French  than  the  English  government  of  that 
day;  and  the  various  treaties  between  the  two  powers  always  included  a 
clause  providing  for  its  restoration  to  the  French  crown. 

For  twenty  years  after  the  treaty  of  Breda  the  French  settlements  in 
Acadia  had  enjoyed  comparative  peace.  The  missions  were  prosperous, 
although  the  want  of  priests  was  severely  felt  in  the  outlying  districts.  One 
of  the  periodical  invasions  of  the  English  had  taken  place  in  1680;  Port 
Royal  had  been  again  captured ;  but  the  occupation  had  been  only  of  short 
duration,  and  the  Acadians  were  once  more  left  in  peace  to  dike  in  the  great 
marsh  meadows  from  the  sea,  and  sing  their  Norman  and  Breton  songs  under 
the  willows  along  the  banks  of  the  Dauphin  and  Gaspereaux. 

But  a  storm-cloud  was  now  gathering  in  the  English  colonies  that 
threatened  to  sweep  the  French  power  from  the  continent.  On  the  ist  of  May, 
1690,  New  York  witnessed  the  spectacle,  hitherto  unknown  in  American 
annals,  of  a  national  congress.  The  idea  had  been  inspired  by  the  common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts  ;  the  general  court  having  sent  letters  to  all  the 
other  colonies  as  far  as  Maryland,  urging  the  necessity  of  united  action 
against  the  French.  The  congress  of  New  York  decided  upon  the  conquest 
of  Canada  by  means  of  an  army  that  should  march  upon  Montreal  by  way 
of  Lake  Champlain,  while  Boston  was  to  send  a  fleet  to  attack  the  settle- 
ments in  Acadia,  and  then  lay  siege  to  Quebec.  The  first  expedition  was 
directed  against  Port  Royal.  On  the  2Oth  of  May,  Sir  William  Phipps,  with  a 
squadron  of  one  frigate  of  40  guns,  two  sloops-of-war  of  16  and  8  guns,  and  four 
smaller  vessels,  anchored  within  half  a  league  of  the  fort.  His  land  force  con- 
sisted of  700  men.  The  French  governor, De  Menneval,  was  totally  unprepared 
for  resistance;  he  had  under  him  only  an  insignificant  garrison  of  eighty-six 
men;  the  fortifications  were  not  completed,  and  the  battery  of  eighteen  guns 
not  even  mounted.  The  English  commander  sent  a  trumpeter  to  demand 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  ACADIA.  2tf 

the  unconditional  surrender  of  the  fort.  De  Menneval  retained  the  trumpeter; 
and  sent  Father  Petit,  who  acted  as  his  almoner,  to  obtain  reasonable  terms 
of  capitulation.  After  some  difficulty,  Sir  William  Phipps  agreed:  i.  That 
the  governor  and  soldiers  should  go  out  with  arms  and  baggage,  and  be 
transported  to  Quebec;  2.  That  the  inhabitants  should  remain  in  peaceable 
possession  of  their  property,  and  that  the  honor  of  the  females  should  be 
protected;  3.  That  they  should  have  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  and 
that  the  church  should  not  be  injured.  With  these  terms  Father  Petit 
returned  to  the  fort,  and  the  capitulation  was  agreed  upon. 

The  English  forces  landed,  and  as  soon  as  Phipps  had  received  the  sur- 
render of  the  fort,  he  disarmed  the  French  garrison,  and  the  settlement  was 
given  up  to  indiscriminate  pillage  and  the  license  of  his  troops.  The  church 
was  plundered  of  the  sacred  vessels;  the  priest's  house  burned  down;  the 
houses  of  the  inhabitants  sacked;  and  De  Menneval  and  Father  Petit  and 
Father  Trouve"  taken  prisoners  and  carried  on  board  the  English  ships.  Such 
was  the  faith  observed  by  the  English  commander  at  the  surrender  of  Port 
Royal!  Sir  William  Phipps,  having  left  a  small  garrison  in  the  fort,  carric-d 
back  with  him  to  Boston  the  French  governor,  the  priests,  and  his  plunder: 
and  was  received  with  great  rejoicings  in  the  colony. 

The  misfortunes  of  the  inhabitants  of  Port  Royal  were  not  yet  complete. 
Scarcely  had  the  New  England  squadron  left  the  coast  than  two  English 
pirate-ships,  with  ninety  men  on  board,  which  had  pillaged  the  island  of 
Mariegalante,  in  the  West  Indies,  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  appeared  off  the 
river.  The  pirates  landed ;  burned  down  the  church  and  twenty-eight  houses, 
killed  the  cattle,  hanged  two  of  the  inhabitants,  and  burned  a  woman  and  her 
children  in  her  own  house.  The  successors  of  Argall  were  even  more  merci- 
less than  himself. 

The  government  of  Massachusetts,  after  Phipps'  capture  of  Port  Royal, 
considered  Acadia  as  a  dependency  of  that  province  by  right  of  conquest ; 
and  in  the  charter  of  William  and  Mary  to  Massachusetts,  brought  out  to 
Boston  in  1692  by  Sir  William  Phipps,  "  the  territory  called  Accada  or  Nova 
Scotia"  is  united  to  and  incorporated  in  the  province  of  "  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  New  England." 

But  despite  the  wishes  of  the  colonists,  and  the  costly  expenditure  of 
blood  and  treasure  which  the  several  expeditions  had  occasioned  New  Eng- 
land, the  territory  was  again  restored  to  France  by  the  treaty  of  Ryswick  in 
1697.  For  ten  years  after  the  sack  of  Port  Royal  in  1690,  an  incessant 


25S  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

border  warfare  was  kept  up  between  New  England  and  New  France ;  but 
the  settlements  on  the  peninsula  (Nova  Scotia)  were  left  comparatively 
undisturbed,  and  the  natural  fertility  of  the  alluvial  lands,  the  extensive 
fisheries,  and  the  value  of  the  timber  trade,  combined  to  maintain  them  in 
moderate  prosperity.  Resident  curds  were  stationed  at  the  principal  settle- 
ments, and  the  activity  of  the  Indian  missionaries  ifi  Maine  was  incessant, 
instructing  their  neophytes  and  checking  the  inroads  of  the  English.  In 
1695,  the  celebrated  Father  Rale  had  established  his  mission  at  Norridgewock, 
where  he  labored  with  indefatigable  energy,  until  his  death  finally  satisfied 
the  hatred  of  his  enemies.  Fathers  Thury,  Des  Chambault,  Simon,  and 
Baudoin  devoted  themselves  with  marvelous  energy  to  the  task  of  strength- 
ening the  faith  among  these  Indian  tribes;  and  the  unquestioning  devotion  that 
rewarded  their  labors  compensated  them  for  all  the  sufferings  of  their  ardu- 
ous lives.  From  a  memoir  dated  5th  of  February,  1691,  it  appears  that,  at 
that  date,  there  were  nine  missionaries  in  the  country,  five  secular  priests,  and 
four  friars  penitent,  who  received  a  yearly  stipend  from  the  French  king, 
the  priests  300  livres  a  year,  and  the  friars  200  livres.  Father  Thury  estab- 
lished a  mission  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  peninsula,  but  afterward  returned 
to  his  mission  at  Panawaniskd,  on  the  Penobscot,  where  he  died  in  1699.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Fathers  Gaulin  and  Rageot,  of  the  Seminary  of  Foreign 
Missions.  These  fathers  transferred  their  missions  to  the  Jesuits  in  1703. 

A  glance  at  the  missions  of  Acadia  during  the  last  half  of  the  centurv 
which  was  now  drawing  to  a  close  will  show  three  great  orders  of  religious 
confraternities  striving  in  emulous  rivalry  within  the  territory  ll  for  the  con- 
quest of  souls  and  the  salvation  of  the  Indians."  The  blood  of  Father  Gilbert 
du  Thet  had  not  been  spilled  on  barren  ground.  His  words  still  echoed  in 
the  hearts  of  his  brethren  in  New  France;  the  Recollects  occupied  the  whole 
territory  within  the  old  limits  of  De  la  Tour's  lieutenant-generalship,  their 
missions  extending  from  Cape  Sable  to  the  river  St.  John,  with  resident  curds 
at  the  Acadian  settlements  near  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy;  the  priests  of 
the  Seminary  of  Foreign  Missions  of  Quebec,  vying  with  their  brethren  of 
the  older  religious  hou&es  of  Europe  in  the  fervor  of  their  charity,  were  on 
the  Penobscot  and  along  the  coast  of  Maine  to  the  St.  John's  River;  and  a 
little  later,  as  we  have  seen,  had  established  Fathers  Petit  and  Trouvd  at  Port 
Royal ;  while  the  black-coated  army  of  the  Jesuits,  those  invincible  soldiers 
of  the  cross,  were  regaining  the  ground  lost  in  1613,  and  had  entrenched 
themselves  at  St.  Anne's  in  Cape  Breton,  at  Miscou  on  the  gulf,  and  at 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  ACADIA.  259 

Norridgewock  in  Maine,  their  missions  forming  a  triangle  on  the  confines  of 
the  territory,  objective  points  from  which  they  penetrated  into  the  heart  of 
the  country. 

Few  memorials  remain  to  testify  to  the  heroic  ardor  and  generous  charity 
which  impelled  these  undaunted  missionaries  to  devote  themselves,  without 
question  and  without  complaint,  to  the  salvation  of  souls  otherwise  cast  adrift 
without  spiritual  consolation,  on  the  bleak  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  in  the  first  struggling  efforts  for  the  settlement  of  this 
continent.  Even  their  names  hardly  survive;  but  it  is  still  the  glory  of  the 
Church  to  cherish  the  distant  memory  of  these  heroic  men,  who  where  the 
pioneers  in  the  wilderness,  making  straight  the  ways  of  the  Lord. 

The  world  grows  more  grasping  and  selfish,  more  exacting  in  its  demands 
for  material  development,  less  curious  in  things  of  the  spirit,  with  the  increas- 
ing rationalism  of  the  age.  There  is  no  want  of  generous  sentiment  among 
the  men  and  women  of  to-day;  but  its  manifestation  is  stifled  and  deadened 
by  the  narrowness  and  hardness  of  modern  life.  The  tendency  of  modern 
civilization  is  leveling  and  repressive;  the  struggle  of  daily  life  is  more 
monotonous  and  confined  within  narrower  limits;  the  age  has  lost  in  individ- 
ualism, but  its  egotism  is  even  more  intense.  The  greed  for  money,  luxury, 
and  comfort  grows  with  the  increased  facilities  for  securing  these  necessary 
conditions  of  modern  life,  and  blunts  the  more  generous  emotions  of  the  soul. 
Self-abnegation  is  unknown.  It  is  a  prosaic  age — an  age  of  eminent  shop- 
keepers— that  sneers  at  miracles,  apostles,  and  missionaries;  these  belong  to  the 
past;  the  sciolism  of  the  nineteenth  century  consigns  those  marvels  of  faith  to 
the  rude  ages  of  which  they  form  a  part,  they  have  no  place  in  the  active 
business  of  modern  life.  The  world  runs  more  evenly,  but  we  fail  in  some 
way  to  reach  the  highest  level  of  an  earlier  age.  How  far  we  have  gained 
or  lost,  who  shall  pretend  to  judge?  But  it  re-assures  us  at  least  to  know  that 
the  Catholic  Church  still  keeps  alive  within  her  sanctuary  the  memory  and 
example  of  men  who  followed  with  clearer  vision  the  immortal  desires  of  the 
soul,  and  leavened  with  their  holy  charity  the  sordid  selfishness  of  the  world. 

With  the  end  of  the  century,  French  rule  in  Acadia  drew  rapidly  to  a 
close.  The  English  attacks  upon  settlements  grew  more  incessant  and  deter- 
mined. In  1796,  Colonel  Benjamin  Church,  the  famous  partisan  commander 
in  King  Philip's  War,  ravaged  the  settlements  at  the  head  of  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  burning  down  the  church  at  Beaubassin  and  driving  the  inhabitants 
into  the  woods.  Eight  years  later,  Church  again  left  Boston,  on  what  he 


260  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

terms  his  fifth  and  last  expedition  east,  and  destroyed  and  wasted  all  the  set- 
tlements that  fell  into  his  power,  cutting  the  dikes  so  as  to  overflow  the 
meadows,  and  in  that  way  ruining  the  patient  labors  of  nearly  a  century. 
The  stormy  government  of  the  Gascon,  De  Brouillanr,  came  to  a  close  in 
October,  1705;  he  died  at  sea,  on  his  return  from  France  to  Port  Royal,  near 
the  entrance  of  Chibouctou  Bay  (Halifax),  on  board  the  king's  ship  Profond; 
his  body  was  buried  in  the  sea,  but  his  heart  was  taken  out,  and  interred  near 
the  cross  on  the  cape  at  Port  Royal. 

M.  de  Subercase,  the  last  French  governor  of  the  territory,  arrived  at 
Port  Royal  in  1706.  The  missions  were  desolate,  the  churches  burned  by  the 
English,  and  the  sacred  vessels  carried  off  as  plunder  to  Boston.  Under  the 
government  of  Subercase,  a  last  effort  was  made  to  retain  the  territory  under 
the  authority  of  the  French  crown.  The  fortifications  of  Port  Royal  were 
strengthened;  a  larger  garrison  was  sent  out  from  France,  and  the  French 
ships-of-war  and  the  privateers  harassed  the  trade  of  New  England.  The 
New  England  militia  twice  laid  siege  to  Port  Royal  in  1707,  but  were  re- 
pulsed on  each  occasion  with  considerable  loss.  Father  Patrice  was  ap- 
pointed superior  of  the  mission  in  this  year,  and  a  priest  was  stationed  at 
Chibouctou,  where  the  fishery  was  extensively  carried  on. 

The  publication  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  at  Paris,  on  the  22d  of  May, 
1713,  was  the  first  virtual  acknowledgement  of  the  failure  of  French  coloni- 
zation in  North  America.  The  treaty  was  decisive  in  its  results.  Hitherto 
French  diplomacy  had  been  able  to  win  back,  at  the  end  of  each  successive 
war,  the  advantages  gained  in  North  America  by  the  military  prowess  of  the 
New  England  colonists  and  the  naval  supremacy  of  England;  but  Louis 
XIV  was  growing  old,  the  military  genius  of  Marlborough  had  destroyed 
the  flower  of  the  French  armies,  and  the  Court  of  Versailles  was  willing  to 
purchase  peace  at  home  from  the  English,  even  at  the  price  of  sacrificing  the 
dream  of  French  empire  in  the  New  World.  The  tenth  article  of  the  treaty 
gave  up  all  Hudson's  Bay  to  the  English;  the  twelfth,  "likewise  that  all 
Nova  Scotia  or  Acadie  comprehended  within  its  antient  boundaries,  also  the 
city  of  Port  Royal,  now  called  Annapolis  Royal,  and  all  other  things  in  these 
parts  which  depend  on  the  said  lands  and  islands,  are  yielded  and  made  over 
to  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  and  to  her  crown  forever;"  and  the  thirteenth 
article  declared  that  Newfoundland  should  belong  wholly  to  Great  Britain. 

Thus,  at  the  close  of  a  century  from  Argall's  expedition,  the  title  to  the 
sovereignty  of  Acadia  was  finally  determined,  in  a  manner  more  regular  and 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  ACADIA.  261 

formal,  although  the  consequences  to  the  French  colonists  were  far  more  dis- 
tressing and  irreparable  in  the  end  than  any  devastation  caused  by  the  English 
freebooter  when  he  ravaged  the  coasts  in  1613.  By  the  treaty  France 
loosened  her  hold  upon  the  northern  half  of  the  continent,  and  abandoned  her 
title  to  the  whole  line  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  except  Cape  Breton  and  the 
.islands  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence;  and  although  the  fortifications  of  Louis- 
burg  stayed  for  a  time  the  tide  of  English  conquest,  and  even  enabled  the 
French  governors  at  Quebec  to  prosecute  with  temporary  success  their  de- 
signs on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  yet  her  real  loss  was  never  regained  in  the 
New  World,  and  the  final  triumph  of  New  England,  although  delayed,  was 
eventually  assured. 

By  the  cession  of  the  territory,  the  Acadians  found  themselves  in  this 
unhappy  position — they  were  called  upon  to  serve  two  masters,  both  exact- 
ing, each  inexorable  in  the  demand  for  a  single  and  unqualified  allegiance. 
The  French  crown,  it  is  true,  had  formally  relinquished  its  right  of  sover- 
eignty over  the  inhabitants  of  Acadia,  but  its  secret  aspirations  were  well 
known,  and  the  inseparable  ties  of  race,  of  their  ancient  allegiance,  of  religion, 
manners,  and  language,  were  too  closely  and  firmly  knit  to  yield  to  any  for- 
mal renunciation  made  without  their  consent;  while-  on  the  other  hand,  the 
strong  arm  of  military  power,  the  unconcealed  threats  of  removal  from  the 
rich  diked  meadows  that  they  had  cultivated  for  a  century,  their  tenacious  love 
of  country,  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  future,  impelled  them  to  submit  with 
tacit  acquiescence,  at  least,  to  the  authority  of  the  English  governors  at 
Annapolis. 

By  the  terms  of  the  capitulation  of  Port  Royal,  confirmed  and  enlarged 
by  the  letter  of  Queen  Anne,  of  June  22,  1713,  the  Acadians  were  permitted 
either  to  sell  their  lands  and  remove  out  of  the  province,  or  to  remain  unmo- 
lested on  condition  of  acknowledging  themselves  English  subjects.  The 
French  authorities,  who  were  then  engaged  in  settling  and  fortifying  Cape 
Breton,  were  desirous  of  strengthening  and  consolidating  the  new  colony,  and 
strong  representations  were  made  to  induce  the  Acadians  to  remove  with 
their  effects  to  the  island;  the  frowning  ramparts  which  the  French  engineers 
were  beginning  to  raise  above  the  harbor  of  Louisburg  seeming  to  promise  a 
last  and  impregnable  defense  against  English  encroachment.  In  July,  1713, 
Governor  de  Costabelle  sent  a  messenger  with  letters  to  Father  Gaulin,  F.M., 
whose  missionary  labors  were  confined  to  the  Indians,  and  to  Father  Felix, 
Recollect,  cure1  of  Mines,  urging  them  to  use  their  influence  to  induce  the 


262  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Acadians  and  Indians  to  remove  from  the  province  and  join  the  colony  at 
Louisburg.  One  cannot  fail  to  observe  in  this,  as  well  as  in  every  other 
movement  in  the  history  both  of  English  and  French-American  colonization 
of  that  day,  the  carelessness  of  both  governments  respecting  colonial  interests, 
so  far  as  they  affected  only  the  colonists  themselves,  the  ignorance  and  indif- 
ference always  shown  by  the  home  authorities  with  regard  to  the  natural  ties 
formed  by  birth  and  labor  in  a  new  country,  and  the  entire  subjection  of  all 
other  considerations  to  the  furtherance  of  imperial  views  alone. 

The  few  scattered  missionaries,  however,  who  still  remained  in  the  pro- 
vince, and  who,  in  the  absence  of  the  regular  civil  authority  to  which  they 
still  felt  themselves  bound,  were  recognized  by  the  Acadians  as  their  natural 
leaders  and  most  sincere  friends,  did  not  look  very  favorably  upon  a  project 
which  demanded  such  heavy  and  distressing  sacrifices  from  their  people,  and 
preferred  rather  to  rely  upon  the  hope  (then  probable  enough)  of  the  eventual 
restoration  of  the  country  to  the  French  crown,  and  upon  the  promises  of 
toleration  and  civil  liberty  held  out  by  the  English  governors.  Father  Felix 
Palm,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Monsieur  de  Costabelle,  states  the  objections 
made  by  the  Acadians  to  the  scheme  proposed  by  the  French  government: 

"Aux  MINES,  September  23, 1713. 

"A  summary  of  what  the  inhabitants  have  answered  me: 

"It  would  be  to  expose  us  manifestly  (they  say)  to  die  of  hunger,  burthened  as  we 
are  with  large  families,  to  quit  the  dwelling-places  and  clearances  from  which  we  derive 
our  usual  subsistence,  without  any  other  resource,  to  take  rough,  new  lands,  from 
which  the  standing  wood  must  be  removed  without  any  advances  or  assistance.  One- 
fourth  of  our  population  consists  of  aged  persons,  unfit  for  the  labor  of  breaking  up 
new  lands,  and  who,  with  great  exertion,  are  able  only  to  cultivate  the  cleared  ground 
which  supplies  subsistence  for  them  and  their  families.  Finally,  we  shall  answer  for 
ourselves  and  for  the  absent  that  we  will  never  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  queen 
of  Great  Britain,  to  the  prejudice  of  what  we  owe  to  our  king,  to  our  country,  and  to 
our  religion;  and  that  if  any  attempt  were  made  against  the  one  or  the  other  of  these 
two  articles  of  our  fidelity — that  is  to  say,  to  our  king  and  to  our  law,  that  in  that  case 
we  are  ready  to  quit  all  rather  than  to  violate  in  the  least  thing  one  of  those  articles. 
Besides,  we  do  not  yet  know  in  what  manner  the  English  will  use  us.  If  they  burthen 
us  in  respect  pf  our  religion,  or  eat  up  our  settlements  to  divide  the  lands  with  people 
of  their  nations,  we  will  abandon  them  absolutely.  We  know,  further,  from  the  exact 
visits  we  have  made,  that  there  are  no  lands  in  the  whole  island  of  Cape  Breton  which 
would  be  suitable  for  the  maintenance  of  our  families,  since  there  are  not  meadows 
sufficient  to  nourish  our  cattle,  from  which  we  draw  our  principal  subsistence.  The 
Indians  say  that  to  shut  them  up  in  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  would  be  to  damage 
their  liberty,  and  that  it  would  be  a  thing  inconsistent  with  their  natural  freedom  and 
the  means  of  providing  for  their  subsistence.  That  with  regard  to  their  attachment  to 
the  king  and  to  the  French,  that  it  is  inviolable;  and  if  the  queen  of  England  had  the 
meadows  of  Acadie  by  the  cession  made  by  his  majesty  of  them,  they,  the  Indians,  had 
the  woods,  out  of  which  no  one  could  ever  dislodge  them;  and  that  so  they  wished 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  AC  ADI  A. 


263 


each  to  remain  at  their  posts,  promising,  nevertheless,  to  be  always  faithful  to  the 
French.  In  the  colonies  of  Port  Royal,  Mines,  Piggiguit,  Coppeguit,  and  Beaubassin, 
six  thousand  (6,000)  souls  would  have  to  be  removed." 

The  French  plan  for  the  removal  of  the  Acadians  to  Cape  Breton  fell  to 
the  ground  after  a  time,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  policy  of  reprisals  more  dis- 
astrous and  harassing  to  the  Acadians  than  to  the  English  garrison  at  Annap- 
olis; while  at  the  same  time  the  English  lords  of  trade  and  the  colonial 
governors  were  slowly  maturing  a  scheme  for  the  forcible  and  wholesale 
removal  of  the  French  inhabitants  from  the  province. 

The  history  of  the  expatriation  of  a  peaceful  and  industrious  people,  the 
narration  of  the  successive  events  during  forty  years  leading  up  to  the  final 
catastrophe,  the  movement  to  and  fro  of  the  temporizing  policy  of  the  con- 
querors until  they  felt 
their  power  secure 
within  their  hands,  the 
alternate  hopefulness 
and  anxiety  of  the  con- 
quered, the  expectation 
of  aid  from  their  kins- 
men abroad,  sometimes 
drawing  near,  always 
eventually  dashed  to 
the  ground ;  the  deso- 
lation of  the  settle- 
ments by  friend  and 
foe,  the  burning  of 
their  churches,  the 
driving  out  of  their 
pastors,  to  whom  they  were  devotedly  attached  as  their  most  reliable  and 
unselfish  friends,  and  their  final  dispersion  over  the  continent  and  among  the 
islands  of  the  West  Indies — make  a  sombre-colored  picture  which  attracts  the 
imagination  of  the  observer,  and  fixes  his  attention  even  at  this  distant  day. 
The  beautiful  pictures  of  contented  industry,  of  rural  peace  and  simplicity, 
drawn  by  Longfellow  and  the  Abbe"  Raynal,  find  little  counterpart  in  the 
reality  of  the  stern  and  rigorous  rule  of  the  English  military  governors  at 
Annapolis,  Fort  Edward,  and  Fort  Lawrence,  or  in  the  harassing  persecution 
and  suspicious  tyranny  to  which  the  Acadians  were  ceaselessly  subjected  until 
the  fall  of  the  last  French  stronghold  on  the  peninsula,  by  the  capture  of 


BANISHMENT    OF    THE    ACADIANS. 


264  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Fort  Beausejour,  left  the  English  government  free  to  carry  out  its  long  con- 
templated plan  of  wholesale  deportation.  One  feature  is  more  clearly 
marked  than  any  other  in  the  history  of  the  Acadians — that  is,  the  single- 
hearted  devotion  with  which  the  missionaries  devoted  themselves  to  the 
amelioration  of  the  political  conditions  of  their  people,  as  well  as  to  the  admin- 
istration of  the  divine  consolations  of  religion,  which  helped  to  sustain  them 
under  their  burdens.  That  their  faithfulness  to  their  duty  brought  down 
upon  their  heads  the  anger  and  suspicion  of  the  English  governors,  need 
not  be  said. 

The  policy  of  conciliation,  indeed,  was  a  policy  not  much  practised  nor 
very  much  esteemed  in  those  days,  nor  were  the  inherent  rights  of  distinct 
populations  very  clearly  recognized  ;  the  English  held  the  country  by  the 
strong  hand,  and  both  priests  and  people  felt  its  weight  without  distinction. 
Scarcely  three  months  had  elapsed  after  the  capitulation  of  Annapolis,  when 
Father  Justinien,  the  cure  of  the  settlement,  was  imprisoned  under  the  frivo- 
lous pretext  of  having  left  the  banlieue,  and  gone  up  the  river  without  the 
order  of  the  governor,  Colonel  Vetch;  and  in  February,  1711,  he  was  sent  to 
Boston,  where  he  remained  a  prisoner  for  nearly  two  years.  The  condition, 
in  the  meantime,  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Annapolis  River  was  wretched, 
and  their  minds  were  harassed  with  doubts  as  to  the  future ;  in  the  same  year 
they  sent  M.  de  Clignancourt  to  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  the  governor  of 
Quebec,  with  a  letter,  in  which  they  say : 

"  M.  de  Clignancourt  will  give  you,  sir,  a  faithful  report  of  all  that  has  passed 
since  the  departure  of  the  English  fleet.  He  will  make  you  acquainted  with  the  bot- 
tom of  our  hearts,  and  will  tell  you  better  than  we  can  do  by  a  letter  the  harsh  man- 
ner in  which  Mr.  Weische"  (Vetch)  "treats  us,  keeping  us  like  negroes,  and  wishing  to 
persuade  us  that  we  are  under  great  obligations  to  him  for  not  treating  us  much  worse, 
being  able,  he  says,  to  do  so  with  justice,  and  without  our  having  room  to  complain. 
We  pray  you,  sir,  to  have  regard  to  our  misery,  and  to  honor  us  with  your  letter  for 
our  consolation,  expecting  that  you  may  furnish  the  necessary  assistance  for  our  re- 
tiring from  this  unhappy  country." 

Father  Justinien  was  permitted  to  return  in  1714-15,  and  continued  to 
exercise  the  functions  of  curd  at  Annapolis  until  1720.  On  the  28th  of  April 
of  that  year  Governor  Philipps  issued  proclamations  to  the  people  of  Annap- 
olis, Mines,  and  Chignecto,  commanding  them  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
without  qualification,  or  to  withdraw  from  the  country  within  four  months, 
without  carrying  away  any  of  their  effects  except  two  sheep  for  each  family; 
the  rest  of  their  property  to  be  confiscated  to  the  crown.  At  the  same  date, 
letters  were  addressed  to  Father  Justinien  at  Annapolis,  Father  Felix  at 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  ACADIA.  265 

Mines,  and  Father  Vincent,  at  Chignecto,  ordering  them  to  summon  their 
people  together  and  make  known  the  governor's  proclamation.  The  terms 
prescribed  by  the  proclamation  were  in  violation  of  the  promises  made  in  the 
letter  of  Queen  Anne,  which  guaranteed  to  the  Acadians  the  right  "  to  retain 
and  enjoy  their  said  lands  and  tenements  without  molestation  (on  condition  of 
being  willing  to  continue  our  subjects),  as  fully  and  freely  as  other  our  sub- 
jects do  or  may  possess  their  lands  or  estates,  or  to  sell  the  same,  if  they  shall 
rather  choose  to  remove  elsewhere." 

Finding  this  alternative  before  them,  the  inhabitants  sent  a  letter  by 
Father  Justinien  to  M.  St.  Ovide,  governor  at  Louisburg,  appealing  to  him 
for  advice  and  assistance.  Some  correspondence  took  place  between  St.  Ovide 
and  Philipps,  and  the  English  governor,  finding  the  forces  at  his  command 
insufficient  to  carry  out  his  proclamation,  allowed  the  matter  to  rest  for  a  time; 
"sending  home  the  deputies,"  as  he  says,  "with  smooth  words  and  promises  of 
enlargement  of  time." 

The  departure  of  Father  Justinien  was,  however,  looked  upon  unfavor- 
ably by  the  governor,  and  he  was  forbidden  to  return  to  the  province. 
Philipps  afterward  granted  the  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Annapolis  to 
send  to  Cape  Breton  for  a  priest  in  place  of  Father  Justinien.  Father  Char- 
lemagne was  appointed  cure'  and  continued  to  officiate  until  1724,  when  he  in 
turn  fell  under  the  suspicion  of  the  governor  and  council,  and  was  sent  out  of 
the  province. 

In  February  of  the  same  year,  Father  Isidore,  a  Franciscan  friar,  came  to 
Annapolis.  He  had  been  selected  by  Father  Claude  Sanquiest,  superior  of 
the  Recollects,  at  Louisburg,  to  be  resident  priest  at  Piggigtiit  (Windsor). 
Maj.  Cosby,  whocommanded  atCanso,  wrote  to  Lieutenant-Governor  Doucett, 
at  Annapolis,  that  his  excellency  the  governor  had  authorized  Sanquiest  to 
appoint  a  cure"  for  Piggiguit.  Father  Isidore  received  the  approbation  of 
the  council,  and  entered  on  his  mission  at  Piggiguite.  An  event  soon  occurred, 
however,  in  which  the  missionaries  were  charged  with  complicity' — the 
suspicious  temper  of  the  governor  and  council  being  prone  to  lay  all  their  dif- 
ficulties at  the  door  of  the  "Romish  priests" — and  which  resulted  in  the  ban- 
ishment of  Father  Felix  and  Father  Charlemagne  from  the  province,  and  the 
transfer  of  Father  Isidore  to  the  cur£  of  Mines. 

The  Indians  continued  this  year  to  make  war  on  the  frontier  New  England 
settlements,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  summer  a  war  party  of  Micmacs  and 
Malecites  attacked  the  fort  at  Annapolis,  killed  two  and  wounded  four  of  a 


266  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE* 

party  of  the  garrison,  who  made  a  sally  and  carried  off  several  prisoners. 
Father  Charlemagne  and  Father  Isidore  were  brought  before  the  council,  and 
examined  with  regard  to  their  previous  knowledge  of  the  designs  of  the 
Indians.  The  council  resolved  that  Father  Charlemagne  should  be  kept  in  cus- 
tody until  an  opportunity  offered  of  sending  him  out  of  the  province,  and  he  was 
forbidden  to  return  on  his  peril.  The  evidence  against  Father  Charlemagne 
was  of  the  most  slender  character,  and  no  jury  could  be  found  now  to  con- 
vict him  of  complicity  in  the  attack  ;  the  council  being  obliged,  in  fact,  to  base 
its  judgment  on  the  supposition  that  he  could  have  given  the  garrison  notice 
of  the  proposed  attack,  and  that  he  failed  to  do  so.  When  it  is  known  that 
he  had  no  means  of  communicating  with  the  garrison,  except  by  the  river, 
and  that  both  banks  were  guarded  by  hostile  Indians,  determined  to  intercept 
any  communication,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  the  verdict  of  the  council  was 
formed  rather  from  their  desire  to  find  some  one  whom  they  could  punish  for 
the  late  attack  (as  the  Indians  had  escaped  them),  and  upon  the  natural  odium 
which  they  entertained  against  Romish  priests,  than  upon  the  evidence  in  the 
case.  The  answers  of  Father  Charlemagne  himself  were  frank  and  straight- 
forward, and  offer  a  curious  commentary  upon  the  statement  made  in  the  report 
of  the  council  that  "he  often  prevaricated,  and  never  answering  directly  to 
any  question." 

The  governor  laid  before  the  board  a  letter  from  Pere  Felix,  who  refused 
to  appear  before  the  council,  as  he  was  about  to  leave  the  province.  It  was 
resolved  "that  an  order  be  sent  to  Mines,  to  be  there  published  at  the  mass- 
house,  to  discharge  the  said  Father  Felix  from  ever,  at  his  utmost  peril,  enter- 
ing this  province  without  the  consent  and  approbation  of  the  government." 
Father  Isidore  was  acquitted  of  any  complicity  in  the  attack  upon  the  garri- 
son ;  and,  after  having  received  the  thanks  of  the  governor  in  council,  was 
appointed  to  the  cure1  of  Mines  in  place  of  Father  Felix.  The  English  then 
shot  and  scalped  an  Indian  hostage  who  had  been  detained  two  years  in  the 
fort.  He  was  put  to  death  on  the  spot  where  Sergeant  McNeal,  one  of  the 
garrison,  had  been  killed.  The  council  also  passed  a  standing  order  "that 
there  should  be  no  more  Mass  said  up  the  river ;  that  the  Mass-house  there 
should  be  demolished,  and  that  one  should  be  built  at  Annapolis,  to  which 
they  might  all  resort,  as  an  eternal  monument  of  their  said  treachery." 

It  might  perhaps  be  supposed  that  this  furious  bigotry  wreaked  upon  inno- 
cent heads  ended  there — the  Indians  who  attacked  the  fort  belonged  mostly 
to  a  tribe  called  the  Malecites,  living  on  the  St.  John  River,  on  the  other  side 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  AC  ADI  A. 


267 


of  the  Bay  of  Funcly,  who  were  strangers  to  the  missionaries  at  Port  Royal 
and  Mines,  and  over  whom  they  had  no  control ;  and  it  was  not  pretended 
nor  asserted  that  a  single  Acadian  had  taken  part  in  the  raid  —  but  it  did  not. 
Eight  years  afterwards,  when  another  governor,  Colonel  Armstrong,  had 
succeeded  Philipps,  the  people  up  the  river  petitioned  to  have  their  church 
removed  to  the  middle  of  the  settlement,  or  else  that  the  priest  might  spend 
half  his  time  up  the  river.  This  was  refused  on  the  ground  that  the  church 
had  been  removed  to  Annapolis  on  account  of  "#  massacre  contrived  by  the 
•priests,  Charlemain  and  Felix  of  Mines,  and  several  of  the  people,  to  be  per- 
petrated by  the  Indians;"  and  they  were  told  by  Armstrong:  "There  are 
none  of  you  but  know  how  barbarously  some  of  his  majesty's  subjects  were 
murdered  and  wounded  by  these  infatuated,  unthinking  people."  The  coun- 
cil were  of  opinion  that  their  church  should  not  be  removed,  but  that  it  should 
"remain  where  it  now  is  as  a  lasting  monument  and  memorial  of  their  treach- 
erous villainy  to  his  Brittanick  majesty  and  his  subjects." 

In  October  of  the  same  year  the  lieutenant-governor  informed  the  coun- 
cil that  he  had  received  a  letter  from  Father  Felix,  informing  him  of  his 
(Felix's)  return  to  the  province,  and  that  he  had  taken  up  his  residence  at 
Chignecto  on  the  assurance  of  a  letter  from  the  governor  of  Cape  Breton  in 
his  favor.  Father  Felix  was  accompanied  by  two  other  Recollects,  mission- 
aries, who  also  addressed  letters  to  the  lieutenant-governor,  asking  permission 
to  offi.-iate.  The  council,  however,  was  inexorable,  and  ordered  Father  Felix 
and  his  companions  not  to  remain  in  the  province  at  their  peril;  but  as  its  au- 
thority did  not  extend  practically  beyond  cannon-shot  of  the  fort  at  Annap- 
olis, there  was  no  means  of  enforcing  the  order,  and  Father  Felix  continued 
to  officiate  for  several  years.  In  January,  1725,  Father  Ignace,  a  Flemish 
priest,  who  had  been  sent  by  Father  Jocunde,  the  superior  of  the  Recollects 
in  Cape  Breton,  with  a  recommendation  to  the  people  of  Mines,  arrived  at 
Annapolis  with  the  deputies  from  that  settlement,  and  requested  the  permis- 
sion of  the  government  to  officiate.  The  governor  and  council  having  de- 
manded and  received  from  him  assurances  that  he  would  confine  himself 
solely  to  his  religious  labors,  and  that  he  would  take  no  part  in  the  political 
affairs  of  the  province,  appointed  him  to  Chignecto,  "in  the  hope,"  as  they  said, 
"  of  rooting  out  Felix."  At  a  meeting  of  council  on  the  22d  of  January, 
Father  Pierre,  who  had  gone  to  Cobequid  without  leave,  was  ordered  to  be 
"banished  the  country,"  and  the  council  threatened  the  people  of  that 
settlement  with  severe  penalties  for  referring  a  question  of  building  a 


268  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

church  to  the  bishop  of  Quebec.  Father  Charlemagne,  who  had  been 
imprisoned  since  July  previous,  was  sent  to  Cape  Breton  in  the  spring  of 
this  year  (1725.) 

In  1726  the  venerable  Indian  missionary,  Father  Gaulin,  finding  himself 
greatly  harassed  by  the  hostility  of  the  provincial  government,  surrendered 
himself  prisoner  at  Annapolis,  and  petitioned  the  governor  and  council  for 
leave  to  remain  as  a  missionary  in  the  province.  He  was  treated  with  great 
harshness  and  insolence  by  the  governor  and  council;  but,  as  it  was  deemed 
prudent  at  the  time  to  conciliate  the  French  inhabitants  and  the  Indians,  the 
decision  of  the  council  was  that,  "  notwithstanding  he  was  such  a  vile  fellow, 
it  would  still  be  better  at  this  juncture  to  continue  him,  than  either  to  keep 
him  in  prison  or  banish  him  from  the  province."  Father  Gaulin  was  accord- 
ingly called  before  the  council,  and  after  being  reprimanded  for  his  "  intoler- 
able insolence,"  "  that  old  fellow  Gaulin  " — as  the  governor,  Armstrong,  calls 
the  venerable  priest  who  had  been  laboring  for  twenty  years  in  the  wilder- 
ness among  the  Indians  without  other  recompense  than  the  consciousness  of 
duty  faithfully  performed — was  set  at  liberty  and  allowed  to  enter  again 
upon  his  mission  without  further  molestation. 

The  governor,  Armstrong,  was  a  man  of  violent  and  suspicious  temper 
who  was  always  embroiled  in  disputes  with  his  subordinate  officers,  but  the 
brunt  of  his  displeasure  invariably  fell  upon  the  missionaries.  In  1729  Father 
Breslay,cure  of  Annapolis,  was  banished  from  the  province,  and  it  was  not 
until  1732  that  Armstrong  granted  the  petition  of  the  inhabitants,  and  wrote 
to  M.  St.  Ovide  at  Louisburg  to  send  him  two  priests,  one  for  Annapolis  and 
the  other  for  Mines.  He  had  previously  ordered  Father  Godalie,  cure"  of 
Mines,  and  grand  vicar,  to  leave  the  province.  Father  Godalie  was  accused 
of  having  "  basely  contradicted  himself  " — "  of  presuming  to  build  churches 
without  the  privity  or  authority  of  his  majesty's  government"  —  "of  pervert- 
ing one  of  his  majesty's  subjects  to  the  popish  religion,"  "  and  for  styling  him- 
self the  bishop  of  Quebec's  vicar."  For  these  offenses  the  council  ordered 
him  to  depart  out  of  the  province,  directed  the  inhabitants  not  to  pay  him  any 
more  tithes. 

In  1736,  Father  St.  Poucy  and  Father  De  Chevereaux,  another  of  the 
missionaries  from  Louisburg,  were  ordered  to  be  sent  out  of  the  province,  for 
refusing  to  obey  the  governor's  order  to  go  to  Poubomcoup  (Pubnico)  to 
recover  some  property  from  the  Indians — the  missionaries  declaring  that  they 
had  no  business  with  things  temporal,  and  refusing  to  have  anything  to  do 


SAD  HISTORY  OF  ACADIA.  269 

with  the  affair.  Father  De  Chevereaux  stopped  at  Cape  Sable,  where  he 
commenced  a  mission  among  the  Indians;  and  Father  St.  Poucy,  after  having 
sent  to  Louisburg,  returned  again  to  Annapolis.  The  government  immedi- 
ately ordered  him  to  depart  on  the  first  opportunity,  but  the  inhabitants  peti- 
tioning strongly  in  his  favor,  he  was  allowed  to  resume  his  functions  as  cure. 
He  continued  to  officiate  until  174°?  when  he  applied  for  a  passport,  signify- 
ing his  intention  to  leave  the  province  by  way  of  Mines.  He  returned  to  the 
province  from  Louisburg  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  and  wrote  to  Gov- 
ernor Mascarene,  who  had  succeeded  Armstrong,  announcing  his  intention  of 
establishing  himself  as  missionary  at  Chignecto.  The  government  refused, 
however,  to  sanction  his  return  to  the  province,  and  Father  Laboret  was 
appointed  curd  of  Chignecto.  Father  De  St.  Poucy  was  succeeded  at  Annap- 
olis by  Father  Nicholas  Vauquelin,  who  continued  to  perform  the  functions  of 
curd  until  June,  1742.  The  first  mention  made  of  Father  De  Loutre,  of  the 
Society  of  Foreign  Missions,  who  afterwards  played  so  conspicuous  a  part  in 
opposing  the  measures  taken  by  the  English  government  to  drive  the  Indians 
and  Acadians  out  of  the  province,  is  found  in  a  letter  addressed  to  him  from 
Governor  Mascarene,  in  January,  I741-  Mascarene  was  a  man  of  ability 
and  moderation  of  temper,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that,  if  his 
successors  in  the  government  of  the  province,  Cornwallis  and  Lawrence,  had 
followed  the  policy  of  conciliation  which  he  initiated,  the  discontent  and 
anxiety  of  the  Acadians  and  the  hostility  of  the  Indians,  would  have  been 
soon  replaced  by  a  loyal  and  contented  submission  to  the  English  govern- 
ment, and  the  disgraceful  outrages  upon  justice  and  humanity  involved  in  the 
expulsion  of  the  Acadians,  which  make  one  of  the  worst  chapters  in  the 
harsh  history  of  English  colonial  government,  would  have  been  avoided. 

With  the  complete  occupation  of  Halifax  by  the  British,  in  1741,  the  his- 
tory of  the  relations  between  the  colonial  government  and  the  Acadians 
underwent  a  sudden  and  radical  change.  Within  six  years  priests  and  people 
had  disappeared  from  the  province,  and  were  dispersed  in  helpless  and  scat- 
tered groups  over  English  colonies.  The  larger  military  force  at  the  disposal 
of  the  English  governors  at  Halifax,  enabled  them  to  carry  out,  without 
further  delay,  the  long-contemplated  plan  for  the  forcible  removal  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  Acadian  population.  The  history  of  their  expulsion  has 
been  often  written,  and  has  been  made  familiar  by  poets  and  essayists  to  all 
readers.  It  is  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  English  colonial  government  of 
the  eighteenth  century  which  will  not  easily  lose  its  interest  so  long  as  the 


270 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


associations  of  country  and  the  sacred  intimacy  of  family  ties  find  a  place  in 
men's  hearts.  The  missions  were  broken.  Fathers  Des  Enclaves,  Dandin, 
Chauvreaux,  and  Miniac  were  put  on  board  the  English  fleet  and  carried  off 
prisoners  with  the  people  among  whom  they  had  labored  long  and  faithfully. 
Father  De  Loutre  sailed  for  France  after  the  capture  of  Fort  Beausejour,  but 
was  taken  prisoner  on  the  voyage  by  an  English  cruiser,  and  sent  to  Eliza- 
beth Castle,  in  Jersey,  were  he  remained  for  eight  years. 

The  poor  exiles  of  this  period  fared  badly,  as  was  intended.  Some  were 
landed  in  Massachusetts,  friendless  and  starving;  many  died;  over  one  thou- 
sand became  a  public  charge.  Others  were  taken  further  south  and  were 


ACADIANS   LEAVING   THEIR    SHORES. 

reduced  to  such  misery  that  thfty  were  sold  as  slaves.  Others  took  refuge  in 
Cape  Breton  and  in  St.  John's  (now  Prince  Edward)  Island.  After  peace 
was  proclaimed  and  the  footing  of  the  English  colony  firmly  established,  the 
embargo  was  taken  off  Acadian  settlers.  Some  of  these  poor  people,  who 
were  longing  for  their  "dear  Acadie,"  and  who  were  near  enough  to  carry 
out  their  wishes,  returned,  but  returned  to  find  their  homes  occupied  by  the 
invader.  Their  clearings  and  houses  thus  being  lost  to  them,  they  settled 
along  the  shores,  and,  as  time  wore  "on,  became  quite  a  thriving  population, 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKE. 


2-71 


gaining  their  living  from  the  treasures  of  the  sea,  and   establishing  fisheries 
now  a  source  of  vast  wealth  to  the  Dominion. 

In  1759?  an  act  was  passed  by  the  provincial  assembly  banishing  "popish 
priests,"  under  penalty  of  imprisonment,  etc. ;  any  person  found  harboring 
and  concealing  one  to  pay  a  fine  of  ,£50  for  the  first  offense;  to  be  set  in  the 
pillory,  and  find  securities  for  good  behavior.  In  this  manner  ended  the 
French  missions  in  Acadia;  but  a  soil  crowded  with  the  associations  of  so 
many  laborers  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  was  not  long  destined  to  remain  barren. 
An  Irish  Catholic  Church,  full  of  vigorous  life,  strong  in  that  vitality  of  the 
faith  inherent  in  the  race,  has  sprung  up  on  the  ruins  of  the  French  missions. 
The  age  has  grown  more  tolerant,  the  old  barriers  against  liberty  of  conscience 
have  been  broken  down,  and  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  British  provinces  has 
no  longer  to  contend  against  the  difficulties  and  perils  that  beset  the  early 
missionaries.  Looking  back  now  at  their  shadowy  figures,  standing  in  the 
background  of  American  colonization  in  the  seventeenth  and  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  unclouded  by  the  dark  prejudices  of  race  and  religion 
which  then  enveloped  them,  we  are  able,  in  this  age,  to  pay  a  more  just  and 
grateful  tribute  of  admiration  to  the  brave  and  faithful  services  they  rendered 
io  the  Acadians. 


HUHONS  OF  THG 


FATHER  LE  CARON  RECEIVES  HELP. — LIVES  OF  SELF-DENIAL. — THREE  SOLDIERS  OP 
THE  CROSS. — THE  FAMOUS  WYANDOTS. — PARTING  WITH  A  BELOVED  MISSION- 
ARY.— FATHER  BREBENT  LONGS  FOR  His  CHILDREN. — A  TEDIOUS  RIVER 
JOURNEY. — ARRIVAL  IN  THE  HURON  NATION. — "ECHON  HAS  COME  AGAIN!" 
— TEACHING  BY  THE  CLOCK. — PAINTING  THE  MISSION  CROSS. — A  PLAGUE 
STRIKES  THE  LAND. — THE  MISSIONARY'S  FIRST  TRIUMPH. — MEDICINE  MEN  IN 
TROUBLE. — THE  FATHERS  TRIED  FOR  SORCERY. — HEADS  IN  DANGER. — CLOUDS 
OF  DEATH  AND  MARTYRDOM. — TRIALS  ON  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE. — FATHER 
DANIEL  AND  HIS  CHILDREN. — THE  IROQUOIS  WAR  PARTY. — A  MARTYR  AND 
His  BLAZING  CHURCH. — THE  STRICKEN  HURON  NATION. — MASSACRE  AT  ST. 
IGNATIUS. — TORTURE  OF  THE  FATHERS. — SCOFFING  THE  MARTYRS.— -Two 
GLORIOUS  DEATHS. — LAST  OF  A  GREAT  NATION. 

i 

»N  the  account  given  of  Champlain,  the  founder  and  first  governor 
of  Quebec,  we  left  Father  Le  Caron,  the  Franciscan  Recollect, 
laboring  among  the  Huron  Indians  of  that  region.  In  1623, 
while  temporarily  sojourning  at  Quebec,  this  missionary  was 
rejoiced  by  the  arrival  from  France  of  Father  Viel  and  Brother 
Sagard  of  the  same  order.  The  good  missionary  at  once  invited 
them  to  a  place  in  his  canoe,  and  the  three  Franciscans  paddled  off  to  the  dis- 
tant missions  of  the  Hurons.  The  old  cabin  was  renovated,  and  the  priests 
began  to  labor  among  the  savages  as  well  as  they  could.  Two  adults  were 
baptized. 

But  it  was  a  hard  life  and  a  stony  field.  The  missionaries  subsisted  chiefly 
on  Indian  corn,  peas,  and  squashes.  A  little  stream  that  ran  near  the  door 
furnished  their  only  drink.  On  the  long  winter  evenings  they  read  by  the 
light  of  the  fire — having  no  candles.  They  retired  to  rest  on  beds  of  bark, 
and  slept  soundly  after  the  daily  round  of  ceaseless  toil. 

272 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  273 

In  the  summer  of  1624  Father  Le  Caron  returned  to  Quebec  on  business 
of  importance.  The  aid  of  the  Jesuits  was  requested  in  the  work  of  the  mis- 
sions, and  in  the  year  following  three  fathers  were  sent  to  Canada.  Fathers 
John  de  Brebeuf,  Charles  Lallemant,  and  Evremond  Masse",  themselves  all 
eager  for  the  task,  were  the  priests  selected  by  their  superiors  for  the  trying 
mission.  These  apostolic  men  sailed  from  Dieppe,  April  26,  1625,  and  reached 
Quebec  after  a  prosperous  voyage.  The  recepticn  they  at  first  met  was 
enough  to  have  appalled  any  hearts  less  resolute  and  inspired  from  above 
than  were  the  hearts  of  Father  Brebeuf  and  his  companions.  The  Recollects, 
a  branch  of  the  Franciscan  order,  who,  through  Father  Le  Caron,  had  invited 
them  over,  had  received  at  their  convent  on  the  river  St.  Charles  no  tidings 

'  O 

of  their  arrival ;  Champlain,  ever  friendly  to  the  missionaries  of  the  faith,  was 
absent;  Caen,  the  Calvinist,  then  at  the  head  of  the  fur-trading  monopoly  of 
New  France,  refused  them  shelter  in  the  fort;  and  the  private  traders  at 
Quebec  closed  their  doors  against  them.  To  perish  in  the  wilderness,  or  to 
return  to  France  from  the  inhospitable  shores  of  the  New  World,  was  the  only 
alternative  before  them.  At  this  juncture  the  good  Recollects,  hearing  of 
tneir  arrival  and  destitution,  hastened  from  their  convent  in  their  boat,  and 
received  the  outcast  sons  of  Loyola  with  every  demonstration  of  joy  and  hos- 
pitality, and  carried  them  to  the  convent.  The  sons  of  St.  Francis  and  St. 
Ignatius  united  at  once  in  administering  to  the  spiritual  necessities  of  the 
French  at  Quebec,  and  the  latter,  by  their  heroic  labors  and  sacrifices,  soon 
overcame  the  prejudice  of  their  enemies. 

From  his  transient  home  at  Quebec,  Father  Bre*beuf  watched  for  an 
opportunity  of  advancing  to  the  field  of  his  mission  among  the  Indians.  The 
first  opportunity  that  presented  itself  was  the  proposed  descent  of  Father  Viel 
to  Three  Rivers,  in  order  to  make  a  retreat  and  attend  to  some  necessary 
business  of  the  mission.  Father  Brebeuf,  accompanied  by  the  Recollect, 
Father  Dallion,  lost  no  time  in  repairing  to  the  trading  post  to  meet  the 
father,  return  with  him  and  the  expected  annual  flotilla  of  trading  canoes 
from  the  Huron  country,  and  commence  his  coveted  work  among  the  Wyan- 
dots.  But  he  arrived  only  to  hear  that  Father  Viel  had  gained  the  crown  of 
martyrdom,  together  with  a  little  Christian  boy,  whom  their  Indian  conduc- 
tor, as  his  canoe  shot  across  the  last  dangerous  rapids  in  the  river  Des 
Prairies,  behind  Montreal,  seized  and  threw  into  the  foaming  torrent  together, 
by  which  they  were  swept  immediately  into  the  seething  gulf  below,  never 
to  rise  again.  Neither  the  death  of  Father  Viel,  nor  his  own  ignorance  of 


274 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


the  Huron  language,  appalled  the  brave  heart  of  Father  Bre"beuf,  who,  when 
the  flotilla  came  down,  begged  to  be  taken  back  as  a  passenger  to  the  Huron 
country;  but  the  refusal  of  the  Indians  to  receive  him  compelled  him  to 
return  to  Quebec.  On  the  2oth  of  July,  1625,  he  went  among  the  Montag- 
nais,  with  whom  he  wintered,  and  for  five  months  suffered  all  the  rigors  of 
the  climate  in  a  mere  bark-cabin,  in  which  he  had  to  endure  both  smoke  and 
filth,  the  inevitable  penalties  of  accepting  savage  hospitality.  Besides  this  his 
encampment  was  shifted  with  the  ever-varying  chase,  and  it  was  only  his  zeal 
that  enabled  him,  amid  incessant  changes  and  distractions,  to  learn  much  of 
the  Indian  language  for  the  acquisition  of  the  various  dialects  of  which,  as 
well  as  for  his  aptitude  in  accommodating  himself  to  Indian  life  and  manners, 
he  was  singularly  gifted.  On  the  27th  of  March  following,  he  returned  to 
Quebec,  and  resumed,  in  union  with  the  Recollects,  the  care  of  the  French 
settlers.  The  Jesuits  and  Recollects,  moving  together  in  perfect  unison,  went 
alternately  from  Quebec  to  the  Recollect  convent  and  Jesuit  res:dence,  on  a 
small  river  called  St.  Charles,  not  far  from  the  city. 

The  colony  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  was  soon  increased  by  the  arrival  of 
Fathers  Noirot  and  De  la  Noue,  with  twenty  laborers,  and  they  were  thus 
enabled  to  build  a  residence  for  themselves — the  mother  house  and  head- 
quarters of  these  valiant  soldiers  of  the  cross  in  their  long  and  eventful  strug- 
gle with  paganism  and  superstition  among  the  Indians.  Father  Bre"beuf  and 
his  companions  now  devoted  their  labors  to  the  French  at  Quebec,  then  num- 
bering only  forty-three,  hearing  confessions,  preaching,  and  studying  the 
Indian  languages.  They  also  bestowed  considerable  attention  on  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil.  But  these  labors  were  but  preparatory  for  others  more 
arduous,  but  more  attractive  to  them. 

In  1626  the  Huron  mission  was  again  attempted  by  Father  Brebeuf 
He,  together  with  Father  Dallion  and  the  Jesuit,  Father  Noue,  was  sent  to 
Three  Rivers,  to  attempt  a  passage  to  the  Huron  country.  When  the  Indian 
flotilla  arrived  at  Three  R  ivers,  the  Hurons  were  ready  to  receive  Father 
Dallion  on  board,  but  being  unaccustomed  to  the  Jesuit  habit,  and  objecting, 
or  pretending  to  object,  to  the  portly  frame  of  Father  Brebeuf,  they  refused 
a  passage  to  him  and  his  companion,  Father  Noue.  At  last  some  presents 
secured  a  place  in  the  flotilla  for  the  two  Jesuits.  The  missionaries,  after  a 
painful  voyage,  arrived  at  St.  Gabriel,  or  La  Rochelle  ,in  the  Huron  country, 
and  took  up  the  mission  which  Le  Caron  and  Viel  had  so  nobly  pioneered. 

The  Hurons,  whose   proper   name   was   Wenclat,  or  Wyandot,  were  a 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  275 

powerful  tribe,  numbering  at  least  thirty  thousand  souls,  living  in  eighteen 
villages  scattered  over  a  small  strip  of  land  on  a  peninsula  in  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  Georgian  Bay.  Other  tribes,  kindred  to  them,  stretched 
through  New  York  and  into  the  continent  as  far  south  as  the  Carolinas. 
Their  towns  were  well  built  and  strongly  defended,  and  they  were  good 
tillers  of  the  soil,  active  traders,  and  brave  warriors.  They  were,  however, 
behind  their  neighbors  in  their  domestic  life  and  in  their  styles  of  dress,  which 
for  both  sexes  were  exceedingly  scant.  Their  objects  of  worship  were  one 
supreme  deity,  called  the  Master  of  Life,  to  whom  they  offered  human  sacri- 
fices, and  an  infinite  number  of  inferior  deities,  or  rather  fiends,  inhabiting 
rivers,  cataracts,  or  other  natural  objects,  riding  on  the  storms,  or  living  in 
some  animal  or  plant,  and  whom  they  propitiated  with  tobacco.  Father 
Bre"beuf  had  acquired  sufficient  knowledge  of  their  language  to  make  himself 
understood  by  the  natives,  and  he  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  instructions  and 
manuscripts  of  Fathers  Le  Caron  and  Viel.  Father  Noue,  being  unable  to 
acquire  the  language  by  reason  of  his  great  age  and  defective  memory, 
returned  to  Quebec  in  1627,  and  was  followed  the  next  year  by  Father  Dai- 
lion,  who  had  made  a  brave  but  unsuccessful  effort  to  plant  the  cross  among 
the  Attiarandaronk,  or  Neutrals.  The  undaunted  Bre"beuf  was  thus  in  1629 
left  alone  among  the  Hurons.  He  soon  won  their  confidence  and  respect, 
and  was  adopted  into  the  tribe  by  the  name  of  Echon.  Though  few  conver- 
sions rewarded  his  labors  among  them  during  his  three  years'  residence,  still 
he  was  amply  compensated  by  his  success  in  gaining  their  hearts,  acquiring 
their  language,  and  thoroughly  understanding  their  character  and  manners. 
So  completely  had  he  gained  the  good-will  of  the  Hurons  that,  when  he  was 
about  to  return  in  1629  to  Quebec,  whither  his  superior  had  recalled  him,  in 
consequence  of  the  distress  prevailing  in  the  colony,  the  Indians  crowded 
around  him  to  prevent  him  from  entering  the  canoes,  and  addressed  him  in 
this  touching  language:  "What!  Echon,  dost  thou  leave  us?  Thou  hast 
been  here  now  three  years  to  learn  our  language,  to  teach  us  to  know  thy 
God,  to  adore  and  serve  him,  having  come  but  for  that  end,  as  thou  hast 
shown ;  and  now,  when  thou  knowest  our  language  more  perfectly  than  any 
other  Frenchman,  thou  leavest  us.  If  we  do  not  know  the  God  thou  adorest, 
we  shall  call  him  to  witness  that  it  is  not  our  fault,  but  thine,  to  leave  us  so." 
Deeply  as  he  felt  this  appeal,  the  Jesuit  could  know  no  other  voice  when 
his  superior  spoke;  and  having  given  every  encouragement  to  those  who 
were  well  disposed  toward  the  faith,  and  explained  why  he  should  go  when 


276  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

his  superior  required  it,  he  embarked  on  the  flotilla  of  twelve  canoes,  and 
reached  Quebec  on  the  i^th  of  July,  1629.  Three  days  after  his  arrival  at 
Quebec,  that  port  was  captured  by  the  English  under  the  traitor  Kirk,  who 
bore  the  deepest  hatred  toward  the  Jesuits,  whose  residence  he  would  have 
fired  upon  could  he  have  brought  his  vessel  near  enough  for  his  cannon  to 
bear  upon  it.  He  pillaged  it,  however,  compelling  the  fathers  to  abandon  it 
and  fly  for  safety  to  Tadoussac.  But  Father  Brdbeuf  and  his  companions 
were,  together  with  Champlain,  detained  as  prisoners.  Amongst  the  fol- 
lowers of  Kirk  was  one  Michel,  a  bitter  and  relentless  Huguenot,  who  was 
by  his  temperament  and  infirmities  prone  to  violence,  and  who  vented  his 
rage  especially  against  the  Jesuits.  He  and  the  no  less  bigoted  Kirk  found  in 
Father  Bre*beuf  an  intrepid  defender  of  his  order  and  of  his  companions 
against  their  foul  calumnies,  while  at  the  same  time  his  noble  character  showed 
how  well  it  was  trained  to  the  practice  of  Christian  humility  and  charity. 

On  the  occasion  here  particularly  alluded  to,  Kirk  was  conversing  with 
the  fathers,  who  were  then  his  prisoners,  and,  with  a  malignant  expression,  said  : 

"  Gentlemen,  your  business  in  Canada  was  to  enjoy  what  belonged  to 
M.  de  Caen,  whom  you  dispossessed." 

"  Pardon  me,  sir,"  answered  Father  Brebeuf,  "we  came  purely  for  the 
glory  of  God,  and  exposed  ourselves  to  every  kind  of  danger  to  convert  the 
Indians." 

Here  Michel  broke  in:  "  Ay,  ay,  convert  the  Indians!  You  mean,  con- 
vert the  beaver!" 

Father  Brebeuf,  conscious  of  his  own  and  his  companion's  innocence, 
and  deeming  the  occasion  one  which  required  at  his  hands  a  full  and  unquali- 
fied denial,  solemnly  and  deliberately  answered  : 

"That  is  false!" 

The  infuriated  Michel,  raising  his  fist  at  his  prisoner  in  a  threatening 
manner,  exclaimed: 

"  But  for  the  respect  I  owe  the  general,  I  would  strike  you  for  giving 
me  the  lie." 

Father  Brebeuf,  who  possessed  a  powerful  frame  and  commanding  figure, 
stood  unmoved  and  unruffled.  But  he  did  not  rely  upon  these  qualities  of 
the  man,  though  he  knew  no  fear,  but  illustrated  by  his  example  on  this  as  on 
every  other  occasion  the  virtues  of  a  Christian  and  a  minister  of  peace.  With 
a  humility  and  charity  that  showed  how  well  the  strong  and  naturally  impul- 
sive man  had  subdued  his  passions,  he  endeavored  to  appease  the  anger  of  his 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  277 

assailant  by  an  apology,  which,  while  it  was  justly  calculated  to  remove  all 
cause  of  offense,  was  accompanied  with  a  solemn  vindication  of  himself  and 
companions  from  the  unjust  imputation  just  cast  upon  them.  He  said: 

"  You  must  excuse  me.  I  did  not  mean  to  give  you  the  lie.  I  should 
be  very  sorry  to  do  so.  The  words  I  used  are  those  we  use  in  the  schools 
when  a  doubtful  question  is  advanced,  and  they  mean  no  offense.  Therefore, 
I  ask  you  to  pardon  me." 

"  Bon  Dieu,"  said  Champlain,  "you  swear  well  for  a  reformer!" 

"  I  knew  it,"  replied  Michel ;  "  I  should  be  content  if  I  had  struck  that 
Jesuit  who  gave  me  the  lie  before  my  general." 

The  unfortunate  Michel  continued  in  this  way  unceasingly  to  rave  over 
the  pretended  insult,  which  no  apoligies  could  obliterate.  He  died  shortly 
afterward  in  one  of  his  paroxysms  of  fury,  and  was  interred  under  the  rocks 
of  Tadoussac.  It  was  not  permitted  to  him  to  execute  his  threatened  ven- 
geance on  the  Jesuit,  whom  he  was  the  first  to  insult,  and  whom  he  never 
forgave,  though  himself  forgiven. 

Father  Bre'beuf,  together  with  the  truly  great  and  Catholic  Champlain, 
the  governor  of  Quebec,  and  with  the  other  missionaries,  were  carried 
prisoners  to  England,  whence  after  some  time  they  were  allowed  to  proceed 
to  France. 

Here,  we  are  told,  the  missionary  lived  among  his  brethren  with  the  sim- 
plicity of  a  little  child.  The  thorny  way  of  the  Indian  missions  had  but 
advanced  him  on  the  royal  road  of  the  Cross.  In  1631  he  wrote:  "I  feel 
that  I  have  no  talent  for  anything,  recognizing  in  myself  only  an  inclination 
to  obey  others.  I  believe  that  I  am  only  fit  to  be  a  porter,  to  clean  out  the 
rooms  of  my  brethren,  and  to  serve  in  the  kitchen.  I  mean  to  conduct  myself 
in  the  society  as  if  I  were  a  beggar,  admitted  into  it  by  sufferance,  and  I  will 
receive  everything  that  is  granted  me  as  a  particular  favor."  The  person 
who  wrote  this  was,  without  any  doubt,  one  of  the  most  gifted  men  of 
his  age  ! 

On  the  22d  of  May,  1633,  to  the  great  joy  of  Quebec,  Cham- 
plain  returned  to  resume  his  sway  in  Canada,  and  Father  Bre'beuf  accompa- 
nied him,  together  with  Father's  Masse",  Daniel,  and  Davost,  all  of  the  Society 
of  .Jesus.  Though  Father  Bre'beuf  was  not  inactive  about  Quebec,  still  his 
heart  longed  for  the  Huron  homes  and  council-fires,  and  still  more  for  Huron 
souls.  Shortly  afterward,  he  had  the  consolation  of  beholding  the  faithful 
Louis  Amantacha,  a  Christian  Huron,  arriving  at  Quebec,  followed  by  the 


278  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

usual  Indian  flotilla  of  canoes.  A  council  was  held;  sixty  chiefs  sat  in  a 
circle  round  the  council-fire,  and  the  noble  Champlain,  the  intrepid  Brebeuf, 
and  the  zealous  Lallemant,  stood  in  their  midst.  A  treaty  of  friendship  was 
concluded  between  the  French  and  the  Hurons,  and,  in  confiding  the  mission- 
aries to  his  new  allies,  Champlain  thus  addressed  the  latter :  "  These  we  con- 
sider as  fathers ;  these  are  dearer  to  us  than  life.  Think  not  that  they  have 
left  France  under  pressure  of  want ;  no,  they  were  there  in  high  esteem ; 
they  come  not  to  gather  up  your  furs,  but  to  open  to  you  the  doors  of  eternal 
life.  If  you  love  the  French,  as  you  say  you  love  them,  then  love  and  honor 
these,  our  fathers." 

On  the  eve  of  departure,  however,  a  misunderstanding  among  the  Indians 
prevented  the  missionaries  from  proceeding  on  their  journey,  and  another  year 
passed  away  before  the  fleet  of  canoes  came  down  the  St.  Lawrence. 

In  the  summer  of  1634  the  dusky  traders  landed  their  light  crafts  at  Three 
Rivers,  and  this  time  Father  Brebeuf  and  his  two  companions  set  out  with 
them  on  their  return  trip. 

They  reckoned  the  distance  at  nine  hundred  miles;  but  distance  was  the 
least  repellant  feature  of  this  most  arduous  journey.  Barefooted,  lest  their 
shoes  should  injure  the  frail  vessel,  each  priest  crouched  in  his  canoe,  and 
toiled  with  unpracticed  hand  to  propel  it.  Before  him,  week  after  week,  he 
saw  the  same  lank,  unkempt  hair,  the  same  tawny  shoulders,  and  long,  naked 
arms  ceaselessly  plying  the  paddle.  The  canoes  were  soon  separated,  and  for 
more  than  a  month  the  priests  rarely  or  never  met.  Brdbeuf  spoke  a  little 
Huron,  and  could  converse  with  his  escort,  but  Daniel  and  Davost  were 
doomed  to  a  silence  unbroken  save  by  the  occasional  unintelligible  com- 
plaints and  menaces  of  the  Indians,  of  whom  many  were  sick  with  an  epi- 
demic, and  all  were  terrified,  desponding,  and  sullen. 

Their  only  food  was  a  pittance  of  Indian  corn  crushed  between  two 
stones  and  mixed  with  water.  The  toil  was  extreme.  Brebeuf  counted 
thirty-five  portages  where  their  canoes  were  lifted  from  the  water,  and  car- 
ried on  the  shoulders  of  the  voyagers  around  the  rapids  or  cataracts.  More 
than  fifty  times  besides  they  were  forced  to  wade  in  the  raging  current, 
pushing  up  their  empty  barks  or  dragging  them  with  ropes.  The  Apostle 
of  the  Hurons  tried  to  do  his  part,  bu:  the  boulders  and  sharp  i-ocks  wounded 
his  naked  feet  and  compelled  him  to  desist.  He  and  his  companions  bore 
their  share  of  the  baggage  across  the  portages,  sometimes  a  distance  of  sev- 
eral miles.  Four  trips  at  least  were  required  to  convey  the  whole.  The  wav 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  279 

was  through  the  dense  forest,  encumbered  with  rocks  and  logs,  tangled  with 
roots  and  underbrush,  damp  with  perpetual  shade,  and  redolent  of  decayed 
leaves  and  mouldering  wood.  The  Indians  themselves  were  often  spent  with 
fatigue.  Father  Bre'beuf,  with  his  iron  frame  and  unconquerable  resolution, 
doubted  if  his  strength  would  sustain  him  to  his  journey's  end. 

He  complains  that  he  had  no  moment  to  read  his  breviary,  except  by  the 
moonlight  or  the  fire,  when  stretched  out  to  sleep  on  a  bare  rock  by  some 
savage  cataract  of  the  Ottawa,  or  in  a  damp  nook  of  the  adjacent  forest. 
Descending  French  River,  and  following  the  lonely  shore  of  the  great 
Georgian  Bay,  the  canoe  which  carried  Bre'beuf  at  length  neared  its  destina- 
tion, thirty  days  after  leaving  Three  Rivers.  Before  him,  stretched  in  wild 
slumber,  lay  the  forest  shore  of  the  Huron  Nation.  Did  his  spirit  sink  as  he 
approached  his  dreary  home,  oppressed  with  a  dark  foreboding  of  what  the 
future  should  bring  forth? 

Brdbeuf  and  his  Huron  companions  having  landed,  the  Indians,  throwing 
the  missionary's  baggage  on  the  ground,  left  him  to  his  own  resources,  and, 
without  heeding  his  remonstrances,  set  forth  for  their  respective  villages, 
some  twenty  miles  distant.  Thus  abandoned,  the  priest  knelt,  not  to  implore 
succor  in  his  perplexity,  but  to  offer  thanks  to  the  Providence  which  had 
shielded  him  thus  far.  Then  rising,  he  pondered  as  to  what  course  he  should 
take.  He  knew  the  spot  well.  It  was  on  the  borders  of  the  small  inlet 
called  Thunder  Bay.  In  the  neighboring  Huron  town  of  Toanche  he  had 
lived  three  years,  preaching  and  baptizing.  He  hid  his  baggage  in  the 
woods,  including  the  vessels  for  the  Holy  Mass,  more  precious  than  all  the 
rest,  and  began  to  search  for  his  new  abode.  Evening  was  near,  when,  after 
following,  bewildered  and  anxious,  a  gloomy  forest  path,  he  issued  upon  a 
wild  clearing,  and  saw  before  him  the  bark  roofs  of  Ihonatiria. 

A  crowd  ran  out  to  meet  him.  "  Echon  has  come  again !  Echon  has 
come  again!"  they  cried,  recognizing  in  the  distance  the  stately  figure  robed 
in  black  that  advanced  from  the  border  of  the  forest.  They  led  him  to  the 
town,  and  the  whole  population  swarmed  about  him.  After  a  short  rest,  he 
set  out  with  a  number  of  young  Indians  in  quest  of  his  baggage,  returning 
with  it  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

Welcomed  by  one  of  the  richest  and  most  hospitable  Hurons  of  Ihona- 
tiria, Father  Bre'beuf  made  his  abode  with  him.  As  days  passed  he  anxiously 
awaited  the  arrival  of  his  two  fellow-priests  and  their  French  companions. 
One  by  one  they  made  their  appearance.  But  they  could  scarcely  be  recog- 


280  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

nized.  Half-dead  with  hunger  and  fatigue,  they  resembled  living  skeletons 
more  than  men. 

A  house  for  the  black-robes  after  the  Huron  model  was  soon  erected. 
As  hundreds  of  Indians  joined  in  the  work,  the  bark  mansion  rose  in  a  few 
day? — a  complete  edifice.  It  was  divided  into  three  parts — store-house,  dwell- 
ing-house, and  chapel.  This  house  and  its  furniture  soon  became  the  wonder 
of  the  whole  Huron  country.  Visitors  were  in  abundance.  It  was  the  clock, 
above  all,  that  puzzled  and  pleased  them. 

The  guests  would  sit  in  expectant  silence  by  the  hour,  squatted  on  the 
ground,  waiting  to  hear  it  strike.  They  thought  it  was  alive,  and  asked  what 
it  ate.  As  the  last  stroke  sounded  one  of  the  Frenchmen  would  cry  "Stop!" 
and  to  the  admiration  of  the  company  the  obedient  clock  was  silent. 

The  mill  was  another  wonder,  and  they  were  never  tired  of  turning  it. 
Besides  these,  there  was  a  prism  and  a  magnet;  also  a  magnifying  glass, 
wherein  a  flea  was  transformed  into  a  frightful  monster,  and  a  multiplying 
lens,  which  showed  them  the  same  object  eleven  times  repeated. 

"All  this,"  writes  Father  Bre"beuf,  "serves  to  gain  their  affection, 
and  make  them  more  docile  in  respect  to  the  admirable  and  incomprehensible 
mysteries  of  our  Faith;  for  the  opinion  they  have  of  our  genius  and  capacity 
makes  them  believe  whatever  we  tell  them." 

"  What  does  the  captain  say?  "  was  the  frequent  question,  for  by  this 
title  of  honor  they  designated  the  clock.  "When  he  strikes  twelve  times,  he 
says, '  Hang  on  the  kettle,'  and  when  he  strikes  four  times,  he  says,  'Get  up 
and  go  home.'  "  Both  interpretations  were  well  remembered.  At  noon  vis- 
itors were  never  wanting  to  share  the  fathers'  sagamite,  but  at  the  stroke  of 
four  all  rose  and  departed,  leaving  the  missionaries  for  a  time  ii.  p?ace. 

Father  Brdbeuf,  as  superior  of  the  mission,  and  his  two  colleagues  now 
began  their  labors.  To  warriors  and  women,  children  and  chiefs,  the  Gospel 
was  now  announced.  The  work  of  conversion  was  long  and  most  difficult. 
In  fact,  during  the  first  few  years  no  adults  were  baptized  save  those  at  the  point 
of  death.  The  experienced  Brebeuf  knew  Indian  nature  well,  and  he  greatly 
feared  backsliding.  Hence  his  caution.  In  his  eyes  one  good  Christian  was 
better  than  a  multitude  of  bad  ones.  Besides,  all  the  Indian  vices  —  and  the 
Huron  nation  was  corrupt  to  the  core — had  to  be  eradicated  before  Catholicity 
could  be  planted.  The  herculean  toil  of  battling  against  depravity,  and  of 
seeing  that  neither  young  nor  old  died  without  aid,  such  was  the  unceasing 
task  of  the  Jesuits, 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  281 

In  the  summer  of  1635  there  was  a  severe  drought,  which  defied  Indian 
magic,  and  ruined  the  reputation  of  many  a  medicine  man.  One  of  the  most 
renowned  of  these  jugglers,  seeing  his  reputation  tottering  under  his  repeated 
failures,  bethought  himself  of  accusing  the  Jesuits,  and  gave  out  that  the  red 
color  of  the  cross  which  stood  before  their  house  scared  the  bird  of  thunder, 
and  caused  him  to  fly  another  way.  On  this  a  clamor  arose.  The  popular 
ire  turned  against  the  priests,  and  the  obnoxious  cross  was  condemned  to  be  hewn 
down.  Aghast  at  the  threatened  sacrilege,  they  attempted  to  reason  away  the 
storm,  assuring  the  crowd  that  the  lightning  was  not  a  bird,  but  certain  hot 
and  fiery  exhalations,  which  being  imprisoned,  darted  this  way  and  that,  try- 
ing to  escape.  As  this  philosophy  failed  to  convince  their  hearers,  the  mis- 
sionaries changed  their  line  of  defense. 

"You  say,"  observed  the  fathers,  "that  the  red  color  of  the  cross 
frightens  the  bird  of  thunder.  Then  paint  the  cross  white,  and  see  if  the 
thunder  will  come."  This  was  done,  but  the  clouds  still  kept  aloof. 

"Your  spirits  cannot  help  you,"  said  Father  Bre"beuf,  "and  your  sorcerers 
have  deceived  you  with  lies.  Now  ask  the  aid  of  Him  who  made  the  world, 
and  perhaps  He  will  listen  to  your  prayers."  And  he  added  that  if  the 
Indians  would  renounce  their  sins,  and  obey  the  true  God,  they  would  make 
a  procession  daily  to  implore  His  favor  towards  them.  There  was  no  want  of 
promises.  The  processions  were  begun,  as  were  also  nine  Masses  to  St. 
Joseph,  and  as  heavy  rains  occurred  soon  after,  the  Indians  conceived  a  high 
idea  of  the  efficacy  of  the  French  "medicine." 

If  in  1 636  more  Jesuits  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  dauntless  Brebeuf,  his 
difficulties  on  that  account  did  not  diminish.  For  several  years  the  pestilence 
had  scourged  the  Hurons,  but  now  it  arrived  in  its  most  terrible  form  —  the 
small-pox.  Mourning  overshadowed  the  land.  Brebeuf  and  his  brave  band 
became,  if  possible,  more  than  heroes.  Amid  the  wails  of  the  living  and  the 
groans  of  the  dying,  they  passed  around,  like  good  angels,  from  cabin  to  cabin, 
aiding  and  comforting  as  they  went  along.  Often  the  only  return  for  their 
charity  were  jeers  and  curses. 

"When  we  see  them,"  writes  Parkman,  "in  the  gloomy  February  of  1637, 
and  the  gloomier  months  that  followed,  toiling  on  foot  from  one  infected  town 
to  another,  wading  through  the  sodden  snow,  under  the  bare  and  dripping 
forest,  drenched  with  incessant  rains,  till  they  descried  at  length  through  the 
storm  the  clustering  dwellings  of  some  barbarous  hamlet,  when  we  see  them 
entei  ing  one  after  another  these  wretched  abodes  of  misery  and  darkness,  and 


282  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

all  for  one  sole  end,  the  baptism  of  the  sick  and  dying,  .  .  .  we  must  needs 
admire  the  self-sacrificing  zeal  with  which  it  was  pursued." 

In  those  wild  scenes  of  misery,  no  pen  can  picture  the  heroic  toils,  the  calm- 
ness, the  grandeur  of  soul  exhibited  by  Father  Bre"beuf.  How  the  human 
frame  could  endure  it  is  something  which  fills  the  mind  with  astonishment. 
Nor  had  he  to  battle  against  disease  and  Indian  wickedness  only.  The 
pov/ers  of  darkness  assailed  the  great  priest  in  every  way  possible.  Demons 
in  troops  appeared  before  him,  sometimes  in  the  guise  of  men,  sometimes  as 
liears,  wolves,  or  wild-cats.  He  called  on  God  and  the  apparitions  vanished. 
Death,  like  a  skeleton,  sometimes  menaced  him,  and  once,  as  he  faced  it  with 
an  unquailing  eye,  it  fell  powerless  at  his  feet.  He  saw  the  vision  of  a  vast 
and  gorgeous  palace,  and  a  miraculous  voice  assured  him  that  such  was  to  be 
the  reward  of  those  who  dwelt  in  savage  hovels  for  the  cause  of  God.  Angels 
appeared  to  him,  and  more  than  once  St.  Joseph  and  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin 
were  visibly  present  before  his  sight. 

In  1637  Father  Br^beuf  had  the  extreme  consolation  of  solemnly  bap- 
tizing a  Huron  chief,  the  first  adult  in  health  yet  admitted  to  the  Christian 
fold.  It  was  done  with  great  ceremony,  and  in  the  presence  of  hundreds  of 
wondering  Indians.  But  the  devil  became  alarmed  at  this  triumph  of  the 
Faith.  More  than  ever  the  savages  began  to  suspect  the  Jesuits.  It  was 
secretly  whispered  abroad  that  they  had  bewitched  the  nation,  in  short,  were 
the  principal  cause  of  the  pest  which  threatened  to  destroy  it. 

A  dwarfish  medicine-man,  who  boasted  that  he  was  a  veritable  fiend 
incarnate,  originated  this  rumor.  The  slander,  says  Parkman,  spread  fast  and 
far.  Their  friends  looked  at  them  askance,  their  enemies  clamored  for  their 
lives.  Some  said  that  the  priests  concealed  in  their  houses  a  corpse  which 
infected  the  country — a  prevalent  notion  derived  from  some  half-instructed 
neophyte  concerning  the  body  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist.  Others  ascribed 
the  evils  to  a  serpent,  others  to  a  spotted  frog,  others  to  a  demon  which  the 
priests  were  supposed  to  carry  in  the  barrel  of  a  gun.  Others  again  gave  out 
that  they  had  pricked  an  infant  to  death  with  awls  in  the  forest,  in  order  to 
kill  the  Huron  children  by  magic.  "  Perhaps,"  observes  Father  Le  Mercier, 
"  the  devil  was  enraged  because  we  had  placed  a  great  many  of  these  little 
innocents  in  Heaven." 

The  picture  of  the  Last  Judgment  became  an  object  of  terror.  It  was 
regarded  as  a  charm.  The  dragons  and  serpents  were  supposed  to  be  the 
demons  of  the  pest,  and  the  sinners  whom  they  were  so  busily  devouring  to 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  283 

represent  its  victims.  On  the  top  of  a  spruce  tree  near  their  house  at  Ihona- 
tiria,  the  priests  had  fastened  a  small  streamer  to  show  the  direction  of  the 
wind.  This,  too,  was  taken  for  a  charm,  throwing  off  disease  and  death  to  all 
quarters.  The  clock,  once  an  object  of  harmless  wonder,  now  excited  the 
wildest  alarm,  and  the  Jesuits  were  forced  to  stop  it,  as  it  was  supposed  to 
sound  the  signal  of  death.  At  sunset,  one  would  have  seen  knots  of  Indians, 
their  faces  dark  with  dejection  and  terror,  listening  to  the  measured  sounds 
which  issued  from  within  the  neighboring  house  of  the  mission,  where,  with 
bolted  doors,  the  priests  were  singing  Litanies,  mistaken  for  incantations  by 
the  awe-struck  savages. 

On  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  August,  1637,  the  chiefs  held  a  solemn 
council  to  discuss  the  whole  question  of  the  pest  and  the  Jesuits.  Father 
Br^beuf  and  his  associates  were  requested  to  be  present,  and  gladly  they 
accepted  the  invitation.  A  stranger  scene  it  would  be  dfricult  to  imagine. 
Chiefs,  grizzly  with  age  and  bearing  the  scars  of  many  a  fierce  contest,  spent 
their  eloquence,  the  whole  gist  of  which  was — the  Huron  nation  was  dying 
away,  and  the  priests  were  the  cause.  When  the  last  of  the  dusky  orators  sat 
down,  the  noble  Bre"beuf  arose  and  thoroughly  exposed  the  utter  absurd- 
ity of  the  charges  against  himself  and  his  fellow  priests.  But  it  was  all  to  no 
purpose.  There  was  a  clamor  for  the  "charmed  cloth!"  In  vain  did  the 
Jesuit  protest  that  they  had  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  loud  and  savage 
demands  but  increased. 

"If  you  will  not  believe  me,"  said  Bre"beuf,  "go  to  our  house,  search 
everywhere,  and  if  you  are  not  sure  which  is  the  charm,  take  all  our  clothing 
and  all  our  cloth  and  throw  them  into  the  lake." 

"Sorcerers  always  talk  in  that  way,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Then  what  will  you  have  me  say  ? "  demanded  Bre"beuf . 

"  Tell  us  the  cause  of  the  pest,"  was  still  asked. 

The  good  father's  explanations  and  the  loud  interruptions  of  the  Indians 
delayed  the  debate  until  long  after  midnight.  As  one  of  the  old  chiefs  passed 
out,  he  said  to  the  "  Xavier  of  North  America":  "If  some  young  brave 
should  split  your  head,  we  should  have  nothing  to  say." 

The  fathers  were  now  in  peril  of  their  lives.  The  few  converts  they 
had  lately  made  came  to  them  in  secret  and  warned  them  that  their  death 
was  determined  upon.  The  house  was  set  on  fire,  in  public  every  face  was 
averted  from  them,  and  a  new  council  was  called  to  pronounce  the  decree  of 
death.  They  appeared  before  it,  we  are  told,  with  a  front  of  such  unflinch- 


284  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

ing  assurance,  that  their  judges,  Indian-like,  postponed  the  sentence.  Yet  it 
seemed  impossible  that  they  should  much  longer  escape.  Bre'beuf,  there- 
fore, wrote  a  letter  of  farewell  to  his  superior,  Father  Le  Jeune,  at  Quebec, 
and  confided  it  to  some  converts  whom  he  could  trust,  to  be  carried  by  them 
to  its  destination. 

"  We  are,  perhaps,"  he  writes,  "  about  to  give  our  blood  and  our  lives  in 
the  cause  of  our  Master,  Jesus  Christ.  It  seems  that  His  goodness  will 
accept  the  sacrifice,  as  regards  me,  in  expiation  of  my  great  and  nnmberless 
sins,  and  that  He  will  thus  crown  the  past  services  and  ardent  desires  of  all 
our  fathers  here.  .  .  .  Blessed  be  His  name  forever,  that  He  has  chosen 
us  among  so  many  better  than  we  to  aid  Him  to  bear  His  cross  in  this  land ! 
In  all  things  His  holy  will  be  done."  The  spirit  of  the  fearless  Christian 
hero  shines  out  in  these  admirable  sentences. 

After  a  fervent  novena  to  St.  Joseph,  the  clouds  of  death  that  hung 
over  their  devoted  heads  began  to  slowly  move  away.  "  Truly,"  wrote 
Father  Le  Mercier,  "  it  is  an  unspeakable  happiness  for  us  in  the  midst  of 
this  barbarism  to  hear  the  roaring  of  the  demons,  and  to  see  earth  and  hell 
raging  against  a  handful  of  men  who  will  not  even  defend  themselves." 

The  faith  now  advanced.  Several  famous  chiefs  became  catechumens,  and 
the  greatest  sachems  listened  to  the  words  of  the  missionaries  ;  yet  still,  in  a 
nation  of  16,000,  not  one  hundred  were  Christians,  and  but  a  hundred  bap- 
tisms rewarded  their  labors.  The  following  year  was  more  consoling. 
Although  the  war  with  the  Iroquois  had  assumed  a  dangerous  form,  the 
missions  were  pushed  with  renewed  vigor,  except  that  among  the  Neutrals, 
for  Br^beuf  had  gone  to  Quebec.  The  Christians  and  catechumens  now 
became  so  numerous,  that  in  many  villages  they  formed  a  considerable  party, 
and  by  refusing  all  participation  in  feasts  or  ceremonies  savoring  of  idolatry, 
drew  on  themselves  petty  persecution  and  bitter  hatred.  Hearing  the  name 
of  Mary  repeated  frequently,  the  pagans  called  the  Christians,  Marians,  a 
name  which  they  joyfully  received.  In  many  families  the  Catholic  Indian 
was  constantly  persecuted ,  and  the  annals  of  the  mission  give  most  edifying 
accounts  of  the  perseverance  even  of  children. 

The  Algonquin  mission  also  took  a  new  impulse.  After  a  feast  of  the 
dead,  which  had  gathered  deputies  from  every  Algic  clan  around  the  upper 
lakes,  Raymbaut  and  Jogues,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  coming  chapter,  crossed 
Lake  Huron,  and  announced  the  gospel  to  the  assembled  Chippewas  at  the 
rapids  of  St.  Mary,  planting  the  cross  within  the  limits  of  Michigan,  as  it  has 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  285 

been  justly  said,  years  before  Eliot  had  preached  to  the  Algonquins  within 
ten  miles  of  Boston. 

Reverses  were  now  beginning  to  overshadow  the  future  of  the  Huron 
mission.  Father  Jogues,  sent  down  to  Quebec  in  the  summer  for  supplies, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Mohawks  as  he  returned.  The  llotilla  containing 
the  bravest  Christians  was  taken,  and  all  met  sufferings  or  death  on  their  way 
to  the  Mohawk.  Raymbaut  soon  after  died.  The  Iroquois  were  ravaging 
the  Huron  country  ;  but  Father  Bre"beuf ,  undaunted  by  all,  wrote  "  Never 
have  we  had  more  courage  for  spiritual  or  temporal."  Every  war  or  trading 
party  now  had  its  Christians,  who,  by  their  fidelity  in  prayer,  showed  the 
sincerity  of  their  belief.  Many  who  had  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  poor  missionary 
in  Huronia,  yielded  at  last,  when  they  saw  the  honor  paid  to  religion  at  Quebec, 
and  felt  the  greatness  of  the  sacrifices  made  by  those  apostolic  men. 

These,  on  their  return,  became  apostles,  and  many  went  to  obstinate  towns 
to  announce  the  faith,  and  warn  them  of  the  vengeance  of  Heaven.  The 
Christian  element  was  now  working  steadily  on.  Councils  were  held  to 
determine  the  best  means  of  extending  the  faith ;  and  though  the  evils  of  war 
seemed  to  fall  especially  on  the  Christians,  none  wavered. 

By  1644  the  face  of  the  country  was  so  changed  that  the  missionaries 
resolved,  on  the  return  of  Bre"beuf,  with  Fathers  Garreau  and  Chabanel, 
again  to  alter  the  mission  plan,  and  became  permanent  residents  at  the  various 
stations  called  Conception,  St.  Joseph's,  and  St.  Michael's,  returning  to  St. 
Mary's  only  for  their  annual  retreat,  or  to  attend  consultations.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  there  were  two  other  little  churches,  St.  Ignatius  and  St.  John 
the  Baptist. 

The  year  1645  brought  a  peace,  which,  for  the  first  time  in  many  years, 
left  the  St.  Lawrence  free;  and  Father  Bressani,  who  had  been  captured  the 
preceding  year,  now  reached  the  Huron  country  with  the  necessaries  of 
which  the  missionaries  had  long  been  deprived.  Relieved  of  the  long  and 
cruel  war,  Huronia  seemed  to  acquire  new  vigor,  and  the  Jesuits  began  to 
feel  hopes  of  extending  their  spiritual  conquests;  but  the  peace  so  lately  con- 
cluded was  soon  broken  by  the  Mohawks,  who  massacred  their  missionary, 
Isaac  Jogues.  War  was  rekindled.  The  Iroquois  burst  on  the  Huron  country, 
and  all  was  soon  dismay  and  ruin.  This  hour  of  misfortune  was  the  accept- 
able time  of  salvation.  As  famine,  disaster  and  destruction  closed  around 
them,  the  Hurons  gathered  beneath  the  cross,  their  only  hope.  Every  alarm 
produced  sincere  conversions,  stimulated  the  slow  or  tepid,  and  sent  convic- 


286  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

tion  into  the  hearts  of  unbelievers.  In  no  town  was  there  a  chapel  large 
enough  for  the  congregation.  In  summer  and  winter,  proof  to  the  severity 
of  the  weather,  the  kneeling  crowd  without  joined,  each  in  his  own  heart,  in 
the  sacrifice  offered  within. 

In  July,  1648,  early  in  the  morning,  when  the  braves  were  absent  on 
war  or  hunting  parties,  when  none  but  old  men,  women,  and  children  tenanted 
the  once  strong  town  of  Teananstayae,  named  by  the  missionaries  St.  Joseph's, 
when  Father  Anthony  Daniel,  beloved  of  all,  fresh  from  his  retreat  at  St. 
Mary's,  and  full  of  desire  for  the  glory  of  heaven,  was  urging  his  flock  to 
prepare  for  it  in  joy,  a  cry  arose,  "  To  arms!  to  arms!"  which,  echoing 
through  the  crowded  chapel,  filled  all  with  terror.  Mass  had  just  ended,  and 
Father  Daniel  hastens  to  the  palisade,  where  the  few  defenders  rallied.  There 
he  rouses  their  drooping  courage,  for  a  formidable  Iroquois  force  was  upon 
them.  Heaven  opens  to  the  faithful  Christian  who  dies  fighting  for  his 
home;  but  to  the  unbeliever,  vain  his  struggle:  temporal  pain  will  be  suc- 
ceeded by  endless  torment.  Few  and  quick  his  words.  Confessing  here, 
baptizing  there,  he  hurries  along  the  line.  Then  speeds  him  to  the  cabins. 
Crowds  gather  round  to  implore  the  baptism  they  had  long  refused.  Unable 
to  give  time  to  each,  he  baptizes  by  aspersion,  and  again  hurries  into  cabin 
after  cabin  to  shrive  the  sick  and  aged.  At  last  he  is  at  the  chapel  again. 
'Tis  full  to  the  door.  All  had  gathered  round  the  altar  for  protection  and 
defense,  losing  the  precious  moments.  "Fly,  brethren,  fly!"  exclaimed  the 
devoted  missionary.  "Be  steadfast  till  your  latest  breath  in  the  Faith.  Here 
will  I  die;  here  must  I  stay  while  I  see  one  soul  to  gain  to  heaven;  and, 
dying  to  serve  you,  my  life  is  nothing."  Pronouncing  a  general  absolution, 
he  urged  their  flight  from  the  rear  of  the  chapel;  and  advancing  to  the  main 
door  issued  forth  and  closed  it  behind  him.  The  Iroquois  were  already  at 
hand;  but. at  the  sight  of  that  man  thus  fearlessly  advancing,  they  recoiled,  as 
though  some  deity  had  burst  upon  them.  But  the  next  moment  a  shower  of 
arrows  riddled  his  body.  Gashed,  and  rent,  and  torn,  his  apostolic  spirit 
never  left  him.  Daniel  stands  undismayed,  till  pierced  by  a  musket-ball,  he 
uttered  aloud  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  fell  dead,  as  he  had  often  wished,  by 
that  shrine  he  had  reared  in  the  wilderness.  His  church,  soon  in  flames, 
became  his  funeral  pyre,  and  flung  in  there,  his  body  was  entirely  consumed. 

Thus,  in  the  midst  of  his  labors,  perished  Anthony  Daniel,  priest  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  unwearied  in  labor,  unbroken  in  toil,  patient  beyond  belief, 
gentle  amid  every  opposition,  charitable  with  the  charity  of  Christ,  support- 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  287 

ing  and  embracing  all.  Around  him  fell  hundreds  of  his  Christians;  and 
thus  sank  in  blood  the  mission  of  St.  Joseph,  at  the  town  of  Teananstayae. 

The  news  of  this  disaster  spread  terror  through  the  land.  Town  after 
town  was  abandoned.  The  Hurons  fled  to  the  islands  of  the  lake,  or  the 
cabins  of  the  Tionontates;  and  the  missionaries  endeavored  in  vain  to  excite 
them  to  a  systematic  plan  of  defense.  During  the  winter  the  Iroquois  roamt.. 
through  the  country  undisturbed,  and  there  seemed  no  hope  of  ultimate 
victory  over  them.  The  Huron  nation,  after  having  had  its  day  of  glory  and 
renown,  was  destined  to  melt  away  before  the  conquering  Iroquois,  when 
sickness  had  enfeebled  its  towns.  Though  it  was  proud  and  stubborn  at  first, 
Providence  awaited  the  moment  of  its  conversion  before  the  final  blow  was 
struck.  "  The  Faith  had  now  made  the  conquest  of  almost  the  whole 
country,"  says  Bressani,  an  eye-witness  of  the  scenes  we  relate;  "it  was 
everywhere  publicly  professed;  and  not  merely  the  commom  people,  but 
even  the  chiefs  were  alike  its  children  and  its  protectors.  The  superstitious 
rites  that  at  first  were  more  frequent  than  the  day,  began  to  lose  credit  to 
such  a  degree,  that  a  heathen  at  Ossossane,  man  of  rank  though  he  was,  could 
find  none  to  perform  them  in  his  illness.  The  persecutions  raised  against  us 
had  now  ceased ;  the  curses  heaped  on  the  Faith  were  changed  into  blessings. 
We  might  say  that  they  were  now  ripe  for  heaven ;  that  naught  was  wanting 
but  the  reaping-hook  of  death  to  lay  the  harvest  up  in  the  safe  garner-house 
of  Paradise.  This  was  our  sole  consolation  amid  the  general  desolation  of 
the  country." 

"Misfortune  and  affliction  had  begun  with  the  Faith;  they  grew  with 
its  growth;  and  when  religion  seemed  at  last  the  peaceful  mistress  of  the 
land,  'the  waters  of  tribulation  entered  in'  so  furiously,  that  the  stricken 
church  may  well  exclaim,  'A  tempest  has  overwhelmed  me.'  " 

Such  was  the  strange  picture  of  this  devoted  land.  Its  cup  was  not  yet 
full.  On  the  i6th  of  March,  1649,  at  daybreak,  an  army  of  a  thousand 
Iroquois  burst  on  the  town  of  St.  Ignatius,  and  all  were  soon  involved  in 
massacre.  Three  only  found  means  to  escape,  and,  half-naked,  reached  the 
neighboring  town  of  St.  Louis.  Sending  off  the  women  and  children,  the 
braves  prepared  to  defend  the  place.  Two  missionaries  were  actually  in  the 
village — the  veteran  Father  Bre"beuf  and  Father  Gabriel  Lallemant.  These 
the  Christians  urged  to  flee,  as  it  was  not  their  calling  to  wield  sword  or 
musket;  but  Father  Brebeuf  told  them  that  in  such  a  crisis  there  was  some- 
thing more  necessary  than  fire  and  steel ;  it  was  to  have  recourse  to  God  and 


288 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


to  the  sacraments,  which  -they  alone  could  administer.  Lallemant,  no  less 
resolute,  implored  of  Brebeuf  permission  to  remain  with  him,  and  obtained 
it.  Like  Daniel,  they,  too,  hurried  from  cabin  to  cabin  to  prepare  the  sick  and 
infirm  for  death,  and  then  at  the  palisades  roused  the  courage  of  the  small 
band  who  awaited  the  approach  of  the  enemy.  The  Iroquois  came  madly 
on,  but  a  well-directed  Huron  fire  drove  them  back  with  loss.  Yet  their 
force  was  too  overwhelming.  In  spite  of  losses  they  pressed  up  to  the  pali- 
sade, and  soon  affecting  a  breach,  drove  back  the  few  Huron  braves,  and,  as 
they  advanced,  fired  the  town.  The  two  missionaries,  who  remained  to 
soothe  the  wounded  and  dying,  were  soon  in  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois,  who, 
collecting  their  captives,  began  their  torture  by  tearing  out  their  nails,  then 
led  them  in  haste  to  St.  Ignatius,  where  the  other  prisoners  and  booty  had 
been  left.  The  missionaries  and  their  companions  were  dragged  along  with 
every  ignominy,  and  entered  the  town  only  by  the  fearful  gauntlet — blows 

raining  on  them  from 
the  double  row  of 
furious  savages  who 
came  out  to  meet 
them.  A  scaffold 
had  been  raised,  ac- 
cording to  custom, 
of  poles  lashed  to- 
gether and  covered 
with  bark.  Here 
they  were  exposed. 
Brebeuf,  seeing 
Christian  captives 
near  him,  excited 
their  courage  by  reminding  them  of  the  glory  of  heaven  now  opening  before 
them.  There  were  among  the  Iroquois  some  Hurons  now  naturalized,  and 
of  old  enemies  of  the  missionaries.  At  these  words  of  Brebeuf  they  began 
the  torture.  Each  was  soon  bound  to  a  stake.  The  hands  of  Brebeuf  were 
cutoff;  while  Lallemant's  flesh  quivered  with  the  awls  and  pointed  irons 
thrust  into  every  part  of  his  body.  This  did  not  suffice ;  a  fire  kindled  near 
soon  reddened  their  hatchets,  and  these  they  forced  under  the  armpits  and 
between  the  thighs  of  the  sufferers;  while  to  Brdbeuf  they  gave  a  collar 
of  those  burning  weapons;  and  there  the  missionaries  stood  with  those 


TORTURE    OF    THE    MISSIONARIES. 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  289 

glowing  irons  seething  and  consuming  to  their  very  vitals,  Amid  the  din 
rose  the  voice  of  the  old  Huron  missionary,  consoling  his  converts,  denounc- 
ing God's  judgments  on  the  unbeliever,  till  his  executioners  crushed  his  mouth 
with  a  stone,  cut  off  his  nose  and  lips,  and  thrust  a  brand  into  his  mouth, 
so  that  his  throat  and  tongue,  burned  and  swollen,  refused  their  office. 

They  had  left  Lallemant,  and  now  stopped  to  devise  some  new  plan  of 
torture.  Enemies  of  the  Faith,  they  had  seen  Brebeuf  in  the  very  breach 
baptizing  his  neophytes;  often,  too,  in  their  villages  had  the  apostate  Hurons 
seen  him  pour  the  vivifying  waters  on  the  head  of  the  dying.  An  infernal 
thought  seizes  them.  They  resolve  to  baptize  him.  While  the  rest  danced 
like  fiends  around  him,  slicing  off  his  flesh  to  devour  before  his  eyes,  or 
cauterizing  the  wounds  with  stones  or  hatchets,  these  placed  a  cauldron  on 
the  fire. 

"  Echon,"  cried  the  mockers,  calling  him  by  his  Huron  name,  "  Echon, 
thou  hast  told  us  that  the  more  we  suffer  here,  the  greater  will  be  our  crown 
in  heaven ;  thank  us,  then,  for  we  are  laying  up  for  thee,  a  priceless  one  in 
heaven." 

When  the  water  was  heated,  they  tore  off  his  scalp,  and  thrice,  in  derision 
of  baptism,  poured  the  water  over  his  head,  amid  the  loud  shout  of  the 
unbelievers.  The  eye  of  the  martyr  was  now  dim,  and  the  torturers  unable, 
from  first  to  last,  to  wring  from  his  lips  one  sigh  of  pain,  were  eager  to  close 
the  scene.  Hacking  off  his  feet,  they  clove  open  his  chest,  took  out  his  noble 
heart  and  devoured  it. 

Thus,  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  after  three  hours  of  frightful 
torture,  expired  Father  John  de  Brebeuf,  the  real  founder  of  the  mission,  a 
man  such  as  the  Catholic  Church  alone  could  produce — as  a  missionary 
unequaled  for  his  zeal,  ability,  untiring  exertion,  and  steady  perseverance ;  as  a 
servant  of  God,  one  whose  virtues  would  be  pronounced  heroic,  patient  in 
toil,  hardship,  suffering,  and  privation;  a  man  of  prayer,  of  deep  and  tender 
piety,  of  inflamed  love  for  God,  in  whom  and  for  whom  he  did  and  suffered 
all ;  as  a  martyr,  one  of  the  most  glorious  in  our  annals  for  the  variety  and 
atrocity  of  his  torments. 

Father  Lallemant  had  cast  himself  at  the  feet  of  Brdbeuf  to  kiss  his 
glorious  wounds;  but  he  had  been  torn  away,  and  after  being  wrapped  in 
pieces  of  bark,  left  for  a  time.  When  his  superior  had  expired,  they  applied 
fire  to  this  covering;  as  the  flame  curled  around  him,  Father  Lallemant,  whose 
delicate  frame,  unused  to  toil,  could  not  resist  the  pain,  raised  his  hands  on 


29o  THE    COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

high  and  invoked  the  aid  of  Heaven.  Gratified  by  this  expression  of  pain, 
his  tormentors  resolved  to  prolong  his  agony ;  and  through  the  long  night 
added  torture  to  torture  to  see  the  writhing  frame,  the  quivering  flesh  of  the 
young  priest.  He,  too,  underwent  the  cruel  mockery  of  baptism. 

"  We  baptize  thee,"  said  the  wretches,  "  that  thou  mayest  be  blessed  in 
heaven,  for  without  a  good  baptism  one  cannot  be  saved." 

He,  too,  saw  his  flesh  devoured  before  his  eyes,  or  slashed  off  in  wanton 
cruelty,  for  it  displeased  their  taste;  every  inch  of  his  body,  from  head  to 
foot,  was  charred  and  burned ;  his  very  eyes  were  put  out  by  the  hot  coals 
forced  into  them.  At  last  when  the  sun  had  risen  on  the  iyth  of  March, 
1649,  they  closed  his  long  martyrdom  by  tomahawking  him,  and  left  his 
body  a  black  mangled  mass. 

The  Iroquois  had  attempted  to  attack  St.  Mary's,  where  a  small  village 
had  now  gathered ;  but  after  receiving  a  check  from  a  Huron  party  gave  up 
the  design,  and  at  last,  fearful  of  surprise,  retired  with  precipitation. 

This  was  the  death-blow  of  the  Huron  nation ;  fifteen  towns  were  now 
abandoned,  and  the  people  fled  in  every  direction.  The  tribe  at  St.  Michael's, 
with  the  survivors  of  that  called  by  the  missionaries  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
made  overtures  to  the  conquering  Iroquois,  and  emigrated  in  a  body  to  the  Sen- 
eca country,  where  we  shall  afterwards  find  them.  Others  fled  to  the  Eries  and 
Conestogues;  others  sought  a  refuge  on  the  islands  and  shores  of  Lake  Huron. 

In  this  disorder  the  missions  were  all  broken  up.  The  fathers,  assem- 
bling at  St.  Mary's,  resolved  to  follow  the  fugitives  who  remained  in  the 
country  and  share  their  fate.  The  small  body  thus  left  in  the  Huron 
country  clung  to  the  missionaries  as  their  only  hope ;  the  infidels  promising 
conversion,  the  Christians  fidelity  till  death.  Some  of  the  missionaries  struck 
a  hundred  miles  into  the  forests  to  console  those  who  had  fled  amid  their 
trials;  others  joined  Gamier  on  his  Petun  or  Tionontate  mission,  now  the 
most  important  of  all ;  the  rest,  with  the  superior  and  the  French  in  the 
country,  endeavored  to  assemble  as  many  as  possible,  and  form  a  settlement 
on  an  island  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  St.  Joseph. 

Before  removing  to  it,  however,  they,  with  streaming  eyes,  set  fire  to 
their  house  and  chapel  of  St.  Mary's  to  prevent  its  profanation,  and  beheld 
the  flames  in  one  hour  consume  the  work  of  nineteen  years.  The  new  set- 
tlement was  unfortunate;  unable  to  raise  crops  for  the  multitude  gathered 
there,  cooped  up  by  war-parties  of  the  enemy,  the  devoted  Hurons  soon  fell 
victims  to  famine  and  disease. 


HURONS  OF  THE  LAKES.  291 

Father  Gamier  and  his  companions  labored  zealously  among  the  Tionon- 
tates,  but  calumny  and  persecution  arose,  and  in  one  place  their  death  was 
resolved  upon;  confident,  nevertheless,  in  the  protection  of  Heaven,  they 
fearlessly  continued  their  labors  during  the  summer.  Late  in  the  fall  the 
superior  at  St.  Joseph's  Island  heard  that  a  large  Iroquois  force  was  in  the 
field,  intended  to  operate  either  against  the  new  settlement  or  the  Tionon- 
tates.  Not  to  expose  too  many,  he  recalled  Father  Chabanel  from  Etharita, 
and  suggested  to  Father  Gamier,  the  other  missionary  there,  the  propriety  of 
retiring  for  a  time.  Father  Chabanel  left  on  the  5th  of  December,  and  on 
the  same  day  the  braves  of  Etharita,  tired  of  waiting  for  the  enemy,  set  out 
to  meet  them,  but  unfortunately  took  a  wrong  direction ;  the  Iroquois  army 
passed  them  unseen,  and  late  in  the  afternoon  burst  on  the  defenseless  town. 
Fearful  of  being  surprised  in  their  work  by  the  returning  Petuns,  they  cut 
down  all  without  mercy  and  fired  the  place.  Gamier  was  everywhere 
exhorting,  consoling,  shriving,  baptizing;  wherever  a  wounded  Indian  lay,  he 
rushed  to  gather  his  dying  words;  wherever  a  sick  person  or  child  met  his 
eye,  he  hastened  to  confer  baptism.  While  thus,  regardless  of  danger,  he 
listened  only  to  the  call  of  duty,  he  fell  mortally  wounded  by  two  musket- 
balls;  and  the  Iroquois,  stripping  him  of  his  habit,  hurried  on.  Stunned  by 
the  pain,  he  lay  a  moment  there,  then  clasping  his  hands  in  prayer,  prepared 
to  die;  but  as  he  writhed  in  the  agony  of  death  he  beheld  a  wounded  Tion- 
ontate  some  paces  from  him.  That  sight  revived  him;  forgetful  of  his  own 
state,  he  remembered  only  that  he  was  a  priest,  and  rallying  all  his  strength 
by  two  efforts,  rises  to  his  feet  and  endeavors  to  walk,  but  after  a  few  stag- 
gering steps  falls  heavily  to  the  ground.  .  Still,  mindful  only  of  duty,  he 
dragged  himself  to  the  wounded  man,  and,  while  giving  him  the  last  abso- 
lution, fell  over  him  a  corpse:  another  Iroquois  had  driven  a  tomahawk  into 
his  skull. 

Fathers  Garreau  and  Grelon  hastened  from  the  other  town  and  buried, 
amid  the  ruins  of  their  church,  the  body  of  the  holy  missionary,  the  beloved 
of  the  natives,  who,  won  by  his  mild  and  gentle  manners,  entire  devotion  to 
them  and  their  good,  his  forgetf ulriess  of  all  that  was  not  connected  with  their 
salvation,  no  less  than  his  perfect  knowledge  of  their  language  and  manners, 
had  long  considered  him  less  a  Frenchman  than  an  Indian,  or  a  being  of 
another  world  sent  to  assume  the  form. 

His  companion,  Father  Chabanel,  did  not  escape.  He  had  not  traveled 
far  when  the  cries  from  St.  John's  alarmed  his  party  in  the  woods ;  they  dis- 


292  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

persed,  and  Chabanel,  while  endeavoring  to  make  his  way  alone  to  St.  Mary's, 
was  killed  by  an  apostate  Huron  on  the  banks  of  a  river,  and  flung  into  the 
stream,  thus  ending  a  missionary  career  in  which  he  had  persevered  against 
the  utmost  repugnance,  and  the  total  want  of  all  consolation. 

After  this  disaster,  the  Tionontates  abandoned  their  other  town  and  fled 
with  the  Hurons,  with  whom  they  were  now  confounded. 

As  the  misery  on  St.  Joseph's  Isle  increased,  the  chiefs  resolved  to 
emigrate  to  the  lower  St.  Lawrence,  and  settle  under  the  walls  of  Quebec. 
To  this  the  missionaries  at  last  consented,  loth  as  they  were  to  leave  a  land  so 
endeared  to  them  by  the  labor  of  years,  bedewed  by  the  sweat  and  blood  of 
their  martyred  brethren.  The  pilgrims  set  out  in  June,  1650,  and  by  the  fol- 
lowing month  reached  the  capital  of  the  French  colony. 

The  Huron  nation  was  thus  entirely  dispersed,  and  the  mission  broken 
up.  Since  the  first  visit  of  Le  Caron  in  1615,  a  period  of  thirty-five  years, 
twenty-nine  missionaries  had  labored  in  the  peninsula  on  Lake  Huron. 
Seven  of  these  had  perished  by  the  hand  of  violence;  eleven  still  remained. 
These,  like  their  neophytes,  scattered ;  Bressani  went  to  Italy,  Le  Mercier  and 
Poncet  to  the  West  Indies,  and  Grelon  to  China;  but  distance  did  not  wean 
their  hearts  from  their  long-cherished  affection  to  the  mission  of  their  early 
years.  Words  could  not  describe  the  thrill  of  joy  which  filled  the  heart  of 
Grelon,  when,  years  after,  traveling  through  the  plains  of  Tartary,  he  met  a 
Huron  woman  whom  he  had  known  on  the  shores  of  her  native  lake,  and 
who,  sold  from  tribe  to  tribe,  had  reached  the  interior  of  Asia.  There  on  the 
steppes  she  knelt,  and  in  that  tongue,  which  neither  had  heard  for  years,  the 
poor  Wyandot  confessed  once  more  to  her  aged  pastor. 

Under  the  United  States  the  scattered  Wyandots  were  long  afterwards 
deported  to  Indian  Territory,  and  are  now  the  smallest  but  wealthiest  of  all  the 
exiles.  Doubtless  the  remembrance  of  their  days  of  faith  is  still  fresh  in  their 
minds,  and  we  may  yet  see  a  Catholic  missionary  among  them,  a  successor  of 
Le  Caron  and  Bre*beuf. 


THE  INDIAN  FIVE  NATIONS. 


ROMANS  OF  THE  WILDERNESS. — HURONS  CAUGHT  IN  AMBUSCADE. — SURRENDER  TO 
THE  CRUEL  MOHAWKS. — PLIGHT  OF  FATHER  BREBEUF'S  SUCCESSORS. — FATHER 
JOGUES  PUT  TO  THE  TORTURE. — A  MARCH  WlTH  THE  TORMENTORS. — BAPTISM 
FROM  A  CORNSTALK. — A  TREACHEROUS  ESCORT. — SEEKING  FATHER  GOUPIL'S 
REMAINS.— THE  SOLITARY  CAPTIVE. — MANY  HAIRBREADTH  ESCAPES. — ASYLUM 
AMONG  THE  HOLLANDERS. — RECEPTION  ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND. — ONE  LONE 
IRISHMAN. — RETURN  ACROSS  THE  OCEAN. — CHARITY  OF  THE  BRETON  PEAS- 
ANTRY.-RAGGED  AT  THE  CONVENT  GATE.— JOY  IN  A  Pious  COMMUNITY.— 
VENERATION  IN  HIGH  PLACES. — THE  POPE'S  SPECIAL  KINDNESS. — PLEADING 
TO  RETURN.  —  ONCE  MORE  IN  THE  MOHAWK  VALLEY.  —  THE  HOSPITABLE 
DUTCHMAN — JOURNEYING  THROUGH  OLD  SCENES.— TREACHERY  OF  THE  MO- 
HAWKS.—  THE  BLOW  THAT  MADE  A  MARTYR.  —  WONDERS  OF  GRACE  AND 
HOLINESS. 

the  history  of  the  Huron  mission  we  have  frequently  alluded  to 
the  Iroquois,  a  confederacy  of  five  nations  living  in  the  state  of 
New  York,  the  irreconcilable  enemies  of  the  Hurons,  Algonquins, 
and  French  in  Canada.  In  origin,  manners,  and  language  they 
resemble  the  Wyandots,  and  the  French  gave  both  these  tribes  at 
first  the  name  Hiroquais,  from  a  word  used  in  their  speeches  and 
their  usual  cry.  The  Wyandots,  however,  soon  acquired  the  nickname  of 
Hurons,  and  the  term  Iroquois  was  applied  exclusively  to  the  Five  Nations. 
As  the  great  Champlain  joined  their  enemies  before  Quebec  was  fortified,  a 
war  ensued  which  occupies  the  whole  early  history  of  Canada — a  war  which 
destroyed  the  noblest  missions  of  the  north — a  war  which  seemed  to  close 
forever  the  way  of  the  gospel  to  the  cabins  of  the  Iroquois.  Such  was  not, 
however,  the  design  of  the  Almighty,  who  makes  human  passions  and  human 
errors  contribute,  unseen  and  unobserved,  to  the  glory  of  his  Church. 

The  apostolic  men  who  founded  the  Canada  mission  longed  to  attempt 

293 


2Q.4  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  conversion  of  these  Romans  of  the  west.  A  Recollect  father,  William 
Poulain,  was  a  prisoner  in  their  hands,  in  1621,  at  the  rapids  of  St.  Louis,  and 
consoled  himself  for  his  sufferings  by  instructing  in  the  faith  some  Iroquois 
prisoners,  in  hopes  of  one  day  visiting  their  cabins.  When  the  Jesuits  came 
to  the  aid  of  the  Recollects,  it  was  resolved  that  some  of  the  Huron  mis- 
sionaries should  cross  the  Niagara  and  found  a  mission  among  the  Senecas; 
but  the  death  of  Father  Viel  and  subsequent  misfortunes  in  the  colony  pre- 
vented the  realization  of  the  scheme.  At  the  conclusion  of  peace,  which 
Champlain  effected  in  1627,  Brother  Gervase  Mohier  was  about  to  set  out  for 
the  Mohawk  with  the  Canada  envoys ;  but  delaying  in  order  to  receive  his 
superior's  approval  of  his  mission,  escaped  the  cruel  death  which  overtook 
the  messengers  of  peace. 

From  that  time,  for  many  a  long  year,  an  Iroquois  mission  was  but  a 
dream ;  and,  when  founded  at  last,  men  could  scarce  credit  its  reality. 

The  war  against  the  Indians  of  Canada,  waged  by  the  Iroquois,  had  not 
fallen  on  the  French;  but  at  a  restoration  of  some  French  captives  unharmed 
in  1640,  a  collision  took  place  which  infuriated  the  Mohawks,  and  led  to  a 
change  of  conduct.  Henceforward,  they  proclaimed,  French  and  Huron 
should  be  treated  alike,  and  war-bands  beset  all  the  water  communications  of 
the  north,  ready  to  pounce  on  either.  The  Huron  missionaries  were  thus 
reduced  to  a  state  of  great  want;  and,  in  1642,  Fathers  Jogues  and  Raymbaut, 
who  had  just  planted  the  cross  in  Michigan,  set  out  for  Quebec,  conscious  of 
the  danger,  but  ready  to  meet  it.  The  party  of  Indians  with  whom  they 
went  reached  Quebec  in  safety ;  Father  Jogues  executed  his  various  commis- 
sions, and  prepared  to  return  with  the  Hurons.  After  commending  them- 
selves to  God  the  party  set  out,  but  two  days  after  discovered  a  trail  on  the 
shore.  Uncertain  whether  it  was  that  of  a  hostile  party  or  not,  the  Huron 
chief,  Ahasistari,  too  confident  in  his  numbers,  ordered  the  convoy  on  into 
the  very  midst  of  an  ambuscade.  A  volley  from  the  nearest  shore  riddled 
their  canoes  and  disclosed  the  danger.  The  Hurons  fled  to  the  shore.  The 
missionary,  after  stooping  to  baptize  a  catechumen  in  his  canoe,  followed  the 
fugitives,  but  stood  alone  on  the  bank,  while  in  the  distance  he  heard  the 
noise  of  the  pursuers  and  pursued.  He  might  have  fled;  but  could  he,  a 
minister  of  Christ,  abandon  the  wounded  and  dying?  Looking  around,  he 
saw  some  captives  in  charge  of  a  few  Mohawks,  and,  joining  them, 
surrendered  himself.  Ahasistari,  with  Couture,  a  Frenchman,  drew  off 
a  part  in  safety;  but  not  finding  the  missionary,  returned  to  share  his 


THE  INDIAN  FIVE  NATIONS.  295 

fate,    as    the   chief    had    sworn    to   do;  such  was    the  devotion  devotedness 
•could  inspire. 

When  the  pursuit  was  over,  the  Mohawk  warriors  gradually  returned 
and  gathered  around  their  prisoners.  Besides  Father  Jogues  and  the  brave 
Couture,  there  was  Rend  Goupil,  a  novice  of  the  mission,  a  man  who  had 
given  himself  to  the  service  of  the  fathers  without  any  hope  of  earthly 
reward.  Ahasistari  and  nineteen  other  Hurons  completed  the  group.  Father 
Jogues  was  a  native  of  the  city  of  Orleans,  where  he  was  born  in  1607.  At 
the  early  age  of  seventeen  he  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus;  and  having  laid  a 
solid  foundation  of  virtue,  and  gone  through  a  brilliant  course  of  study,  he 
was  ordained  priest  in  1636.  Lallemant,  his  preceptor,  had  often  repeated  to 
Jogues  the  prophetic  words,  "Brother,  you  will  die  in  Canada;"  and  on 
becoming  acquainted,  at  the  college  of  Rouen,  with  the  illustrious  Brebeuf, 
who  had  just  returned  from  the  wilds  of  the  New  World,  the  young  Jesuit's 
desire  of  laboring  in  a  foreign  mission  received  a  fresh  impulse.  He  was 
soon  sent  to  Canada,  and  we  have  seen  him  in  the  previous  chapter  toiling 
for  five  years  among  the  Hurons  and  their  dusky  neighbors.  Father  Jogues 
penetrated  westward  and  preached  the  true  Faith  at  Sault  St.  Marie.  He 
was  the  first  to  plant  the  cross  on  the  soil  of  Michigan.  Let  us  now  return 
to  him  as  a  Mohawk  captive.  Torture  soon  began.  Couture  had  slain  a 
chief;  he  was  now  stripped,  beaten,  and  mangled;  and  Father  Jogues,  who 
consoled  him,  was  violently  attacked,  beaten  till  he  fell  senseless,  for  they 
rushed  on  him  like  wolves,  and,  not  content  with  blows,  tore  out  his  nails  and 
gnawed  the  fingers  to  the  very  bone. 

Fearful  now  of  pursuit,  the  victors  started  for  their  village,  hurrying 
their  captives  through  the  wilderness,  all  covered  with  wounds,  suffering 
from  hunger,  heat,  and  the  cruelty  which  never  ceased  to  add  to  their  torments 
by  opening  their  wounds,  thrusting  awls  into  their  flesh,  plucking  the  beard 
or  hair.  While  sailing  through  Lake  Champlain  they  descried  another  party 
which  landed  on  an  island,  raised  a  scaffold,  and  formed  a  double  line,  through 
which  the  line  of  captives  closed  by  Jogues  was  forced  to  run,  while  blows 
were  showered  upon  them.  The  missionary  sank  under  the  clubs  and  iron 
rods.  "  God  alone,"  he  exclaims,  "  for  whose  love  and  glory  it  is  sweet  and 
glorious  to  suffer,  can  tell  what  cruelties  they  perpetrated  on  me  then." 
Dragged  to  the  scaffold,  he  was  again  assailed,  bruised,  and  burned;  his  clos- 
ing wounds  now  gaped  afresh,  most  of  his  remaining  nails  were  torn  out,  and 
his  hands  so  dislocated  that  they  never  recovered  their  natural  shape.  Amid 


296  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

all  these  trials  the  good  missionary  was  silent,  grieving  less  for  himself  than 
for  his  comrades  in  misfortune,  and  for  the  Huron  church,  whose  oldest  mem- 
bers were  now  on  their  way  to  death. 

Another  party,  which  met  them  on  Lake  Champlain,  treated  them  with 
similar  cruelty ;  but  leaving  Lake  George  they  pursued  their  march  on  foot, 
and  on  the  I4th  of  August  came  to  the  river  beyond  which  lay  the 
first  Mohawk  village,  The  shout  of  the  warriors  emerging  from  the  woods 
was  answered,  and  the  village  poured  out  to  receive  the  captives.  Again  the 
gauntlet  was  to  be  run,  and  through  "  this  narrow  path  to  paradise,"  amid  the 
descending  clubs  and  rods  of  iron  they  sped  on  to  the  scaffold,  where  new 
cruelties  awaited  them.  The  missionary's  left  thumb  was  hacked  off  by  an 
Algonquin  slave;  Renews  right  with  a  clam-shell.  None  of  the  party  escaped. 

At  night  they  were  removed  from  the  scaffold  and  placed  in  one  of  the 
houses,  each  stretched  on  his  back,  with  his  limbs  extended  and  his  ankles 
and  wrists  bound  fast  to  stakes  driven  into  the  earthen  floor.  The  children 
now  profited  by  the  example  of  their  parents,  and  amused  themselves  by 
placing  live  coals  and  red-hot  ashes  on  the  naked  bodies  of  the  prisoners,  who, 
bound  fast  and  covered  with  wounds  and  bruises,  which  made  every  move- 
ment a  torture,  were  sometimes  unable  to  shake  them  off. 

The  captives  were  led  about  to  other  villages,  but  in  all  they  met  the 
same  barbarous  treatment.  In  one  of  these  the  scaffold  was  already  occupied 
by  Huron  prisoners,  several  of  whom  were  catechumens.  On  reaching  them 
Father  Jogues  made  instant  inquiries  as  to  their  religion.  He  heard  the  con- 
fessions of  the  Christians  and  prepared  the  others  for  the  Sacrament  of  Bap- 
tism. But  he  was  a  prisoner  himself,  and  alas!  could  not  procure  a  drqp  of 
water.  At  that  moment,  however,  a  warrior  passed  by,  and  threw  him  a 
stalk  of  Indian  corn.  The  morning  dew  still  glistened  on  the  bright  green 
leaves.  The  Jesuit  used  the  pearly  drops  so  as  to  baptize  two,  and  shortly 
after,  while  crossing  a  stream,  he  conferred  the  Sacrament  on  another. 
Heaven  was  opened.  The  Mohawk  mission  had  commenced.  A  council  of 
chiefs  was  held,  and  it  was  decreed  that  all  should  die ;  but  on  further  con- 
sideration the  French  were  reserved  as  prisoners,  and  but  three  of  the 
Hurons  were  sentenced  to  death.  Among  these  was  the  noble  Christian 
chief,  Ahasistari. 

Father  Jogues  lost  no  opportunity  to  baptize  dying  infants,  while  Goupil 
taught  children  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross.  On  one  occasion  he  made  the 
sign  on  the  forehead  of  a  child,  grandson  of  an  Indian  in  whose  lodge  they 


THE  INDIAN  FIVE  NATIONS.  297 

lived.  The  superstition  of  the  old  savage  was  aroused ;  some  Dutchmen  had 
told  him  that  the  sign  of  the  cross  came  from  the  devil  and  would  cause  mis- 
chief; he  thought  that  Goupil  was  bewitching  the  child;  and,  resolving  to  rid 
himself  of  so  dangerous  a  guest,  applied  for  aid  to  two  young  braves. 

Jogues  and  Goupil,  clad  in  their  squalid  garb  of  tattered  skins,  were  soon 
after  walking  together  in  the  forest  that  adjoined  the  town,  consoling  them- 
selves with  prayer,  and  mutually  exhorting  each  other  to  suffer  patiently  for 
the  sake  of  Christ  and  His  Holy  Mother,  when,  as  they  were  returning, 
reciting  their  rosaries,  they  met  the  two  young  Indians,  and  read  in  their 
sullen  visages  an  augury  of  ill. 

The  Indians  joined  them,  and  accompanied* them  to  the  entrance  of  the 
town,  where  one  of  the  two,  suddenly  drawing  a  hatchet  from  beneath  his 
blanket,  struck  it  into  the  head  of  Goupil,  who  fell,  murmuring  the  name  of 
Christ.  Jogues  dropped  on  his  knees,  and  bowing  his  head  in  prayer, 
awaited  the  blow,  when  the  murderer  ordered  him  to  get  up  and  go  home. 
He  obeyed,  but  not  until  he  had  given  absolution  to  his  still  breathing  friend, 
and  presently  saw  the  lifeless  body  dragged  through  the  town  amid  hootings 
and  rejoicings. 

Jogues  passed  a  night  of  anguish  and  desolation,  and  in  the  morning  set 
forth  in  search  of  Goupil's  remains.  "Where  are  you  going  so  fast?" 
demanded  the  old  Indian,  his  master.  "  Do  you  not  see  those  fierce  young 
braves,  who  are  watching  to  kill  you?"  The  heroic  priest  persisted,  and  the 
old  man  asked  another  Indian  to  go  with  him  as  a  protector. 

The  corpse  had  been  flung  into  a  neighboring  ravine,  at  the  bottom  of 
which  ran  a  torrent;  and  here,  with  the  Indian's  help,  Jogues  found  it, 
stripped  naked  and  gnawed  by  dogs.  He  dragged  it  into  the  water,  and 
covered  it  with  stones,  to  save  it  from  further  mutilation,  resolving  to  return 
alone  on  the  following  day  and  secretly  bury  it.  But  with  the  night  there 
came  a  storm ;  and  when,  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  Jogues  descended  to 
the  brink  of  the  stream,  he  found  it  a  rolling,  turbid  flood,  and  the  body  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen. 

Had  the  Indians  or  the  torrent  borne  it  away?  Jogues  waded  into  the 
cold  current;  it  was  the  ist  of  October;  he  sounded  it  with  his  feet  and  with 
his  stick ;  he  searched  the  rocks,  the  thicket,  the  forest,  but  all  in  vain.  Then, 
crouched  by  the  pitiless  stream,  he  mingled  his  tears  with  its  waters,  and,  in 
a  voice  broken  with  groans,  chanted  the  service  of  the  dead. 

The  Indians,  it  proved,  and  not  the  flood,  had  robbed  him  of  the  remains 


298  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

of  his  friend.  Early  in  the  spring,  when  the  snows  were  melting  in  the 
woods,  he  was  told  by  Mohawk  children  that  the  body  was  lying  where  it 
had  been  flung,  in  a  lonely  spot  lower  down  the  stream.  He  went  to  seek 
it;  found  the  scattered  bones  stripped  by  the  foxes  and  the  birds;  and,  tenderly 
gathering  them  up,  hid  them  in  a  hollow  tree,  hoping  that  a  day  might  come 
when  he  could  give  them  a  Christian  burial  in  consecrated  ground. 

After  the  murder  of  Goupil,  Father  Jogues'  life  hung  by  a  hair.  He 
lived  in  hourly  expectation  of  the  tomahawk,  and  would  have  welcomed  it  as 
a  boon.  By  signs  and  words  he  was  warned  that  his  hour  was  near;  but,  as 
he  never  shunned  his  fate,  it  fled  from  him,  and  each  day,  with  renewed 
astonishment,  he  found  himself  still  among  the  living. 

Now  solitary  amid  the  Mohawks,  the  man  of  God  devoted  his  leisure 
moments  to  the  spiritual  comfort  of  the  Huron  captives,  who  were  scattered 
through  the  towns.  The  Mohawk  dialect  differed  so  much  from  the  Huron, 
that  he  was  unable  to  address  himself  on  religious  topics  to  the  natives;  and, 
as  he  daily  expected  death,  he  deemed  it  useless  to  attempt  a  comparison  of 
the  two  dialects.  Led  as  a  slave  to  the  hunting-grounds,  he  drew  on  himself 
ill  treatment  and  threats  of  death  by  his  firmness  in  refusing  to  touch  food 
which  had  been  offered  to  the  demon  of  the  forest.  He  also  excited  the  ill- 
will  of  the  fierce  savages  by  his  constant  prayer  before  a  rude  cross  carved 
on  a  tree. 

But  he  bore  his  load  of  griefs  manfully;  and  found  solace  in  his  sorrows 
by  reflecting  that  he  alone,  in  that  vast  region,  adored  the  Creator  of  earth 
and  heaven.  Roaming  through  the  stately  forests  of  the  Mohawk  valley,  he 
wrote  the  name  of  Jesus  on  the  bark  of  trees,  engraved  crosses,  and  entered 
into  possession  of  these  countries  in  the  name  of  God — often  lifting  up  his 
voice  in  a  solitary  chant.  What  a  theme  for  the  pen,  what  a  subject  for  the 
pencil — this  living  martyr,  half-clad  in  shaggy  furs,  kneeling  on  the  snow 
among  the  icicled  rocks,  and  beneath  the  gloomy  pines,  bowing  in  adoration 
before  the  glorious  emblem  of  the  Faith,  in  which  was  his  only  hope  and  his 
only  consolation! 

As  the  time  passed,  however,  Father  Jogues  become  more  familiar  with 
the  Mohawk  language.  He  could  converse  a  little.  The  chiefs  began  to 
respect  him,  and  as  he  showed  no  disposition  to  escape,  he  was  allowed  a  large 
liberty.  Nor  was  he  slow  in  availing  himself  of  this  privilege.  He  visited 
other  towns,  and  when  he  passed,  God  passed  with  him.  He  ministered  to 
Christian  prisoners,  often  preparing  them  for  eternity  amid  the  very  flames. 


THE  INDIAN  FIVE  NATIONS.  299 

He  baptized  infants  in  danger  of  death;  and  when  grace  touched  the  pagan 
heart,  he  was  consoled  by  a  conversion^  Thus  not  without  fruit  was  the  cap- 
tivity of  the  martyr-missionary. 

He  accompanied  his  Indian  masters  on  several  trading  excursions  to  the 
Dutch  settlement  of  Rensselaerswyck.  It  was  while  here  in  August,  1643, 
that  Jogues  wrote  the  famous  letter  to  his  provincial,  in  which  he  recounts, 
in  elegant  Latin,  the  scenes  and  sufferings  that  had  marked  the  days  of  his 
captivity. 

But  scarcely  was  the  ink  dry  on  his  letter,  when  the  Jesuit  learned  that 
the  Indians  were  plotting  his  destruction.  Some  of  the  principal  Dutch 
inhabitants  pressed  him  to  escape,  and  kindly  offered  him  every  aid  in  their 
power.  The  priest,  however,  hesitated,  and  spent  a  night  in  prayer  before 
coming  to  any  decision.  He  concluded  that  it  was  the  will  of  God  to  embrace 
the  opportunity  given  him. 

But  the  heroic  missionary  passed  through  many  an  adventure  and  "  hair- 
breadth escape"  before  regaining  his  liberty.  On  one  occasion,  while  cross- 
ing a  fence,  he  was  severely  bitten  in  the  leg  by  a  fierce  dog.  He  was  stowed 
away  for  several  days  in  the  bottom  of  a  boat  in  the  river,  and  as  the  weather 
was  excessively  warm,  he  got  nearly  suffocated.  Furious  at  his  escape,  the 
savages  ransacked  the  settlement.  The  officers  of  the  boat  were  terrified, 
and  Jogues,  for  greater  safety,  was  placed  in  the  garret  of  an  old  house  in 
Fort  Orange.  He  was  visited  in  his  hiding-place  by  the  minister,  Megapo- 
lensis,  who,  to  his  honor  be  it  said,  treated  him  with  extreme  kindness. 

As  the  clamors  of  the  Indians  for  their  captive  redoubled,  and  each  inter- 
view grew  more  boisterous  than  the  last,  the  Dutch  friends  of  the  Jesuit 
determined  once  for  all  to  take  a  bold  stand. 

"  The  Frenchman  for  whom  you  search,"  exclaimed  a  brave  Hollander, 
"  is  under  my  protection,  and  I  shall  not  give  him  up."  He  then  reasoned 
with  the  noisy  savages,  and  finished  by  saying:  "Here  is  money  for  the  ran- 
som of  your  prisoner,"  handing  them  the  sum  of  three  hundred  livres. 

This  manly,  generous  action  gave  Father  Jogues  his  freedom.  He 
boarded  a  small  vessel,  and  was  soon  carried  down  the  lordly  stream ;  and 
thus  for  the  first  time  a  Catholic  priest  passed  along— 

"  Where  Hudson's  wave  o'er  silvery  sands 
Winds  through  the  hills  afar." 

We  part  from  the  Iroquois  mission  for  a  space  to  follow  the  fortunes  of 
its  indomitable  founder.  On  arriving  at  New  Amsterdam,  Father  Jogues 


300 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


was  received  with  much  honor  by  Governor  Kieft,  with  whom  he  remained 
for  some  time.  This  was  in  the  fall  of  1643.  Manhattan  Island  was  then  a 
rude  place,  containing  about  five  hundred  inhabitants,  a  motley  crowd  of 
many  nationalities.  The  governor  informed  Father  Jogues  that  eighteen 
languages  were  spoken  in  their  midst.  The  good  Jesuit  found  just  two 
Catholics — a  young  Irishman  and  a  Portuguese  woman.  The  good,  warm- 
hearted son  of  Erin  had  the  honor  and  happiness  of  making  his  confession, 
and  receiving  absolution  from  the  martyr-missionary  of  the  fierce  Mohawks, 
the  first  priest  who  ever  set  foot  on  Manhattan  Island.  This  was  the  first 
time  the  Sacrament  of  Penance  was  administered  in  the  great  commercial 
metropolis  of  America,  which  is  now  the  see  of  an  Archbishop,  and  contains 
over  eighty  Catholic  churches. 

The  hospitable  Dutch  governor  gave  Father  Jogues  a  new  suit  of  clothes 
— something  he  was  painfully  in  need  of — and  procured  him  a  passage  in  the 
first  ship  bound  for  the  shores  of  beautiful  France.  A  storm  drove  the  ves- 
sel on  the  English  coast,  and  the  martyr  Jesuit  fell  into  the  hands  of  some 
thievish  wreckers — a  class  of  men  little  removed  in  barbarism  from  the  Mo- 
hawks that  ranged  the  forests  of  New  York.  He  was  stripped  of  everything 
in  his  possession.  Even  his  .clothes  were  not  spared.  After  many  hardships, 
however,  he  found  his  way  across  the  English  Channel,  in  a  collier's  bark 
and  was  landed  on  the  shores  of  Brittany,  in  his  native  country,  on  Christmas 
Day,  1643. 

In  a  rude  sailor's  coat,  dragging  himself  along  with  pain,  aided  by  a  staff, 
the  venerable  priest  was  no  longer  recognized.  Hospitality  was  cordially  ex- 
tended to  him  in  a  peasant's  cot;  here  he  was  invited  to  share  the  simple 
morning  meal,  but  the  missionary's  only  thought  was  to  celebrate  duly  the 
festival  by  receiving  the  Blessed  Eucharist.  He  had  the  nearest  church 
pointed  out,  and  there  had  the  supreme  happiness  of  approaching  the  holy 
altar.  For  nearly  a  year  and  a  half  he  had  been  deprived  of  his  Bread  of  Life. 

The  good  Bretons  lent  him  a  hat  and  a  little  cloak  to  appear  more  de- 
cently in  church.  They  thought  him  to  be  one  of  those  unfortunate  children 
of  Catholic  Erin,  whom  persecution  frequently  drove  to  the  shores  of  France; 
but,  when  on  his  return  from  Mass,  his  charitable  hosts  saw  the  frightful  con- 
dition of  his  hands,  Father  Jogues  was  compelled  to  satisfy  their  pious  curiosity 
by  modestly  relating  his  history.  The  peasants  of  Leon  fell  at  his  feet,  over- 
come with  pity  and  admiration.  He  himself  relates  how  the  young  girls, 
moved  by  the  story  of  his  misfortunes,  gave  him  their  little  alms.  "  They 


THE  INDIAN  FIVE  NATIONS.  301 

came,"  he  says,  "  with  so  much  generosity  and  modesty    to  offer   me   two  or 
three  pence,  which  was  probably  all  their  treasure,  that  I  was  moved  to  tears." 

By  the  assistance  of  these  good  peasants,  Father  Jogues  was  enabled  to 
reach  the  city  of  Rennes,  which  contained  a  college  of  the  society.  It  was 
early  morning,  and  when  the  porter  came  to  the  door  to  answer  the  call,  he 
beheld  a  poor  and  almost  deformed  beggar.  The  stranger  humbly  asked  if 
he  could  see  the  Rector.  The  porter  hastily  answered  that  he  was  about  to 
say  Mass,  and  could  not  be  seen  at  that  hour.  "  But,"  persisted  the  stranger, 
<l  tell  him  that  a  poor  man  from  Canada  would  gladly  speak  with  him." 
When  the  porter  whispered  the  message,  the  Father  Rector  was  putting  on 
his  vestments.  At  the  name  of  "Canada,"  which  was  then  the  great  mission- 
ary field  of  the  French  Jesuits,  the  superior  disrobed  and  proceeded  to  the 
parlor.  The  poor  and  ragged  traveler  handed  him  a  certificate  of  character 
from  Governor  Kieft.  Without  even  glancing  at  it,  the  Rector  hastily 
inquired : 

"  Are  you  from  Canada?" 

"Yes." 

"  Do  you  know  Father  Jogues?" 

"  Very  well." 

"Thelroquois  have  taken  him,"  continued  the  Rector;  "is  he  dead? 
Have  they  murdered  him?" 

"No,"  answered  Jogues;  "he  is  alive  and  at  liberty,  and  I  am  he." 
And  as  he  uttered  these  words  he  fell  upon  his  knees,  asking  the  benediction 
of  his  superior. 

That  was  a  day  of  almost  boundless  joy  in  the  College  of  Rennes.  Nor 
was  there  less  rejoicing  among  his  fellow-religious  over  all  France.  He  was 
supposed  to  be  dead,  and  his  sudden  reappearance  among  them  was  some- 
thing extraordinary. 

He  reposed  for  a  few  days  at  the  College  at  Rennes,  and  then  pushed  on 
towards  Paris,  to  place  himself  again  at  the  disposal  of  his  superior,  humbly 
and  modestly  intimating  a  desire,  however,  to  be  sent  back  to  his  mission  in 
America.  His  fame  had  long  preceded  him,  and,  when  he  arrived  at  thecap- 
ital,  the  faithful  pressed  forward  in  crowds  to  venerate  him  and  kiss  his 
wounds.  The  pious  queen-mother  coveted  the  same  happiness,  and  he, 
whom  we  saw  so  recently  the  captive  and  slave  of  brutal  savages,  is  now  hon- 
ored at  the  court  of  the  first  capital  in  Christendom.  But  the  humility  of 
Father  Jogues  took  alarm  at  the  honors  paid  to  him.  Throwing  himself  at 


302  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

his  superior's  feet,  he  entreated  that  he  might  be  sent  back  to  the  wilderness 
from  which  he  had  just  escaped.  The  superior  consented ;  but  an  obstacle 
here  presented  itself. 

So  great  were  the  injuries  inflicted  upon  his  hands  by  the  Mohawks  that 
he  was  canonically  disqualified  from  offering  up  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass.  Application  for  the  proper  dispensation  was  made  to  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff,  upon  a  statement  of  the  facts.  Innocent  XI  was  moved  by  the 
recital,  and,  with  an  inspired  energy,  exclaimed:  "Indignum  esse  Christi 
martyrem^  Christi  non  bibere  sanguinem"  —  "  It  were  unjust  that  a  martyr 
of  Christ  should  not  drink  the  blood  of  Christ!"  Pronounced  by  the  Vicar 
of  Christ  on  earth  to  be  a  martyr,  though  living,  he  now  goes  to  seek  a 
double  martyrdom  in  death.  In  the  spring  he  started  for  Rochelle,  and 
Father  Ducreux,  the  historian  of  Canada,  sought  the  honor  of  accompanying 
him  thither. 

He  embarked  from  Rochelle  for  Canada,  where  he  arrived  on  the  1 6th  of 
May,  1644.  He  found  the  Iroquois  war  still  raging  with  unabated  fury,  and 
the  colony  of  New  France  reduced  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  When  his  brethren 
in  Canada  heard  and  saw  how  cruelly  Father  Jogues  had  been  treated  in  the 
Mohawk,  and  that  his  timely  flight  alone  had  saved  his  life,  they  felt  the 
saddest  apprehensions  about  the  fate  of  Father  Bressani,  who  had  also  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois.  Finding  it  impossible  to  return  to  Lake 
Huron,  Father  Jogues  joined  Father  Buteux  in  the  duties  of  the  holy  min- 
istry at  the  new  town  of  Montreal,  to  which  its  founders  gave  the  name  of 
the  City  of  Mary,  in  consecrating  it  to  the  Mother  of  God.  It  was  during 
their  sojourn  together  that  the  superior  endeavored  to  draw  from  Father 
Jogues,  by  entreaty,  and  even  by  command,  the  circumstances  of  his  suffer- 
ings in  captivity ;  but  his  humility  and  modesty  were  so  great  that  it  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  anything  concerning  himself  could  be  drawn 
from  him.  In  this  spirit  he  avoided  all  the  honors  that  were  pressed  upon 
him.  After  his  return  to  Canada,  he  was  so  desirous  of  being  unknown  and 
unhonored  that  he  ceased  signing  his  name,  and  even  his  letters  which  he 
addressed  to  his  superior  after  his  return  to  Canada  are  without  signatures. 

Some  Mohawk  prisoners,  kindly  treated  by  the  governor  of  Canada 
and  released,  returned  to  their  country,  and  disposed  the  Mohawks  to  make 
peace.  A  solemn  deputation  of  their  chiefs  came  to  Three  Rivers,  and  were 
received  on  the  I2th  of  July,  1645,  with  great  ceremony  and  pomp.  Father 
Jogues  was  present,  though  unseen  by  the  deputies;  so  was  Father  Bressani, 


THE  INDIAN  FIVE  NATIONS. 


3°3 


who,  having  passed  the  ordeal  of  a  most  cruel  captivity  among  the  Mohawks, 
had  been  ransomed  by  the  Dutch  of  New  York,  sent  to  France,  and  had  now, 
like  Father  Jogues,  returned  to  New  France  to  suffer  again.  When  all  was 
silent,  the  orator  of  the  deputies  arose,  and  opened  the  session  with  the  usual 
march  and  chants.  He  explained,  as  he  proceeded  to  deliver  the  presents, 
the  meaning  of  each.  Belt  after  belt  of  wampum  was  thrown  at  the  gov- 
ernor's feet,  until  at  last  he  held  forth  one  in  his  hand,  beautifully  decorated 
with  the  shellwork  of  the  Mohawk  Valley.  "  This,"  he  exclaimed,  "  is  for 
the  two  black  gowns.  We  wished  to  bring  them  both  back;  but  we  have 
not  been  able  to  accomplish  our  design.  One  escaped  from  our  hands  in 
spite  of  us,  and  the  other  absolutely  desired  to  be  given  up  to  the  Dutch. 
We  yielded  to  his  desire.  We  regret  not  their  being  free,  but  our  ignorance 
of  their  fate.  Perhaps  even  now  that  I  name  them  they  are  victims  of  cruel 
enemies  or  swallowed  up  in  the  waves.  The  Mohawk  never  intended  to  put 
them  to  death." 

The  French  had  little  faith  in  the  sincerity  of  the  Mohawk,  yet  they 
wanted  peace.  The  past  was  forgiven,  the  missionaries  buried  the  remem- 
brance of  their  wrongs  with  the  hatchet  of  the  Mohawk,  and  peace  was 
concluded.  The  deputies  returned  to  their  castles  to  get  the  sachems  to 
ratify  the  peace,  and  Father  Jogues  to  Montreal  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
terrible  ordeal  which  he  foresaw  a  Mohawk  mission  would  open  to  him. 
His  preparation  consisted  in  prayer,  meditations,  and  other  spiritual  exercises. 
The  peace  was  ratified  ;  the  Indians  asked  for  missionaries  ;  the  French 
resolved  to  open  a  mission  among  them,  and  Father  Jogues  was  selected  for 
the  perilous  enterprise.  When  he  received  the  letter  of  his  superior  inform- 
ing him  of  his  selection,  Father  Jogues  joyfully  accepted  the  appointment, 
and  prepared  at  once  to  depart.  His  letter  in  reply  to  the  superior  contains 
these  heroic  words:  "  Yes,  father,  I  will  all  that  God  wills,  and  I  will  it  at  the 
peril  of  a  thousand  lives.  Oh !  how  I  should  regret  the  loss  of  so  glorious 
an  occasion,  when  it  depends  but  upon  me  that  some  isouls  may  be  saved.  I 
hope  that  His  goodness,  which  did  not  forsake  me  in  the  hour  of  need,  will 
aid  me  yet.  He  and  I  are  able  yet  to  overcome  all  the  difficulties  which  can 
oppose  our  project." 

On  arriving  at  Three  Rivers,  he  ascertained  that  he  and  the  Sieur  Bour- 
don were  to  go  to  the  Mohawk  castle,  in  the  first  instance,  merely  as 
ambassadors,  to  make  sure  of  the  peace.  They  departed  on  this  dangerous 
embassy  on  the  i6th  of  May,  1646,  and  during  their  absence  public  prayers, 


304  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

offered  for  their  return,  testified  the  fears  felt  for  their  safety.  As  they  were 
about  to  start,  an  Algonquin  thus  addressed  Father  Jogues:  "  There  is  nothing 
more  repulsive  at  first  than  this  doctrine,  that  seems  to  annihilate  all  that  man 
holds  dearest,  and  as  your  long  gown  preaches  it  as  much  as  your  lips,  you 
would  do  better  to  go  at  first  in  a  short  one."  Thereupon  the  prudent  ambas- 
sador parted  for, the  time  with  the  habit  of  his  order,  and  substituted  a 
more  diplomatic  costume. 

They  were  accompanied  by  four  Mohawks  and  two  Algonquins.  After 
ascending  the  Sorel,  and  gliding  through  the  beautiful  islands  of  Lake 
Champlain,  they  arrived  at  the  portage  leading  to  the  Lake  Andiatarocte1  on 
the  29th  of  May,  which  was  the  eve  of  Corpus  Christi.  Here  Father 
Jogues  paused,  and  named  the  lake  Saint  Sacrament;  but  by  a  less  Christian 
taste  that  beautiful  name,  given  in  honor  of  the  King  of  kings,  has  since 
yielded  to  one  given  in  honor  of  one  of  the  kings  of  earth.  They  suffered 
greatly  for  food  on  the  way,  but  obtained  a  supply  of  provisions  at  Ossarane,  a 
fishing  station  on  the  Hudson,  supposed  to  be  Saratoga.  Then,  gliding  down 
the  Hudson,  they  came  to  Fort  Orange,  where  Father  Jogues  again,  in  the 
most  earnest  and  sincere  terms,  expressed  his  deep  gratitude  to  his  liberators, 
the  Dutch,  whose  outlay  in  his  behalf  he  had  already  reimbursed  to  them  from 
Europe.  Not  satisfied  with  expressing  his  thanks,  Father  Jogues  endeavored 
to  bestow  upon  his  friend,  Dominie  Megapolensis,  the  greatest  of  possible 
returns — the  true  faith.  He  wrote  from  this  place  a  letter  to  the  minister,  in 
which  he  used  every  argument  that  his  well-stored  mind  or  the  unbounded 
charitv  of  his  heart  could  suggest  to  reclaim  him  to  the  bosom  of  that  ancient 
church  which  his  fathers  had  so  unfortunately  left. 

After  a  short  repose  at  Albany,  they  proceeded  to  the  Mohawk,  and 
arrived  at  the  nearest  town  on  the  yth  of  June.  A  generally  assembly  of  the 
chiefs  was  called  to  ratify  the  peace,  and  crowds  came  from  all  sides;  some 
through  curiosity  to  see,  and  others  with  a  desire  to  honor  the  untiring  and 
self-sacrificing  Ondessonk.  Father  Jogues  made  a  speech  appropriate  to  the 
occasion  and  the  purposes  of  his  visits,  which  the  assembled  chiefs  heard  with 
great  enthusiasm;  presents  were  exchanged,  and  peace  was  finally  and  abso- 
lutely ratified.  The  Wolf  family,  in  particular,  being  that  in  which  Father 
Jogues  had  been  adopted,  exclaimed:  "  The  French  shall  always  find  among 
us  friendly  hearts  and  an  open  cabin,  and  thou,  Ondessonk,  shalt  always  have 
a  mat  to  lie  on  and  a  fire  to  keep  thee  warm."  Father  Jogues  endeavored  to 
impress  favorably  the  representatives  of  other  tribes  who  were  there  by 


THE  INDIAN  FIVE  NATIONS. 


3°5 


presents  and  friendly  words.  Then  remembering  his  sacred  character  as  a 
minister  of  God,  he  visited  and  consoled  the  Huron  captives,  especially  the 
sick  and  dying;  he  heard  the  confessions  of  some,  and  baptized  several 
expiring  infants.  Before  departing  Father  Jogues  desired  to  leave  behind  his 
box  containing  articles  most  necessary  for  the  mission,  which  he  was  soon  to 
return  and  commence  among  them;  the  Mohawks,  however,  dreading  some 
evil  from  the  box,  objected  at  first,  but  the  father  opened  it  and  showed  them 
all  it  contained,  and  finally,  as  he  supposed,  overcame  their  superstitious  fears, 
and  the  box  was  left  behind  among  them. 

The  ambassadors  and  their  suite  set  out  on  their  return,  on  the  i6th  of 
June,  bearing  their  baggage  on  their  backs.  They  also  constructed  their  own 
canoes  at  Lake  Superior,  and,  having  crossed  the  lake  in  safety,  arrived  at 
Three  Rivers,  after  a  passage  of  thirteen  days,  on  the  feast  of  SS.  Peter  and 
Paul,  to  the  infinite  joy  and  relief  of  all  their  friends. 

On  the  28th  day  of  September,  Father  Jogues  was  on  his  way  to  the 
Mohawk,  accompanied  by  Lalande,  a  young  Frenchman  from  Dieppe,  an 
Iroquois  of  Huron  birth,  and  some  other  Hurons.  As  they  advanced,  tidings 
of  war  on  the  part  of  the  Mohawks  became  more  frequent,  and  the  Indian 
escorts  began  to  desert.  They  passed  Lake  Champlain  in  safety,  and  had 
advanced  within  two  days'  journey  of  the  Mohawk,  when  a  war-party, 
marching  on  Fort  Richelieu,  came  upon  them.  The  savages  rushed  upon 
them,  stripped  Father  Jogues  and  Lalande  of  their  effects,  bound  them  as 
prisoners,  and  turning  back  led  them  to  the  village  of  Caughnawaga,  the  scene 
of  Father  Jogues'  first  Captivity  and  sufferings.  Here  they  were  received 
with  a  shower  of  blows,  amid  loud  cries  for  their  heads,  that  they  might  be 
set  up  on  the  palisades. 

Towards  evening,  on  the  iSth  of  October,  some  of  the  savages  of  the 
Bear  family  came  and  invited  Father  Jogues  to  sup  in  their  cabin.  Scarcely 
had  the  shadow  of  the  black-gown  darkened  the  entrance  of  their  lodge, 
when  a  concealed  arm  struck  a  well-aimed  blow  with  the  murderous  toma- 
hawk, and  the  Christian  martyr  fell  lifeless  to  the  ground.  The  generous 
Kiotsaeton,  who  had  just  arrived  as  a  deputy  of  a  council  called  to  decide  on 
his  case,  rushed  to  save  him,  but  the  blade  had  done  its  work,  and  now  spent 
its  remaining  force  by  inflicting  a  deep  wound  in  the  arm  of  that  noble  chief. 
The  head  of  Father  Jogues  was  severed  from  his  body  and  raised  upon  the 
palisade.  The  next  day  the  faithful  Lalande  and  a  no  less  faithful  Huron^ 
shared  the  same  fate. 


306 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


Father  Jogues  was  in  his  fortieth  year  when  he  received  the  fatal  stroke. 
When  the  tidings  of  his  death  arrived,  every  tongue  in  Canada  and  in  France 
was  zealous  in  the  recital  of  his  many  virtues  and  in  praise  of  his  glorious 
death.  His  zeal  for  the  Faith,  his  courage  in  danger,  his  humility,  his  love 
of  prayer  and  suffering,  his  devotion  to  the  cross,  were  conspicuous  among 
the  many  exalted  virtues  that  adorned  his  life  and  death.  While  his  brethren 

lamented  the  loss  the 
missions  had  sustain- 
ed, they  envied  him 
the  crown  he  had 
won.  "We  could 
not,"  says  Father 
Ragueneau,  "  bring 
ourselves  to  offer  for 
Father  Jogues  the 
prayers  for  the  dead. 
We  offered  up  the 
adorable  sacrifice,  in- 


-%&c-^ 

• -£&£**  ' 


deed,  but  it  was  in 
thanksgiving  for  the 
favors  which  he  had 
received  from  God. 


MEMORIAL    CHURCH    AT   AURIESVILLE,    N.   Y.,   WHERE   FATHER 

JOGUES  WAS  MARTYRED. 
The  laity  and  the  religious  houses  here  partook  our  sentiments  as  to  this 
happy  death,  and  more  are  found  to  invoke  his  memory  than  there  are  to 
pray  for  his  repose." 

"  Founder  of  the  Mohawk  mission,"  says  Shea,  "  his  sufferings,  rather 
than  his  labors,  give  him  a  place  in  its  annals.  His  letters  are  his  noblest 
monument;  in  them  we  behold  his  deep  and  tender  piety,  his  devotion  to  our 
Lord,  especially  in  the  Sacrament  of  His  love,  his  love  of  the  cross,  his  perfect 
confidence  in  the  all-directing  hand  of  the  Almighty,  his  implicit  obedience. 
angelic  purity  and  attachment  to  his  holy  mother,  the  Church.  After  his 
death  miracles  were  attributed  to  him  and  duly  attested  ;  and  the  missionaries, 
who,  at  a  later  date,  saw  a  fervent  church  arise  at  the  place  of  his  glorious 
death,  and  those  who  saw  it  produce  that  holy  virgin,  Catherine  Tegahkwita, 
ascribed  these  wonders  of  grace  only  to  his  blood." 


THG  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS. 


MOHAWKS  ON  THE  WAR  PATH. — THK  WIDOW'S  HARVEST. — FATHER  POXCET  RUNS 
THE  GAUNTLET. — MISSION  BY  FATHER  LE  MOYNE. —  ARRIVAL  AT  ONONDAGA. — 
AMBASSADOR  COMBINED  WITH  MISSIONARY. —  RETURN  TO  QUEBEC.— THE 
CHIEF  JOHN  BAPTIST. — HOLY  MASS  IN  THE  WOODS. — WELCOME  TO  FATHER 
CHAUMONOT. — A  MISSION  HAPPILY  BEGUN.— FIRST  CATHOLIC  CHAPEL  IN  NEW 
YORK. — A  WILD  SATURNALIA. — PRIESTS  CHARGED  WITH  TREACHERY.— NEW 
EXPEDITION  FROM  QUEBEC.  —  COUNCIL  AT  ONONDAGA. —  FATHER  MENARD'S 
TRIALS. — THE  TIRELESS  CHAUMONOT. —  ANOTHER  MASSACRE  OF  HURONS. — 
TREACHERY  OF  THE  IROQUOIS. — BOAT  BUILDING  AT  MIDNIGHT. — ESCAPE  OF 
PRIESTS  AND  COLONISTS.  —  ST.  MARY'S  OF  GANENTAA  DESERTED.  —  THE  KIND 
GANACoNTife  — STRANGE  INDIAN  EMBASSY. — FATHER  LA  MOYNE  FACES  THE 
DANGER. — SCENES  OF  RIOT.  —  DEATH  OF  THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY.  —  LATER 
FORTUNES  OF  THE  IROQUOIS. — A  SAINTLY  INDIAN  MAIDEN. 


N  the  death  of  Father  Jogues  the  war  broke  out  anew,  and  the 
Mohawk  and  his  kindred  clans,  almost  without  opposition,  devas. 
tated  on  every  side.  Upper  Canada  was  a  desert,  and  along  the 
Ottawa  and  St  Lawrence  the  dwindled,  fearful  bands  of  Algon- 
quins  showed  their  losses  in  the  struggle.  The  French  had  not 
been  spared,  their  missionaries  had  fallen  with  their  tawny  converts, 
and,  in  1653,  reverse  after  reverse  dimmed  the  glory  of  France  and  height- 
ened the  boldness  of  the  all-conquering  Iroquois.  Quebec  was  beleaguered ; 
men  durst  not  go  forth  to  reap  the  yellow  harvest,  and  want  began  to  stare 
all  in  the  face.  A  poor  widow  mourned  over  the  prospect.  Touched  by  her 
desolate  situation,  Father  Joseph  Anthony  Poncet,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
Jesuits  of  the  time,  with  a  few  whom  his  devotedness  drew  around  him,  went 
forth  to  gather  in  her  harvest.  The  ambushed  Iroquois  fell  upon  them; 
Poncet  and  one  companion  were  taken,  and,  though  hotly  pursued  by  his 

3°7 


3o8  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

flock,  were  hurried  off  to  the  Mohawk.  Treading  the  path  opened  by 
Jogues  and  Bressani,  he  twice  ran  the  gauntlet,  was  tortured  and  mangled, 
and  led  through  all  their  villages. 

The  Mohawks,  however,  were  weary  of  war,  and,  to  obtain  peace, 
restored  Father  Poncet;  yet  he  did  not  return  before  visiting  the  Dutch  at 
Fort  Orange  and  hearing  the  confessions  of  some  Catholics  there. 

The  Onondagas  had  already  asked  for  peace,  and  had  even  invited  mis- 
sionaries to  settle  in  their  land,  and  teach  them  as  the  Hurons  had  been  taught. 
Motives  of  policy,  indeed,  led  the  western  cantons  to  this  step,  for  they  were 
now  engaged  in  a  deadly  war  with  the  Eries,  the  last  western  tribe  of  their 
stock  which  had  favored  the  Hurons. 

In  the  conference  which  took  place,  Father  Simon  Le  Moyne,  an  old 
Huron  missionary,  who  on  the  death  of  Father  Jogues  had  laid  aside  his 
name  of  Wane  to  take  that  of  Ondessonk,  borne  by  the  murdered  Jesuit,  was 
the  interpreter  between  the  French  and  Iroquois.  The  latter  were  won  by 
his  manner,  and  both  Mohawk  and  Onondaga  envoys  were  earnest  in  their 
entreaties  to  be  allowed  to  bear  him  to  their  lodges.  The  Onondagas  were 
gratified ;  but  the  Mohawks  had  the  promise  of  a  speedy  visit. 

Thus  strangely  had  the  prospect  altered.  The  whole  country  seemed 
open  to  the  gospel.  Still  undeterred  by  failure,  the  Jesuits  were  eager  to 
rush  to  the  conversion  of  the  tribes  which  had  slaughtered  their  Huron 
neophytes,  and  massacred,  with  fiendish  hate,  their  holiest  missionaries.  Again 
an  Iroquois  mission  was  projected.  In  July,  1653,  Le  Moyne  set  out  from 
Quebec,  and,  toiling  beyond  Montreal,  first  passed  through  the  rapid  river  to 
the  lake  beyond,  opening  like  a  sea  across  the  Thousand  Isles.  Gliding 
through  these  islands,  whence  startled  moose  in  crowds  plunged  into  the 
stream,  and  coasting  along  the  southern  shore,  he  at  last  reached  the  mouth  of 
the  Oswego.  Here,  at  a  fishing  village,  his  mission  began ;  captive  Hurons 
required  his  services,  and  at  every  step  familiar  faces  gladdened  to  behold  the 
black-gown,  who  had  so  often,  in  their  native  towns,  announced  the  word  of 
God.  Long  since  an  adopted  Indian,  Le  Moyne  entered  the  town  of  Onon- 
daga, in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  red-man,  beginning,  a  mile  before 
he  reached  it,  a  harangue,  in  which  he  enumerated  their  sachems  and  their 
chiefs,  and  recounted  the  glories  of  each. 

Received  with  all  pomp,  he  prepared  for  the  solemn  reception,  where  he 
delivered  the  presents  of  the  French  governor,  exhorted  them  to  peace,  and, 
above  all,  to  receive  the  faith  of  which  he  was  the  envoy.  His  presents  were 


THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS.  309 

accepted,  and  the  sachems  of  Onondaga,  by  their  belts  of  wampum,  invited 
the  French  to  build  a  house  on  Lake  Ontario.  His  duties  as  ambassador 
ended,  his  duties  as  missionary  began.  Naught  now  remained  but  to  console 
the  captive  Hurons,  and  confer  on  them  the  happiness  they  had  so  long  cov- 
eted of  being  washed  in  the  waters  of  penance.  On  all  sides,  too,  he  found 
children  to  baptize,  and  even  adults,  instructed  by  the  piety  of  the  Hurons,  of 
whom  no  less  than  a  thousand  were  here  captive.  Among  others,  he  bap- 
tized, on  the  eve  of  his  departure,  a  chief  setting  out  against  the  Erics.  In 
vain  the  prudent  missionary  sought  to  defer  his  baptism  to  his  next  visit. 

"Ah!  brother;"  exclaimed  the  chief,  "if  I  have  the  faith,  can  I  not  be  a 
Christian  to-day?  Art  thou  master  of  death  to  prevent  its  striking  me  with- 
out thy  order?  Will  the  shafts  of  the  foe  be  blunted  for  me?  Must  I,  at 
every  step  in  battle,  dread  hell  rather  than  death?  Unless  thou  baptize  me  I 
shall  be  without  courage,  and  I  shall  not  dare  to  meet  the  blows.  Baptize 
me,  for  I  will  obey  thee,  and  give  thee  my  word  to  live  and  die  a  Christian." 

Such  an  entreaty  Le  Moyne  could  not  resist,  and  finding  the  chieftain 
already  possessed  of  the  truths  necessary  for  salvation,  he  instructed  him  more 
fully  and  baptized  him  by  the  name  of  John  Baptist,  and  the  next  day  each 
set  out  on  his  different  career. 

Stopping  in  the  half-dried  basin  of  Onondaga  Lake  to  taste  the  salt 
springs,  although  the  Indians  told  him  that  a  devil  lurked  in  it,  Father  Le 
Moyne  proceeded  to  Quebec,  which  he  reached  on  the  i  ith  of  September  to 
the  joy  of  the  pent-up  settlers,  who  now,  at  least,  believed  the  peace  to  be  real 
and  sincere.  Passing  from  one  extreme  to  the  other,  they  reveled  in 
gladness,  and  the  colonization  of  Onondaga  became  a  matter  of  daily 
discussion. 

Men  were  eager  to  be  the  pioneers  of  the  new  settlement,  and  anxiously 
awaited  the  next  embassy  from  Onondaga.  At  last,  in  the  following  sum- 
mer, John  Baptist  arrived  scathless  from  the  Erie  war,  bearing  his  numerous 
presents,  to  ask  again  for  a  French  colony  and  aid  tn  the  Erie  war,  and  offer 
the  black-gowns  the  most  delightful  site  in  their  canton  at  Onondaga,  prom- 
ising to  alleviate  the  hardships  of  the  way. 

No  doubt  now  remained.  The  missionaries  instantly  prepared.  Father 
Rene  Menard  and  Father  Claude  Dablon  had  been  chosen  by  the  superior  to 
be  the  first  to  sit  beneath  the  tree  of  peace  thus  planted,  and  "  which  towered 
so  high  above  all  the  trees  of  the  forest  that  nations  might  see  it  from  afar :" 
but  Menard  was  supplanted  by  the  enthusiastic  Chaumonot,  who,  ablest 


3  io  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

linguist  of  his  body,  had  acted  as  interpreter;  and  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
governor  and  the  envoys. 

On  the  ipth  of  September  the  chiefs  embarked  with  the  missionaries, 
who  set  out  amid  much  anxiety,  for  men's  minds  were  not  without  their  mis- 
givings Scarce  out  of  sight  of  Quebec,  the  fathers  began  their  mission  by 
instructing  the  wife  of  John  Baptist-,  who  could  not  brook  delay.  Six  other 
Onondagas  and  two  Senecas  joined  their  entreaties  to  hers,  and  so  their  morn- 
ing and  evening  prayers  were  chanted  on  the  majestic  river  by  the  voices  of 
nineteen  Christians,  in  fact  or  hope,  the  first  fruits  of  the  Iroquois.  Not  to 
be  deprived  of  public  worship,  they  landed  on  Sundays,  raised  a  rustic  bower, 
and  beneath  it  the  missionary  of  the  wilderness,  with  wine  pressed  from  the 
wild  grape  of  our  woods,  offered  up  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 

By  the  29th  of  September — the  anniversary  of  Goupil's  death — the  mis- 
sionaries landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oswego.  Here  Father  Chaumonot  was 
at  once  surrounded  by  the  Hurons  among  whom  he  had  so  long  labored.  A 
cry  of  joy  burst  from  every  lip  as  they  shouted  the  name  of  their  beloved 
Echon.  They  fell  upon  his  neck,  they  clasped  his  knees,  they  begged  him 

tf 

to  visit  their  huts.  While  awaiting  their  public  reception,  the  missionaries 
assembled  the  Christians,  organized  morning  and  evening  prayer,  spending 
the  night  in  the  confessional,  to  satisfy  those  who  thronged  around  them  with 
all  the  eagerness  which  a  Catholic  feels  after  being  long  deprived  of  the 
greatest  gift  accorded  to  the  church.  A  dejected  group  stood  near — pagans 
who,  in  their  day  of  prosperity,  had  spurned  the  black-gown  and  his  teachings, 
but  now,  bowed  by  the  heavy  hand  of  misfortune,  came  to  solicit  instruction. 

After  a  short  delay,  the  missionaries  proceeded  to  OnoHdaga.  Three 
miles  from  the  town  they  were  met  and  addressed  by  Gonaterezon,  one  of 
the  principal  orators;  another  invited  them  to  a  banquet,  and,  in  a  long 
harangue,  exulted  that  the  sun  was  then  to  shine  in  its  fullness  on  the  land. 
All  these  Chaumonot  answered  in  Huron,  with  such  ease  and  elegance  that 
they  were  rapturous  in  their  applause.  Then,  with  much  pomp,  they  were 
led  through  the  eager  crowd  to  the  lodge  prepared  for  them.  During  the 
night  sachems  came  to  present  belts  of  wampum,  and  Father  Chaumonot 
replied  to  them  on  behalf  of  the  governor-general  and  the  superior  of  the 
mission. 

On  Sunday  another  secret  meeting  was  held  to  treat  of  further  points, 
after  which  some  lingered  to  ask  about  France,  her  government  and  laws. 
Chaumonot  seized  the  opportunity,  and,  telling  what  she  once  had  been,  led 


THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS.  311 

them  to  the  history  of  the  Redemption.  Begged  to  continue,  he  so  beautifully 
narrated  the  creation  and  chief  events  in  sacred  history,  that  three  of  his 
hearers  ranged  themselves  beside  him  as  catechumens. 

After  receiving  deputies  from  Oneida,  the  missionaries  were  conducted 
on  the  nth  of  November  by  a  vast  concourse  to  the  site  proposed  for  the 
mission-house.  For  beauty  and  convenience,  no  position  could  surpass  this 
beautiful  spot.  Lake  Ganentaa,  the  Onondaga  of  our  day,  stretches  before  it, 
offering  an  outlet  to  the  lake  above,  while  the  rivers  that  swell  its  waters  come 
from  the  villages  of  the  allied  tribes.  A  stream  of  pure  water  and  another 
of  salt,  gushed  from  a  neighboring  knoll;  the  rising  ground  of  the  mission 
was  encircled  like  the  lake  by  woods,  which  in  that  season  seemed  to  rival 
the  vegetation  of  the  tropics,  and  abounded  in  game,  while  the  waters  teemed 
with  fish.  Here,  amid  the  joyous  crowd,  Chaumonot  began  the  mission  by 
baptizing  a  poor  Erie  captive,  whom  a  band  were  leading  to  the  stake. 

The  1 5th  of  November  was  appointed  for  the  solemn  reception  of  the 
envoys.  After  spending  the  eve  in  prayer  and  supplication,  the  Christian 
orator  entered  the  council  of  the  sachems  of  Onondaga.  Calling  their  atten- 
tion to  the  importance  of  the  council,  greater  than  Onondaga  had  ever  yet 
witnessed,  since  now  they  were  to  discuss,  not  peace  or  war,  not  things  of 
earth  or  time,  but  of  eternity,  he  unfolded  his  symbolic  presents,  and  explained 
them  in  the  Indian  style.  The  main  object  of  his  address  was  to  set  forth 
the  Christian  doctrine,  and  refute  the  slanders  and  calumnies  raised  against  it 

'  O 

by  pagan  Wyandots.  With  such  force  and  beauty  did  he  speak,  that  Dablon, 
his  companion,  enraptured,  seemed  to  hear  the  gospel  preached  to  that  whole 
benighted  land;  and  that  day  of  glory  was  in  his  eyes  a  triumph  for  the  Faith 
worth  all  the  toil  and  suffering  its  publication  had  hitherto  cost. 

On  the  following  day,  when  the  presents  were  returned,  a  new  scene  of 
interest  occurred.  The  air  resounded  with  the  chants  of  the  chiefs.  "Happy 
land !"  they  cried,  "  happy  land,  in  which  the  French  are  to  dwell!  "and 
amid  the  continual  response,  "  Glad  tidings!  glad  tidings!"  raised  on  every 
side,  the  missionaries  advanced  to  the  council  lodge.  There  all  was  silent, 
till  the  leader  of  the  chorus  broke  forth — "I  sing  from  the  heart;  we  speak 
to  thee,  brother,  from  the  heart;  our  friendly  words  are  from  the  heart.  Hail, 
brother!  happy  be  thy  coming,  glad  thy  voice!"  At  each  pause  all  joined 
in  the  chorus,  echoing  the  response — "Farewell  war!  farewell  the  hatchet! 
Till  now  we  have  been  mad;  now  we  shall  be  brothers!  " 

An  orator  then  arose  and  delivered  the  presents  of  the  canton,  explaining 


3I2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  purport  of  each,  and  offering  the  whole  tribe  as  candidates  for  enrollment 
in  the  church. 

"Brother,"  he  exclaimed,  addressing  the  missionary — "brother,  let  no  labor 
deter  thee;  go,  even  if  it  weary  thee,  go  on  to  instruct  us;  visit  our  cabins; 
forsake  us  not,  if  you  find  us  slow  in  understanding  the  prayer;  plant  it 
deeply  in  our  minds  and  hearts."  With  these  words  he  clasped  the  mis- 
sionary in  his  arms  to  show  the  sincerity  of  the  tribe. 

This  council  established  Christianity  at  Onondaga,  the  capital  of  the 
nation.  Henceforth  the  missionaries  might  freely  preach  it  by  the  great 
council-fire  of  the  allied  cantons;  and  even  then  Cayuga  and  Oneida,  by 
their  deputies,  invited  the  envoys  of  Christ  to  their  cantons. 

This  happy  result  was  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the  fervor  of  Le 
Moyne's  first  convert.  Inspired  by  his  zeal,  the  braves,  in  a  recent  battle, 
when  surrounded  by  the  Eries,  had  invoked  the  God  of  the  Christians, 
and  vowed  to  embrace  the  Faith  if  victory  were  granted.  The  tide  of  battle 
changed,  and  the  thousand  braves  of  Onondaga  drove  an  Erie  force  which 
quadrupled  theirs  from  a.  strong  post  and  won  the  day.  Of  these  triumph- 
ant warriors  many  were  now  ready  to  fulfill  their  vow,  though  some 
yielded  to  a  false  and  fatal  shame. 

Chaumonot's  first  address  had  drawn  several  women  to  desire  the 
faith;  braves  sought  instruction,  and  a  chapel  was  now  needed.  On  the  iSth 
of  November,  Fathers  Chaumonot  and  Dablon  raised  the  first  Catholic  chapel 
in  the  present  State  of  New  York.  As  soon  as  the  ground  was  pointed 
out,  the  chapel  rose  beneath  the  busy  hands  of  the  fervent  warriors, 
Rude  and  plain  was  this  first  shrine.  "  For  marbles  and  precious  stones," 
said  Dablon,  "we  had  but  bark;  but  the  path  to  heaven  is  as  open  through  a 
roof  of  bark  as  through  fretted  ceilings  of  silver  and  gold." 

The  chapel,  with  its  towering  cross,  was  a  constant  call  to  baptism,  and 
hither  mothers  eagerly  brought  their  new-born  babes.  Every  cabin  was 
open  to  the  missionaries.  Here  none  of  the  prejudices  of  Hu'rons 
appeared;  and  as  in  several  cases  persons  in  danger  of  death  rose  in  health 
after  baptism,  it  was  looked  upon  as  a  blessing.  The  classes  for  instruction 
were  soon  organized.  The  children  of  the  Hurons,  already  trained  by  their 
parents  in  the  faith,  were  more  thoroughly  taught,  and  the  missionaries 
scarce  found  time  for  their  own  devotions.  Their  chapel  was  soon  too  small, 
and  on  Sundays  and  holidays  they  assembled  in  the  cabins  of  the  most  emi- 
nent men,  who  eagerly  sought  the  honor.  And  there  the  choir  of  Indian 


THE  SA  VAGE  IROQ  UOIS.  3 1 3 

girls,  taught  by  Dablon,  chanted  to  his  instrumental  music  the  praises  of  God. 
Conversions  went  steadily  on  among  the  adults,  and  especially  among  the 
female  portion,  whose  attachment  to  the  faith  was  unbounded,  after  the  elder 
missionary  had,  in  a  solemn  assembly,  proclaimed  the  dignity  of  woman,  and 
the  high  prerogative  of  the  sacrament  of  matrimony. 

The  only  danger  to  which  the  missionaries  were  exposed  was  at  the  time 
of  a  Saturnalia,  which  took  place  every  March,  and  in  which,  in  obedience  to 
their  dreams,  the  Indians  committed  every  extravagance.  One  of  the  mis- 
sionaries had  well-nigh  fallen  a  victim  to  the  superstition,  as  one  brave 
dreamed  that  he  had  killed  a  Frenchman,  and  actually  rushed  to  their  cabin 
to  make  it  a  reality;  but  the  fathers  had  prudently  withdrawn,  and  the 
maniac  was  appeased  by  a  European  dress,  on  which  he  wreaked  his  fury ;  a 
strange  substitution,  yet  often  to  be  met  with  in  the  annals  of  the  time,  and 
apparently  connected  with  the  idea  of  sacrifice. 

This  period  of  prosperity  was  too  beautiful  to  last.  The  enemy  soon 
raised  up  calumnies.  Suspicions  about  baptism  began  to  gain  ground :  and 
though  Chaumonot,  as  the  representative  of  France,  had  adopted  the  Cayugas 
and  Oneidas  in  a  great  council,  yet  the  sachems  constantly  deferred  sending 
messengers  to  Quebec;  and  on  a  rumor  of  the  arrest  of  some  Onondagas  at 
that  city,  the  two  missionaries  were  summoned  to  a  council  and  accused  of 
treachery.  After  a  vain  endeavor  to  allay  their  suspicions,  the  fearless 
Chaumonot  offered  that  one  of  the  two  should  go  to  Quebec  to  bring  a 
faithful  report  of  all,  leaving  the  other  a  hostage  in  their  hands.  Dablon, 
less  skilled  in  Indian  manners,  was  accordingly  chosen  to  go,  and  on  the  3oth 
of  March,  after  a  four-weeks'  voyage,  stood  in  the  council-hall  of  Quebec, 
urging  an  immediate  colony  for  Onondaga. 

While  Chaumonot  and  Dablon  were  thus  evangelizing  Onondaga,  and 
opening  the  way  to  Oneida  and  Cayuga,  the  Mohawk  was  not  neglected. 
That  tribe  did  not  conceal  its  indignation  at  the  intercourse  between  the 
French  and  the  western  cantons.  They  were  at  last  appeased  by  a  promise  that 
Father  Le  Moyne  should  visit  them.  He  accordingly  set  out  from  Montreal 
on  the  i6th  of  August,  1655,  with  two  Frenchmen  and  twelve  Mohawks,  and, 
after  a  month's  travel,  reached  the  first  village,  where  he  was  received  with 
every  mark  of  esteem.  In  his  address  to  the  sachems,  while  delivering  the 
presents,  he  announced  the  faith,  invoking  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  on  his 
head,  if  his  words  were  false. 

As  it  was  not  proposed  to  found  a  regular  mission  yet,  he  at  once  began 


3'4 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


his  labors  among  the  Huron  captives,  confessing  them  and  baptizing  their 
children.  He  then  made  a  hurried  visit  to  Fort  Orange  and  New  Amsterdam, 
and  at  the  latter  found  objects  for  his  ministry  in  the  crew  of  two  French 
vessels  then  in  port. 

Returning  to  the  Mohawk,  he  narrowly  escaped  death;  and  finding  the 
sachems  uneasy  at  his  presence,  set  out  in  November  for  Montreal,  and 
reached  it  after  great  danger. 

When  Dablon,  half-hostage,  half-envoy,  reached  Quebec,  all  his  enthu- 
siasm and  intrepidity  could  not  give  firmness  to  the  fluctuating  counsels  of 
the  colony.  A  settlement  at  Onondaga  had  been  promised ;  a  settlement  or 
a  war  seemed  inevitable;  yet  the  recent  treachery  of  the  Mohawk,  the  cruelty 
of  the  western  cantons  to  the  Hurons  and  their  missionaries,  the  conviction 
of  the  survivors  of  that  nation  that  the  present  invitation  was  part  of  a  deep- 
laid  scheme — all  deterred  the  French  from  undertaking  to  colonize  the  valley 
of  the  Oswego.  Yet  Canada  was  too  weak  to  bear  a  new  war,  and  a  few 
individuals  must  be  exposed  for  the  common  safety.  The  missionaries  were 
not  men  who  held  life  dear,  and  they  eagerly  offered  to  go.  Preparations 
were  accordingly  made;  a  number  of  French  colonists  were  equipped,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Dupuis.  The  superior  of  the  mission,  Father 
Francis  le  Mercier,  laid  down  his  office,  without  awaiting  the  close  of  his 
term,  in  order  to  lead  the  new  band  of  missionaries  in  person,  and  with 
Fathers  Rene  Menard,  Claude  Dablon,  and  Brothers  Ambrose  Broar  and 
Joseph  Boursier,  prepared  to  establish  Christianity  amid  the  lakes  of  Western 
New  York. 

They  left  Quebec  on  the  i7th  of  May,  1656.  Hurons,  Onondagas,  and 
Senecas  completed  the  party ;  for  the  Senecas  also  had  sent  for  missionaries. 
Though  attacked  by  the  jealous  Mohawks,  the  fleet  of  canoes  moved  joyfully 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  with  their  royal  banner  floating  in  the  breeze — the 
banner  of  the  King  of  kings,  bearing  his  august  name  sparkling  in  the  glad 
sunshine.  On  the  shore  stood  a  motley  group  of  s?vage  and  civilized  friends, 
whose  anxious  looks  showed  their  sense  of  the  danger  of  the  party,  and 
whose  prayers  rose  to  Heaven  for  its  safety. 

The  early  part  of  the  voyage  was  pleasant.  Game  wr.s  abundant;  the 
stately  moose  supplied  their  larder.  But  they  at  last  ran  out  of  provisions, 
and  many  fell  sick.  They  accordingly  pushed  on,  night  and  day,  and  on  the 
yth  of  July  the  main  body  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Oswego.  After  an 
ineffectual  attempt  to  ascend  its  rapid  current,  they  were  cheered  by  the 


THE  SA  VAGE  IROQ  U01S.  3 , 5 

approacn  of  a  canoe  loaded  with  corn  and  fish.  A  few  days  later  their  canoes, 
amid  the  thunders  of  artillery  echoing  over  the  waters  and  through  the 
woods  which  encircled  the  lake,  reached  the  spot  selected  for  their  abode. 

After  the  preliminary  reception,  and  a  few  days  of  repose,  the  missionaries 
blessed  the  ground,  and  Dupuis  and  his  men  began  the  fort  and  house  on  the 
eminence.  Father  Le  Mercier  meanwhile  proceeded  to  Onondaga,  about 
five  leagues  distant,  and  was  received  with  all  possible  honor.  From  every 
quarter  deputies  came  to  wait  upon  him  and  ask  that  his  mat  should  be  the 
council-hall.  The  treacherous  Mohawk  came  with  slanders,  but  was  promptly 
refuted;  and,  as  affairs  stood,  he  durst  not  show  hostility,  for  the  western 
cantons  were  ready  for  war,  to  avenge  the  death  of  a  Seneca  chief,  murdered 
by  the  Mohawks. 

All  were  interested  to  prevent  a  rupture.  Deputies  from  all  the  cantons 
came  in  to  sit  around  the  council-fire  of  Onondaga;  and  hither,  too,  came 
Chaumonot,  bearing  rich  presents  for  the  tribe,  as  words  from  the  French, 
Huron*,  and  Algonquins.  Invoking  the  guidance  of  Heaven  by  chanting  the 
"  Veni  Creator,"  he  unfolded  and  explained  the  presents  with  all  the  art  of 
an  Indian  orator.  "As  Onondaga,"  he  said,  "  was  the  principal  canton,  and 
her  sachem,  the  greatest  man  in  the  whole  country,  he,  the  father,  came  to 
him,  as  the  mouth  of  the  Governor  Geneva,  to  raise  the  ruined  cabin,  resus- 
citate the  dead,  maintain  what  was  still  standing,  and  defend  the  country 
against  the  disturbers  of  the  peace." 

Encouraged  by  the  applause  bestowed  on  his  eloquence  and  skill  in  the 
Onondaga,  which  he  now  spoke,  Chaumonot  raised  his  last  present,  that  of 
the  faith :  "  Not  for  traffic  do  we  appear  in  your  country :  our  aim  is  much 
higher.  Keep  your  beaver,  if  you  like,  for  the  Dutch:  what  comes  to  our 
hands  shall  be  employed  for  your  service.  We  seek  not  perishable  things. 
For  the  faith  alone  have  we  left  our  land ;  for  the  faith  have  we  traversed 
the  ocean;  for  the  faith  have  we  left  the  great  ships  of  the  French  to  enter 
your  tiny  canoes;  for  the  faith  I  hold  in  my  hand  this  present,  and  open  my 
lips  to  summon  you  to  keep  your  word  given  at  Quebec.  You  have  solemnly 
promised  to  hearken  to  the  words  of  the  great  God :  they  are  in  my  mouth — 
hear  them!"  Then,  running  over  the  principal  doctrines,  he  called  upon 
them  to  say  whether  they  were  not  just,  and  summoned  them  by  their  hope 
of  bliss  or  fear  of  chastisement  to  embrace  the  faith. 

Thrilling  was  the  effect  of  this  address.  Wonder  and  fear,  mingled 
with  joy  and  hope,  swayed  the  minds  of  his  auditory,  and  the  missionary  that 


3 1 6  THE  COL  UMBIAN  J  UBILEE. 

day  seemed  more  than  human.  He  was  indeed  borne  up  by  a  heavenly 
strength;  for  he  had  risen  from  a  sick-bed  to  deliver  his  address,  and  a  few 
days  after  was  surrounded  by  his  companions,  who,  in  dejection,  awaited  his 
last  moment.  He  was,  however,  spared.  Full  of  confidence  in  St.  Peter, 
he  invoked  the  aid  of  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and  soon  rose  from  his  couch 
in  health,  being  destined,  in  fact,  to  outlive  all  those  around  him. 

This  council  ended,  all  was  activity.  By  August  a  chapel  was  erected 
in  Onondaga;  and  while  some  advanced  the  fort  and  residence  at  Ganentaa, 
the  missionaries  attended  the  chapel,  or  visited  the  cabins  to  instruct  and 
learn.  As  in  the  Huron  country  sickness  now  broke  out  among  the  Europeans, 
and  twenty  of  the  party  were  at  once  prostrated  by  fever ;  but  by  the  kindly 
aid  of  the  natives  all  recovered. 

In  October,  Achiendase"  was  solemnly  adopted  by  the  head  sachem,  in 
the  presence  of  deputies  from  the  other  cantons ;  and  though  a  dispute  seemed 
rising  between  the  Mohawks  and  Onondagas,  who  both  claimed  the  Hurons 
of  Isle  Orleans,  the  mission  was  to  all  appearance  firmly  established. 

The  work  of  conversions  now  began;  the  Faith  was  more  gladly  received 
by  the  Onondagas  than  it"  had  been  by  the  Hurons.  The  easy  manners  of 
the  people  rendered  intercourse  less  difficult;  and  at  public  and  private  gath- 
erings the  fathers,  availing  themselves  of  the  custom  of  relating  old  tradi- 
tions, recounted  the  events  of  sacred  history.  Obstacles,  however,  were  not 
wanting;  even  direct  charges  of  the  most  absurd  nature  were  brought 
against  the  missionaries — a  popular  one  being  that  the  French  baptized 
Indians  only  to  torment  them  more  at  ease  in  heaven ;  and  on  one  occasion 
Father  Dablon  was  in  no  slight  danger,  being  suspected  of  having  carried  off 
a  box  full  of  souls. 

Prisoners  and  slaves  brought  from  no  less  than  seventeen  different 
nations,  were  the  first  to  enter  the  fold;  but  natives,  and  even  chiefs  and 
captains,  soon  followed,  moved  especially  by  the  influence  of  the  Christian 
Hurons,  who,  being  now  helots  in  Onondaga,  showed  the  power  of  religion 
in  their  virtues  and  patience.  Among  the  natives,  John  Baptist  Achiongeras, 
the  first  convert,  full  of  faith,  endeavored  to  convert  his  sister,  who  haughtily 
refused  to  listen  to  him.  Despairing  of  success,  he  began  a  novena  to  St. 
Mary  Magdalen ;  and  on  the  second  day  his  sister's  heart  was  changed. 

When  the  faith  had  thus  acquired  a  footing  at  Onondaga,  the  band  of 
apostolic  men  spread  themselves  among  the  cantons.  In  the  latter  part  of 
August,  1656,  Fathers  Chaumonot  and  Menard  set  out  to  answer  the  in  vita- 


THE  SA  VAGE  IROQ  UOIS.  3 1 7 

tions  of  the  Cayugas  and  Senecas.     The  former,  leaving  Menard  at  Cayuga, 
proceeded  to  the  populous  villages  of  the  Senecas. 

Menard,  who  was  welcomed  by  the  chief,  erected  a  chapel,  but  was 
coldly  received  by  the  tribe,  and  so  little  regarded  that  he  never  appeared 
without  being  attacked  by  the  children.  To  the  day  of  his  death,  many 
years  after,  amid  the  forests  of  Upper  Michigan,  he  bore  the  scars  with 
which  these  tormentors  covered  his  face.  Yet  the  simple  guilelessness  of 
Father  Rend  soon  won  their  hearts;  and  when  once  he  had  converted  a  chief 
his  chapel  was  filled  with  admiring  and  listening  crowds.  On  its  wall  of 
mats  beside  the  altar,  hung  pictures  of  our  Lord  and  His  Blessed  Mother, 
and  to  explain  these  the  missionary  told  the  history  of  our  Redemption.  Now, 
too,  the  children  changed  and  became  his  helpers  in  the  mission,  leading  him  to 
the  cabins  of  the  sick  and  giving  him  the  names  of  all,  which  some  studiously 
concealed. 

The  women,  already  moved  by  the  virtues  of  the  Huron  females,  were 
the  first  converts;  they  brought  their  babes  to  receive  baptism;  they  followed 
his  instructions;  and  in  almost  every  cabin  could  be  found  an  Indian  mother 
teaching  her  wayward  child  to  lisp  a  prayer  to  Jesus"  and  Mary. 

Menard,  meanwhile,  was  now  rapidly  acquiring  the  Cayuga  dialect 
under  the  instructions  of  an  excellent  family,  in  whose  cabin  he  was  often  a 
guest.  His  mission  was  advancing;  his  chapel  was  crowded  with  catechi*- 
mens;  but  he  baptized  few  adults,  and  seldom  but  in  case  of  danger.  The 
first  admitted  to  the  sacrament  was  an  old  man  on  his  death-bed;  the  second, 
once  a  prominent  chief,  now  a  cripple,  eaten  up  by  a  cancer,  whose  conver- 
sion seemed  due  to  the  martyred  Bre"beuf  and  Lallemant.  At  their  capture 
he  had  been  struck  by  their  appearance,  and  bought  them  with  wampum,  yet 
was  unable  to  save  them ;  for  his  belts  were  returned,  and  the  missionaries 
put  to  death.  His  conversion  gave  great  influence  to  religion,  for  his  author- 
itv  always  stood  very  high  in  the  canton;  and,  indeed,  all  protection  was 
needed  by  Menard,  who  was  on  several  occasions  threatened  with  death. 

After  a  stay  of  two  months  he  was  recalled  to  Onondaga,  but  his  con- 
verts were  inconsolable,  and  he  was  soon  restored  to  their  entreaties,  and 
renewed  his  mission  with  greater  success  than  ever. 

Father  Chaumonot,  on  reaching  Gandagare,  the  chief  village  of  the 
Senecas,  was  received  with  pomp.  In  his  address  he  urged  them  to  embrace 
the  faith,  staking  his  own  life  and  that  of  all  his  associates  as  a  guarantee  of 
its  truth.  He  was  followed  from  the  council  by  a  chief,  who  begged  to  be 


3iS  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

instructed  without  delay — a  striking  proof  of  the  magic  power  which  Chau- 
monot's  eloquence  possessed,  for  an  Indian  must  be  deeply  moved  to  show 
his  feeling.  Conversions  followed;  but  the  most  important  was  that  of  the 
great  chief  of  the  tribe,  the  invalid  Annontenritaoui.  Visited,  instructed,  and 
baptized  by  Chaumonot,  his  faith  was  rewarded  by  the  sudden  cure  of  a  can- 
cer that  had  baffled  all  art. 

Besides  Gandagare,  there  was  another  village  which  had  a  deep  interest 
for  the  old  missionary  of  Huronia.  This  was  a  village  made  up  of  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  old  missions  of  St.  Michael's  and  St.  John's  in  the  Huron 
country,  when,  as  we  have  seen,  those  towns  submitted  to  the  Senecas  in  the 
fatal  war.  Here  all  thronged  around  the  old  companion  of  Brebeuf  and 
Daniel.  Not  one  pagan  now  held  back  from  baptism ;  not  one  Christian 
from  confession;  not  one  was  unconverted  by  misfortune.  To  be  thus  able  to 
minister  to  these  poor  exiles,  was  in  itself  a  reward  for  the  toils  of  the  mission- 
ary ;  but  his  joy  was  dashed  by  the  loss  of  the  faithful  lay-brother,  Le  Moyne, 
who  had  followed  him  in  all  his  trials,  but  now  sank  in  death,  on  the  beautiful 
shores  of  Lake  Tlohero,  rejoicing  that  it  was  given  him  to  die  on  the  land  of 
the  Iroquois,  in  the  work  of  the  gospel. 

After  laying  the  foundations  of  a  mission  in  this  canton,  the  unwearied 
Father  Chaumonot  returned  to  Onondaga,  but  was  immediately  sent,  with 
Father  Menard,  to  Oneida,  to  open  friendly  relations  with  that  most  difficult 
of  the  tribes.  They  reached  it,  and  after  urging  the  importance  of  peace, 
announcing  the  law  of  Christ,  and  ministering  to  the  Huron  captives,  they 
returned  to  St.  Mary's. 

Onondaga  was,  therefore,  the  central,  or,  in  fact,  the  only  regular  mis- 
sion; but  it  was  now  established  on  a  firm  basis.  The  offices  of  the  Church 
were  celebrated,  the  sacraments  administered,  and  Christian  virtues  practiced, 
as  regularly  and  carefully  as  in  the  most  Catholic  parts  of  Europe.  In  a  short 
time  two  hundred  were  baptized,  among  them  five  chieftains,  the  corner- 
stones of  that  church;  one  of  whom,  in  a  public  assembly,  advocated  the 
faith  as  the  only  hope  of  saving  their  country  by  restoring  morality,  and, 
above  all,  fidelity  in  marriage,  and  in  their  relations  with  each  other — the 
want  of  which  had  been  more  destructive  than  armies. 

The  women  especially  listened  to  the  words  of  truth,  and  the  accounts 
of  the  missionaries  dwell  with  interest  on  the  noble  death  of  Magdalen 
Tiotonharason,  who  had  gone  to  Quebec  to  learn  the  prayer,  and  who 
remained  steadfast  to  her  last  sigh,  amid  the  seductions  and  persuations  of  her 


THE  SA  VAGE  IROQ  UO1S.  3  1 9 

unbelieving  relatives.  The  bold  stand  of  the  missionaries  against  polygamy 
had  won  to  their  cause  all  the  women,  who  felt,  indeed,  the  crimes  to  which 
their  actual  state  often  gave  rise. 

The  church  was  composed  of  three  nations,  Onondagas,  Hurons,  arc! 
Neutrals,  all  bound  together  by  the  common  tie  of  faith,  which  made  master 
and  slave  kneel  down  side  by  side.  No  obstacle  was  raised  by  the  medicine- 
men, no  sachem  opposed  the  missionaries,  and  all  gloried  in  the  name  of 
Christian. 

When  tidings  of  this  success  reached  Quebec,  the  superiors  chose  new 
missionaries  to  proceed  to  so  promising  a  field.  A  party  of  Hurons  were 
already  at  Montreal,  about  to  emigrate  to  Onondaga.  Fathers  Paul 
Ragueneau  and  Joseph  Imbert  Duperon  soon  joined  them,  with  a  lay-brother 
and  some  French  colonists,  and  in  July,  1657,  they  set  out  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Oswego.  Soon  after  their  departure  a  deep-laid  plot  was  discovered. 
The  missionaries  and  other  Frenchmen  were  treated  coldly,  and  at  last  aban- 
doned. By  chance  they  found  an  old  canoe,  and  kept  up  with  the  flotilla; 
but,  on  the  3d  of  August,  their  worst  fears  were  realized  by  a  massacre  of  the 
Hurons,  instigated  by  an  Onondaga  chief,  who,  provoked  at  the  resistance  made 
to  him  by  a  virtuous  Huron  girl,  killed  her,  and  urged  the  slaughter  of  all. 

Ragueneau  reproached  the  Onondagas  with  their  treachery;  but  they 
boldly  asserted  that,  in  slaughtering  the  Hurons,  they  merely  complied  with 
the  orders  of  the  governor  and  the  missionaries.  The  fathers  and  their  com- 
panions now  prepared  to  die,  for  they  heard  that  it  was  resolved  to  put  them 
to  death.  It  was  indeed  so,  but  considerations  of  policy  caused  the  chiefs  to 
suspend  the  blow,  and  the  fathers  reached  the  mission  of  St.  Mary's  in  safety. 
There  they  found  that  all  was  changed ;  hostility  was  openly  shown  by  those 
who  had  warmly  welcomed  them,  and  nothing  remained  but  to  endeavor 
to  escape.  With  much  difficulty  they  sent  to  Quebec  a  full  account  of 
their  position. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  Onondaga  mission.  That  of  the  Mohawk  had 
made  less  progress.  That  tribe,  still  hostile,  had  attacked  the  Ottawas  near 
Montreal  and  killed  Father  Garreau,  then  burst  on  the  Hurons  of  Isle 
Orleans  and  swept  many  away  captive.  Yet,  in  the  summer  of  1656,  the 
fearless  Father  Le  Moyne  again  visited  their  strong  castles,  and  after 
reproaching  them  for  their  cruelty  and  want  of  faith,  devoted  himself  to  the 
care  of  the  Hurons  of  the  Bear  family,  who  had,  after  the  fatal  day  on  Isle 
Orleans,  emigrated  to  the  Mohawk.  Like  a  good  father  he  consoled  the 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

afflicted,  instructed  the  ignorant,  heard  the  confessions  of  all  who  came,  bap- 
tized the  children,  made  all  pray,  and  exorted  them  to  persevere  in  the  faith 
and  avoid  sin.  The  Mohawks  touched  by  the  piety  of  the  Hurons,  especially 
of  one  whom  they  put  to  death,  now  came  to  listen  to  the  instructions  of  the 
missionary,  and  he  never  let  them  go  without  some  words  on  heaven  and 
hell,  the  power  of  an  all-seeing  and  all-knowing  God ,  who  rewarded  the 
good  and  punished  the  wicked. 

Having  thus  completed  his  duties  as  envoy,  and  fulfilled  his  promise  to 
the  Hurons  on  their  emigration,  Le  Moyne  returned  to  Quebec,  which  he 
reached  on  the  5th  of  November,  1656.  Soon  after  the  departure  of 
Ragueneau  and  his  companions  for  Onondaga  in  the  following  summer,  he, 
too,  set  out  once  more  for  the  Mohawk.  He  left  the  colony  on  the  26th  of 
August;  but,  on  arriving  at  the  Mohawk  castles,  found  himself  held  rather  as 
a  prisoner  or  hostage  than  as  a  friend,  for  there,  too,  an  evident  hostility  to 
the  French  prevailed 

Thus,  and  apparently  without  a  cause,  the  missionaries,  after  having  had 
access  to  every  canton,  after  having  announced  in  all  the  gospel  of  truth,  found 
themselves  destined  to  death  and  driven  from  the  field. 

The  councils  of  the  Iroquois  were  secret,  but  their  plans  were  known  in 
the  cantons,  and  some  of  the  braves  were  too  impatient  to  await  the  develop- 
ment of  their  sachems'  plot.  Prowling  around  the  French  settlements  they 
committed  several  murders.  Daillebout,  the  governor,  quick  and  far-seeing, 
resolved  to  have  hostages  in  his  hands,  and  suddenly  arrested  all  the  Iroquois 
within  the  limits  of  the  colony ;  and,  on  the  yth  of  November,  dispatched  two 
Mohawks  with  letters  for  Le  Moyne  and  the  Onondaga  missionaries.  The 
former  were  delivered,  the  latter  destroyed;  but  runners  soon  conveyed  to 
Onondaga  the  news  of  the  measures  of  Daillebout. 

Disconcerted  by  this  unexpected  step,  the  sachems  of  Onondaga  and 
Mohawk  deferred  the  blow.  Le  Moyne,  in  December,  sent  three  messengers 
with  a  letter  to  the  governor,  announcing  the  hostilities  of  the  Iroquois 
tribes  against  the  upper  and  lower  Algonquins.  Daillebout  firmly  demanded 
the  immediate  return  of  Le  Moyne,  and  the  surrender  of  some  murderers. 
Both  were  promised,  but  the  missionary  remained,  an  object  of  suspicion  and 
dislike,  unable  either  to  continue  his  labors  or  to  return,  and  beguiling  his 
half -captivity  by  an  occasional  visit  to  the  Dutch. 

At  Onondaga  it  was  different;  the  sachems  still  hoped  to  be  able  to  cut 
off  the  colony  in  their  midst  without  forfeiting  the  lives  of  their  hostages  at 


THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS.  321 

Quebec.  Foreseeing  a  bloody  catastrophe,  the  superior  had  recalled  all  the 
fathers,  and  Dupuis  all  his  colonists  within  the  fort  and  house  at  St.  Mary's, 
to  resist,  escape,  or  fall  together. 

Thus  the  winter  wore  slowly  away,  and  day  by  day  their  longing  eyes 
looked  in  vain  for  a  ray  of  hope;  spring  came,  and,  in  a  new  council  on  the 
Mohawk,  the  final  resolution  of  the  sachems  was  taken.  But  before  they 
could  carry  out  their  bloody  designs,  while  the  piles  were  actually  preparing 
for  their  execution,  the  missionaries  resolved  to  attempt  a  secret  flight,  impos- 
sible as  it  seemed  to  escape  unobserved  through  a  country  of  defiles,  where  a 
dozen  braves  could  destroy  them  all. 

Silently  and  rapidly,  in  the  residence  of  St.  Mary's,  skillful  hands  were 
constructing  two  swift,  light  boats,  each  large  enough  to  carry  fourteen  or 
fifteen  individuals  and  a  weight  of  a  thousand  pounds.  They  also  concealed 
in  the  house  their  canoes,  four  of  Algonquin,  five  of  Iroquois  make.  The 
great  difficulty  now  remained ;  this  was  to  embark  unseen,  for  the  slightest 
suspicion  of  their  intent  would  draw  the  whole  force  of  the  canton  upon  them. 
At  last  a  favorable  moment  arrived.  A  young  Frenchman  was  adopted  into 
the  tribe,  and,  in  accordance  with  their  customs,  gave  a  banquet.  Availing 
himself  of  one  of  their  usages,  he  proclaimed  it  to  be  one  where  everything 
must  be  eaten  and  nothing  left,  immense  as  might  be  the  mass  of  eatables 
placed  before  the  guest.  To  this  feast  every  neighbor  was  invited;  the 
plenteous  board  groaned  beneath  the  weight  of  viands,  and  as  none  could 
refuse  his  portion,  the  overloaded  guests,  excited  by  the  dances  and  games 
which  the  French  kept  up  in  quick  succession,  or  lulled  by  the  music,  were 
insensible  to  all  but  the  festivities  before  them.  Amid  the  uproar  and  noise 
the  boats  were  silently  borne  to  the  water's  edge,  and  as  silently  loaded. 
Gradually  as  night  closed  in,  the  weary  guests  began  to  drop  away,  the  music 
and  dance  being  still  kept  up  by  the  French.  When  these  ceased,  all  the 
Onondagas  departed,  and  were  soon  after  buried  in  sleep.  Silence  reigned. 

The  whole  French  colony  hurried  to  their  flotilla  and  pushed  off,  about 
midnight,  on  the  2oth  of  March,  1658.  The  water  of  the  lake  froze  around 
them  as  they  advanced,  and  fear  almost  froze  their  blood ;  yet  on  they  went, 
all  night  long,  and  all  the  next  day ;  hand  succeeded  hand  at  the  oar  and  the 
paddle,  till,  on  the  second  evening,  without  having  met  a  single  living  soul, 
they  saw  Ontario  spread  its  sea-like  expanse  before  them.  Their  greatest 
danger  was  now  past,  and  the  distance  between  them  and  their  treacherous 
hosts  gave  them  time  to  breathe. 


322 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


When  the  Onondagas  had  slept  off  their  revel  they  strolled  from  their 
huts,  and,  as  they  rambled  toward  St.  Mary's  of  Ganentaa,  were  surprised  at 
the  silence  that  reigned  around  it.  Supposing  the  inmates  at  prayer,  or  in 
council,  they  awaited  the  result  calmly,  for  an  Indian  never  betrays  curiosity. 
Of  their  presence  there  they  had  no  doubt:  the  cocks  were  crowing,  the  dog 

answered  the 
knock  at  the 
door.  Yet,  as 
the  afternoon 
waned,  their 
pati  e  n  c  e  was 
exhausted,  and, 
scaling  the  side 
of  the  house, 
they  entered, 
No  sound  ech- 


oed  through  the 
building  but 
that  of  their 
own  cautious 
steps;  in  fright 
and  trouble 
hey  stole 
through  and 
opened  the 
main  door.  The 
sagest  chiefs 
enter ;  from 
garret  to  cellar, 

every  spot  is  examined;  not  a  Frenchman  can  be  found.  Fear  and  terror 
seize  them ;  gazing  at  each  other  in  silence  they  fled  from  the  house.  No  trace 
betrayed  the  flight  of  the  French.  "  They  have  become  invisible,"  cried  the 
Onondagas,  "and  flown  or  walked  upon  the  waters,  for  canoes  they  had  not." 
•  They,  meanwhile,  amid  a  thousand  dangers,  in  an  unknown  route, 
through  lake,  and  river,  and  rapid,  and  fall,  reached  Montreal,  after  seeing 
one  of  their  canoes  and  three  of  their  party  engulfed  in  the  St.  Lawrence. 
In  the  colony  they  were  received  as  men  from  beyond  the  grave. 


JESUITS'  WELL  AT  GANENTAA. 


THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS.  323 

Thus  ended,  after  a  brief  existence,  the  mission  of  St.  Mary's  of  Gan. 
entaa,  in  the  Onondaga  country,  with  its  dependent  missions  among  the  Onei- 
das,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas.  It  had  been  founded  and  conducted  with  great 
toil,  and  at  great  expense ;  it  was  now  crushed,  but  its  effect  was  not  lost; 
many  had  been  brought  to  the  faith,  and  more  convinced  of  the  truth  and 
beauty  of  Christianity,  who  for  motives  of  policy  still  held  back. 

Among  the  Mohawks,  Le  Moyne  was  in  no  less  danger  than  his  breth- 
ren had  been  at  Onondaga.  On  the  25th  of  March  he  wrote  from  the  Dutch 
settlement  a  letter  which  he  supposed  was  to  give  the  last  tidings  of  his  labors, 
but  soon  after  the  sachems,  remembering  their  promise,  appointed  envoys  to 
convey  him  to  Montreal,  and  an  embassy  brought  him  safely  to  his  country- 
men in  the  latter  part  of  May,  1658. 

Not  a  missionary  now  remained  in  the  territory  of  the  Iroquois,  and  the 
war  which  immediately  broke  out  precluded  for  a  time  any  hope  of  return. 

But  dark  as  the  cause  of  Christianity  seemed  in  the  cantons,  it  was  not 
without  its  hopes  of  a  new  and  brighter  day.  At  Onondaga  many  had  been 
won  to  the  side  of  Christianity,  and  on  these  the  future  depended  ;  but,  unfort- 
unately, none  seemed  possessed  of  sufficient  influence  to  effect  a  change  in  the 
councils  of  the  tribe.  Neither  Achiongeras,  nor  any  of  the  rest,  could  hope 
to  restore  the  mission,  having  in  all  probability  lost  grade  by  their  adherence 
to  a  foreign  creed.  At  this  moment  God  raised  up  one  destined  to  be  for 
years  a  protector,  and,  at  last,  an  humble  follower  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Garacontie",  "  the  sun  that  advances,"  was  a  nephew  of  the  Tododuho,  great 
sachem  of  the  league.  Himself  neither  sachem  nor  chief,  undistinguished  on 
the  war-path,  he  had,  by  his  eloquence,  ability,  and  political  wisdom,  acquired 
a  power  such  as  we  have  seen  in  our  own  days  exe  rcised  by  the  orator  Red 
Jacket. 

During  the  brief  existence  of  St.  Mary's  of  Ganentaa,  Garacontie"  had 
examined  with  care  the  customs  of  the  colonists  and  the  doctrines  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  civilization  and  Christianity 
were  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  his  nation.  No  sign  had,  however, 
betrayed  this  favorable  opinion  to  the  missionaries:  he  never  sat  among  their 
disciples,  and  seemed  as  indifferent  a  hearer  as  any  around  him.  His  part, 
however,  was  taken.  After  the  flight  of  the  French,  he  was  openly  the  pro- 
tector of  the  Christians,  and  the  earnest  advocate  of  peace.  In  spite  of  his 
endeavors  war  was  renewed  against  the  French  with  unwonted  ferocity.  The 
villages  of  Canada  were  in  flames,  the  whole  frontier  was  inundated  in  blood, 


324 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


Quebec  was  blockaded,  the  best  men  in  the  colony  were  cut  down  in  sight  of 
the  forts  by  the  wily  foe.  Others  were  led  away  to  furnish  sport  by  their 
tortures  to  the  clans  in  their  village  homes,  or  to  linger  away  in  captivity. 
Garacontie"  rescued  as  many  as  he  could  in  all  the  cantons  by  presents  and  by 
arguments.  These,  to  the  number  of  twenty-four,  he  assembled  at  Onon- 
daga,  and  at  morning  and  night,  by  a  bell,  called  them  and  the  Hurons  to 
prayer.  On  Sundays  he  gave  feasts,  now  in  one  cabin,  now  in  another,  in 
order  to  enable  the  Christians  to  spend  the  day  in  prayer. 

Meanwhile,  in  council  and  in  private,  he  labored  to  incline  his  tribe  to 
peace,  and  at  last  succeeded.  The  Onondagas  resolved  to  send  an  embassy 
to  Quebec,  and  restore  some  of  the  captives  as  a  preliminary  of  peace. 

In  July,  1660,  the  beleagured  townsmen  of  Montreal  beheld  an  Iroquois 
canoe  shoot  out  above  the  town,  with  a  white  flag  fluttering  in  the  breeze. 
Men  crowded  in  Anxiety  to  the  wall,  but  the  canoe  came  silently  on,  and  on 
reaching  the  bank  in  front  of  the  town-gate  the  warriors  stepped  ashore  as 
calmly  as  if  they  were  friendly  guests,  and,  followed  by  four  Frenchmen, 
advanced  into  the  town.  An  audience  was  soon  given.  There  the  spokes- 
man, the  Cayuga  Saonchiogwa,  the  warm  friend  of  Garacontie,  and  sharer 
of  his  thoughts,  broke  in  public  the  bonds  of  the  four  prisoners  and  promised 
the  freedom  of  the  rest,  assuring  the  French  of  the  friendly  disposition  of  the 
tribe.  Beginning  his  address,  he  explained  the  various  presents;  at  the  fifth 
he  said:  "  This  is  to  draw  the  Frenchman  to  us,  that  he  may  return  to  his 
mat,  which  we  still  preserve  at  Ganentaa,  where  the  house  is  yet  standing 
that  he  had  when  he  dwelt  among  us.  His  fire  has  not  been  extinguished 
since  his  departure;  and  his  fields,  which  we  have  tilled,  wait  but  his  hand  to 
gather  in  the  harvest;  he  will  make  peace  flourish  again  in  our  midst  by  his 
stay,  as  he  had  banished  all  the  evils  of  war.  And  to  cement  this  alliance  and 
unite  us  so  closely  together  that  the  demon,  jealous  of  our  happiness,  may  no 
longer  be  able  to  traverse  our  good  designs,  we  beg  that  the  holy  women 
(nuns)  may  come  to  see  us,  both  those  who  take  care  of  the  sick,  and  those 
that  instruct  the  young.  We  will  build  them  fine  cabins,  and  the  fairest  mats 
in  the  country  are  destined  for  them.  Let  them  not  fear  the  currents  or 
rapids — we  have  vanquished  them  all,  and  rendered  the  river  so  smooth  that 
they  could,  themselves,  without  pain  or  fear,  ply  the  light  paddle." 

Here  he  paused,  and  his  tone  of  compliment  gave  way  to  one  of  stern 
resolve.  Raising  his  last  belt,  he  exclaimed:  "A  black-gown  must  come 
with  me,  otherwise  no  peace;  and  on  his  coming  depend  the  lives  of  the 


50 


CO 


D3 
CO 
O 
F 


Cl 
5! 

a 
ts 
# 

^ 

HH 

53 


THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS.  325 

twenty  Frenchmen  at  Onondaga;"  and  with  these  words  he  placed  in  the 
governor's  hands  a  leaf  of  the  book  on  the  margin  of  which  the  captives  had 
written  their  names. 

The  counsels  of  the  French  were  divided.  It  seemed  blind  temerity  to 
yield  to  this  demand;  but,  influenced  by  the  accounts  of  the  returned  captives, 
who  declared  that  the  women  were  unanimous  in  favor  of  Christianity,  that 
Garacontie"  was  entirely  on  their  side,  and  had  now  remained  only  to  prevent 
any  counter-movement  in  his  absence,  the  council  left  the  final  determination 
to  the  Viscount  d'Argenson,  who  asked  that  Father  Le  Moyne  should  meet 
the  wishes  of  the  Indians.  That  intrepid  missionary  for  the  fifth  time  girt 
himself  to  visit  the  homes  of  the  Iroquois.  It  was,  he  declared,  the  happiest 
day  of  his  life.  Now,  at  last,  he  seemed  to  go,  never  to  return,  for  his  steps 
would  be  in  a  land  still  reeking  with  the  blood  of  the  French,  where  the  fires 
were  scarce  extinguished  around  which  the  Onondagas  had  danced  in  savage 
triumph  over  their  expiring  prisoner. 

He  accordingly  set  out  from  Montreal  on  the  2ist  of  July,   1660,  a  host- 

• 
age  in  their  hands;  and  though  attacked  by  the  Oneidas,  and   with  difficulty 

rescued  from  their  tomahawks  and  scalping-knives,  reached  in  safety  the 
mouth  of  the  Oswego,  where,  notwithstanding  the  negotiations,  they  found  a 
war-party  on  its  way  to  attack  Montreal. 

Advancing  now  to  Onondaga,  they  were  met,  six  miles  from  the  town, 
by  Garacontie",  who  thus  came,  as  chieftain  never  came  before,  to  greet  the 
envoy  of  the  peace  of  which  he  had  been  the  projector.  Le  Moyne  entered 
the  castle  of  the  mountain  tribe  amid  the  joyful  shouts  of  the  people,  who 
offered  him  fruit,  and  then  ran  on  to  stop  and  look  back  at  the  long-expected 
Ondessonk,  whose  fearless  manner  won  them  all.  With  admirable  tact,  Gar- 
acontie' led  the  missionary  first  to  the  lodges  of  the  sachems  and  chiefs  most 
adverse  to  peace,  and  then  conducted  him  to  his  own,  already  fitted  up  as  a 
chapel.  'Twas  rude,  indeed,  but  as  the  pious  missionary  adds,  "Our  Lord, 
who  deigns  to  veil  himself  under  the  forms  of  bread  and  wine,  will  not  dis- 
dain to  dwell  beneath  a  roof  of  bark ;  and  the  woods  of  our  forests  are  not 
less  precious  in  his  eyes  than  the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  s'nce  where  He  is,  there 
is  paradise." 

On  the  1 2th  of  August,  Le  Moyne  was  solemnly  received  at  the  mission- 
house  by  the  sachems  of  Onondaga,  Cayuga,  and  Seneca,  and  on  their  rati- 
fying the  acts  of  the  embassy,  delivered  his  presents,  concluded  peace,  and 
urged  them  to  embrace  Christianity,  of  which  he  gave  a  summary.  To  this 


326 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


they  replied  in  another  session;  and  then  the  speaker  announced  that  seven 
prisoners  from  Onondaga,  and  two  from  Cayuga,  should  be  immediately  sent 
with  Garacontie*,  and  that  the  rest  should  return  in  the  spring  with  Ondes- 
sonk.  Remonstrance  failing,  Le  Moyne  was  compelled  to  submit  to  this 
arrangement,  and  calmly  prepared  for  his  winter  mission  with  the  remaining 
captives.  Garacontie"  set  out,  and  though  the  Onondaga  party  met  by  Le 
Moyne  had,  in  August,  ravaged  the  Island  of  Montreal,  and  slain,  among 
others,  the  estimable  Sulpitian,  James  Le  Maitre,  and  the  Mohawks,  in  Octo- 
ber, killed  another  of  the  same  congregation — Father  William  Vignal,  the 
oldest  secular  priest  in  the  colony — the  Onondaga  orator  was  well  received, 
restored  his  captives,  and  obtained  the  liberation  of  several  of  his  countrymen. 
Meanwhile  Father  Le  Moyne  was  busily  employed  in  Western  New 
York.  In  his  poor  chapel,  adorned  with  a  cross  carried  off  from  Isle 
Orleans,  and  redeemed  by  Garacontie',  French,  Huron,  and  Iroquois  assembled 
around  the  same  altar,  each  chanting  in  his  own  tongue  the  words  of  life  and 
truth.  Ever  on  the  march,  village  after  village  received  his  missionary  visits, 
and  everywhere  his  presence  was  gladly  welcomed.  He  was  not,  however, 
free  from  danger.  Dreams  ruled  the  land,  and  their  fulfillment,  often  ridicu- 
lous, was  sometimes  criminal  and  dangerous  to  others.  One  brave,  dreaming 
that  he  wore  Ondessonk's  cassock,  burst  into  the  hut  and  bid  him  strip.  On 
another  occasion  all  the  sachems  were  required  to  check  another  who  burst 
in  to  destroy  the  crucifix  on  his  altar.  Father  Le  Moyne  was  there;  but  he 
bore  the  name  of  Jogues,  who  had  loved  the  cross  and  laid  down  his  life  for 
it  by  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk,  and  he  would  not  see  it  dishonored.  Spring- 
ing between  the  altar  and  the  madman,  he  bared  his  head  for  the  blow,  and 
would  have  fallen  had  not  the  murderer  been  caught  back  as  his  tomahawk 
glistened  in  the  air. 

In  this  instance  he  escaped.  However,  the  scenes  of  drunken  riot  hourly 
before  his  eyes  (for  Dutch  traders  flooded  the  cantons  with  intoxicating 
liquors),  made  him  accept  with  pleasure  an  invitation  to  visit  Cayuga,  then 
ravaged  by  an  epidemic.  Together  with  a  young  surgeon,  he  ministered  to 
the  sick,  and  saved  many.  A  month  was  too  short  for  him  to  confess  and 
console  the  Huron  women,  baptize  their  children,  and  instruct  them  all. 
Glorious  women!  their  faith  was  undimmed,  although  they  had  so  long  had 
no  chapel  but  their  master's  hut;  no  priest  but  their  conscience. 

Tearing  himself  at  last  from  these  fervent  Christians,  he  returned  to 
Onondaga,  and  found  Garacontie"  arrived,  more  friendly  than  ever  to  the 


THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS.  327 

French  cause.  The  chieftain  soon  baffled  the  advocates  of  war,  who  had,  in 
his  absence,  even  plotted  Le  Moyne's  death,  and  he  now  prepared  a  party  to 
conduct  the  missionary  and  remaining  captives  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  The 
mission  of  Le  Moyne  was  now  drawing  to  a  close.  He  had  preached  to 
captives  of  ten  different  nations;  he  had,  during  the  prevalence  of  the  small- 
pox, baptized  two  hundred  infants,  most  of  whom  soon  died,  and  had  won 
several  adults  to  the  faith,  besides  ministering  to  the  old  Christians.  Among 
the  adults  he  was  often  met  with  old  calumnies.  Some,  however,  hearkened 
to  the  truth. 

An  Illinois  captive,  dying  of  a  horrible  ulcer,  visited  by  the  father,  asked 
him — "  What  must  I  do  to  go  to  the  heaven  of  which  you  speak  ?"  "  Believe." 
"Well,  I  believe."  "Pray."  "  Well,  I  will  pray;  but  I  know  not  how. 
Come  and  teach  me,  for  I  cannot  go  to  thee."  He  was  regularly  in- 
structed. Faith  soon  changed  him.  No  murmur  or  complaint  left  his  lips. 
At  Jast,  fully  instructed,  he  solicited  and  received  the  sacrament  of  Baptism. 

During  his  stay  at  Onondaga,  Christians,  especially  women,  came  fre- 
quently from  other  cantons  under  various  pretexts,  and  thus  profited  by  his 
ministry.  Some  even,  by  their  piety  and  virtue,  won  their  mistresses,  and 
brought  them  to  the  missionary  to  receive  instruction. 

Father  Le  Moyne  had  not  set  out  from  Quebec  with  the  intention  of 
beginning  a  mission,  and  his  scanty  supply  of  wine,  he  foresaw,  would  soon 
be  exhausted.  To  be  able  to  say  Mass  daily,  he  despatched  an  Indian  to 
Albany,  and  readily  obtained  of  the  friendly  Hollanders  a  bottle  of  wine 
for  the  use  of  the  altar. 

At  last  the  preparations  for  his  departure  were  completed,  and  all  were 
ready  to  depart.  But  one  was  destined  to  become  a  martyr  of  conjugal 
chastity.  Refusing  to  take  an  Indian  wife  at  the  command  of  his  master, 
he  was  savagely  butchered  by  the  cruel  Onondaga.  The  rest,  to  the 
number  of  eighteen,  now  set  out  with  Le  Moyne  and  an  escort.  On  the  last 
day  of  August  they  reached  Sault  St.  Louis,  and  were  soon  after  welcomed 
by  a  volley  from  the  walls  of  Montreal. 

This  ended  the  Iroquois  missions  of  Father  Simon  le  Moyne.  Though 
named  once  more  to  his  old  post  he  never  again  visited  the  tribes  of  central 
New  York.  The  voice  of  Ondessonk  never  again  called  them  to  the  truth. 
Companion  of  Bre"beuf,  Jogues,  Gamier,  and  Daniel  on  the  Huron  mission 
as  early  as  1638,  he  had  ever  and  justly  been  dear  to  the  Indian  and  the  white 
man  for  his  firmness,  intrepidity,  and  zeal.  Successor  of  Jogues,  whose 


328  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

name  he  bore,  he  founded  the  Iroquois  missions  planned  by  the  former, 
visited  almost  every  village  in  the  cantons,  and  was  known  and  respected  in 
all.  Now,  worn  out  by  his  long  missionary  labors,  he  sank  under  the  weight 
of  years  and  toil ;  and,  after  an  illness  of  nine  days,  expired  by  a  most  holy 
death  at  the  Cape  de  la  Madeleine,  November  24,  1665,  having  just  com- 
pleted his  sixty-first  year.  His  death  was  mourned  as  a  public  loss  by  the 
French  colony,  and  the  Iroquois  sent  presents  to  wipe  away  the  tears  shed 
for  his  death. 

Nor  may  we  further  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  mission  to  the  Iroquois 
tribes,  which  was  plenteous  enough  in  vicissitude,  and  in  heroic  Christian 
sacrifice,  to  fill  several  volumes  such  as  this.  Father  Le  Moyne  was  suc- 
ceeded in  the  field  by  Fathers  Fremin  Bruyas,  Pierron  de  Lamberville,  and 
others,  all  devoted  Jesuits,  who  in  turn  labored  among  the  several  tribes  of 
.  which  the  nation  was  composed.  Through  peace  and  war  some  of  the  mis- 
sion establishments  survived  down  to  the  American  Revolution  and  when 
this  broke  out,  the  Catholic  Iroquois  refused  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
colonists.  The  missionaries  took  no  part  in  the  war,  yet  experienced  harsh 
treatment  from  the  Americans  during  their  invasion  of  Canada. 

Since  the  close  of  the  American  War,  few  incidents  mark  the  history  of 
these  quiet  missions.  That  of  the  Presentation,  after  being  demoralized  by  a 
British  garrison  stationed  there,  was  settled  by  the  English  government,  first 
at  Johnstown,  then  at  Indian  Point,  Lisbon,  on  American  ground.  Here 
they  had  a  little  village  of  twenty-four  families,  which  was  finally  dispersed 
in  1806  and  1807,  and  the  people  retired  to  Onondaga  and  St.  Regis.  Those 
of  the  Caughnawaga,  Canasadaga,  and  St.  Regis  still  subsist,  and  have  of 
late  years  greatly  improved,  having  shared  in  the  general  religious  progress 
of  Canada,  whose  church,  so  suddenly  severed  from  France,  and  harassed  by 
England,  maintained  for  some  years  a  doubtful  struggle. 

St.  Regis,  for  some  time  after  its  founder's  death,  was  deprived  of  a 
resident  missionary,  and  depended  on  visits  from  neighboring  priests ;  but  in 
December,  1785,  when  peace  once  more  left  all  in  quiet  on  the  St.  Lawrence, 
the  Rev.  Roderic  McDonnell,  a  zealous  Scotch  priest,  took  up  his  residence 
among  the  Indians  of  Aquasasne,  and  in  1791  erected  the  present  macsive 
stone  church.  He  continued  his  labors,  undaunted  by  ill-health,  down  to  the 
period  of  his  death,  in  1806. 

But  we  cannot  close  this  chronicle  of  the  Iroquois  missions  without  plac- 
ing before  the  reader  an  account  of  a  native  maiden  of  one  branch  of  that 


THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS.  329 

« 

people,  whose  virtues  might  alone  justify  all  the  sacrifice  of  the  martyred 
Jesuits. 

The  sublime  influence  of  Catholicity  on  the  life  of  the  Indian  is  nowhere 
better  illustrated  than  in  the  saintly  Catherine  Tegakwitha.  She  is  the  Indian 
virgin  par  excellence.  While  the  great  chiefs  and  lordly  sachems  of  her 
once  powerful  and  warlike  race  are  forgotten,  the  name  of  this  simple  and 
pure-souled  girl  is  held  in  honor  and  veneration.  Catherine  was  born  at 
Caughnawaga,  the  chief  town  of  the  Mohawks,  situated  on  the  Mohawk 
river,  in  1656,  about  ten  years  after  the  martyrdom  of  Father  Jogues  at  the 
same  place.  Her  father  was  a  heathen  Mohawk  chief;  her  mother,  a  Chris- 
tian Algonquin.  They  had  two  children — a  boy  and  a  girl.  The  Iroquois 
missions  had  not  yet  been  opened  by  the  Jesuits,  and  no  opportunity  had 
arisen  to  have  the  children  baptized,  when  the  ravages  of  the  small-pox 
carried  away  Catherine's  father,  mother,  and  little  brother,  leaving  her  an 
orphan  at  the  age  of  four  years.  She  was  taken  into  the  family  of  her  uncle, 
one  of  the  leading  chiefs  of  the  tribe. 

The  small-pox  haviag  weakened  her  eyes,  she  was  unable  to  bear  the 
glare  of  light,  and  hence  was  obliged  to  remain  whole  days  shut  up  in  the 
wigwam.  By  degrees  she  began  to  love  seclusion,  and  thus  her  modesty  and 
purity  were  partly  shielded  from  rude  contact  with  a  corrupt  and  savage 
society.  As  she  grew  older,  she  became  very  active  and  serviceable  to  her 
aunts.  She  ground  the  corn,  went  in  search  of  water,  and  carried  the  wood ; 
for  such,  among  the  Indians,  were  the  common  employments  of  young  gii'ls. 
The  rest  of  her  time  she  spent  in  the  manufacture  of  various  little  articles, 
for  which  she  possessed  an  extraordinary  skill.  Her  industry  guarded  her 
innocence.  Among  the  Indian  women,  idleness  was  the  source  of  an  infinite 
number  of  vices.  They  had  an  extreme  passion  for  gossiping  visits  and 
showing  themselves  in  public  places,  where  they  could  display  all  the  trinkets 
and  finery — a  sort  of  vanity  not  by  any  means  confined  to  civilized  nations. 

In  1667,  Father  Fremin  and  two  other  Jesuits  visited  the  Mohawk  castles 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the  mission  among  that  tribe.  They  arrived 
at  a  time  when  the  people  were  plunged  into  all  sorts  of  social  riot  and  intem- 
perance. No  one  but  Catherine,  then  eleven  years  of  age,  was  in  a  fit  state 
to  receive  them.  She  lodged  the  missionaries,  and  with  singular  modesty 
and  sweetness  attended  to  all  their  wants.  The  dignified  and  courteous  man- 
ner of  the  Jesuits,  and  their  regular  habits  of  prayer — all  deeply  impressed 
this  simple  child  of  the  forest.  She  never  forgot  this  first  sight  of  the  noble 


330 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


black-gowns.  She  even  intended  to  ask  for  baptism,  but  her  modest  reserve 
prevented  her,  and  in  a  few  days  the  priests  directed  their  steps  to  other 
villages  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk. 

When  the  young  maiden  became  of  marriageable  age  many  trials  beset 
her  pathway.  Her  relations'  wishes  were  not  hers.  These  sensual  and  igno- 
rant savages  understood  not  the  lofty  motives  which  inclined  her  to  a  single 

life.  She  admired,  loved 
purity  long  before  she 
understood  the  excellence 
of  that  virtue.  Hence 
she  was  persecuted  as  an 
obstinate  girl — treated  as 
a  slave.  But  arming  her- 
self with  a  sweet  patience 
— constant  as  it  was  ad- 
mirable—  this  simple 
child,  amid  the  forests  of 
New  York,  baffled  the 
rude  efforts  of  her  bitter- 
est foes. 

Father  James  de  Lam- 
berville,  S.  J.,  came  to 
erect  a  mission  at  Caugh- 
nawaga,  in  1675.  With 
a  secret  joy  Catherine  at- 
tended the  daily  prayers 
and  instructions.  Her 
long-cherished  desire  of 
becoming  a  Christian  was  increased.  Still  she  feared  the  hostility  of  her 
pagan  uncle,  in  whose  power  she  entirely  was.  Even  her  timid  modesty 
sealed  her  lips.  But  an  occasion  to  open  her  heart  soon  presented  itself. 
Some  days  after  Lamberville's  arrival,  while  most  of  the  village  were  in  the 
field  or  woods,  he  began  to  visit  the  cabins  to  instruct  the  sick  and  such  as 
remained.  A  wound  in  Catherine's  foot  had  kept  her  at  home.  Joy  lighted 
up  her  girlish  countenance  as  the  good  priest  entered.  At  once  she  confided 
to  him  her  desires,  the  long-treasured  wish  of  her  heart  to  be  a  Christian,  the 
opposition  of  her  friends,  their  intention  to  compel  her  to  marry,  to  which 


THE    LILY    OF    THE    MOHAWKS. 


THE  SAVAGE  IROQUOIS.  331 

she  was  strongly  disinclined.  Delighted  as  the  missionary  was  to  have  dis- 
covered such  simplicity,  candor,  and  courage,  he  was  far  from  hastening  her 
baptism.  The  winter  was  spent  in  instructing  her,  and  in  examining  the 
character  she  had  till  then  borne.  Even  her  enemies  paid  their  tribute  of 
respect  to  her  really  beautiful  character.  With  a  holy  joy  she  received 
baptism  on  Easter  Sunday,  1676,  and  was  named  Catherine,  which  signifies 
pure.  She  was  then  in  her  twentieth  year. 

"  Faithful  to  her  conscience,"  says  Dr.  Shea,  "when  unaided  by  the  Gospel 
light,  Catherine,  as  may  easily  be  supposed,  now  gave  her  soul  entirely  to  God. 
Her  devotions,  her  austerities,  her  good  works,  were  at  once  determined  upon 
and  perseveringly  practiced  in  spite  of  the  obstacles  raised  by  her  kindred. 
Sundays  and  holidays  beheld  her  the  sport  of  their  hatred  and  cruelty;  refus- 
ing to  work  in  the  fields,  she  was  compelled  to  fast,  for  they  deprived  her  of 
food.  She  was  pointed  at  by  the  children  and  called  in  derision  '•the  Chris- 
tian? A  furious  brave  once  dashed  into  the  cabin  to  tomahawk  her,  but 
awed  by  her  calm  and  dignified  mien  as  she  knelt  to  receive  the  blow,  he 
slunk  back  as  from  a  superior  being."  Worse  than  all — more  painful  than 
all — black  calumny  raided  its  "viper-head  "  against  her.  She  bore  the  dread- 
ful trial  with  sublime  meekness,  and  her  sweet  innocence  finally  lived  it  down. 
But  she  sought  peace,  and  that  inestimable  blessing  was  not  to  be  found  in 
the  society  of  the  corrupt  pagans  of  her  native  town.  Her  Christian  coun- 
trymen, it  will  be  remembered,  had  formed  a  village  on  the  banks  of  the 
lordly  St.  Lawrence,  near  the  rapid  above  Montreal.  For  this  she  sighed,  as 
for  the  promised  land.  Finally,  after  many  adventures  and  dangers — one  of 
which  was  a  miraculous  escape  from  the  tomahawk  of  her  furious  pagan 
uncle — she  reached  the  new  Caughnawaga,  in  Canada. 

Here,  as  she  grew  in  age,  she  advanced  in  grace  and  virtue.  Having 
seen  the  nuns  of  Ville  Marie,  and  learned  their  mode  of  life,  she  desired  as 
far  as  possible  to  imitate  them,  and  consecrate  herself  to  God ;  not  by  a 
simple  promise,  such  as  she  had  already  made,  but  by  a  vow  of  perpetual 
virginity. 

"  Who  will  teach  me,"  she  would  exclaim,  "what  is  most  agreeable  to 
God,  that  I  may  do  it?"  Her  confessor  tried  her  a  long  time  before  he 
would  consent  to  let  her  pronounce  the  desired  vow,  which  she  finally 
made  on  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation  with  great  fervor,  after  receiving 
holy  communion.  From  this  to  her  precious  death  her  path  was  far  from 
being  one  of  roses.  But  her  beautiful  life  was  drawing  to  a  close.  She  took 


332  .      THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

• 
sick  in  the  fall  of   1679,  and  her   weakness  increased  as   the  winter  passed 

away.  When  Holy  Week  arrived,  she  sank  rapidly,  and  several  days  before 
informed  her  confessor  of  the  moment,  day  and  hour  at  which  her  death 
would  occur.  On  Holy  Wednesday,  1680,  about  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
after  receiving  the  last  sacraments  with  seraphic  devotion,  she  breathed  her 
last.  Just  before  departing  she  sweetly  murmured  the  names  of  Jesus  and 
Mary.  Thus  died  Catherine  Tehgahkwita,  the  Lily  of  the  Mohawks,  the 
guardian-angel  of  the  swift  and  mighty  rapid,  near  which  are  her  tomb  and 
the  great  cross  which  towers  above  it.  Soon  this  became  a  point  for  pil- 
grims, "where  the  prelate  and  the  viceroy  came  alike  to  kneel  and  pay 
homage  to  exalted  virtue,  as  they  invoked  on  themselves  and  their  charge  the 
blessings  of  Heaven."  Many  well-authenticated  cures  have  been  wrought 
by  her  intercession ;  among  others  that  of  Father  Colombie're,  canon  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Quebec  in  1696,  and  Du  Luth,  commander  of  Fort  Frontenac 
(Kingston),  who,  by  a  novena  to  her  in  1696,  was  cured  of  the  gout  which 
tormented  him  for  over  twenty-three  years. 

On  the  23d  of  July,  1843,  a  majestic  cross  twenty-five  feet  high  was 
erected  over  Catherine's  tomb.  There  were  assembled  the  Indians  of 
Caughnawaga,  headed  by  their  missionary  and  chiefs.  Hundreds  of  French, 
Irish,  English,  and  Americans  gathered  around  to  witness  the  imposing  cere- 
mony. The  cross  was  blessed  by  the  Vicar-General  of  Montreal,  and  "then 
slowly  raised  amid  the  chants  of  the  church,  the  thunder  of  the  cannon,  and 
the  mingled  shouts  of  the  men  of  many  climes  and  races." 

How  did  she  walk  this  sun-dimmed  earth  so  purely, 
Her  white  robes  gathered  from  its  tarnish  free? 
How  did  she  guide  her  fragile  bark  securely 
O'er  the  wild  waves  of  life's  tempestuous  sea? 
Ah!  'twas  her  ceaseless  care  to  '•'••watch  and  fray" — 
•     To  call  on  Him  whom  winds  and  waves  obey! 


IN  THE  fcAND  OF  TH6 


MISSION  OF  FATHERS  GARREAU  AXD  DRUILLETTES — MARTYRDOM  ox  THE  TURKS 
HOLD. — AGED  FATHER  RENARD. — A  JOURNEY  AND  A  FAMINE. --Ox  THE  SHORE 
OF  LAKE  SUPERIOR. — THE  INDIAN  WOMAN'S  GIFT. — FATHER  MENARD'S  RUDE 
CROSS.— A  TRIP  TO  THE  Sioux  COUNTRY. — DEATH  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.— NEW 
OTTAWA  MISSION. — FATHER  CLAUDE  ALLOUEZ. — PREACHING  TO  TWENTY 
TRIBES. — FATHER  JAMES  MARQUETTE. — SKETCH  OF  A  NOBLE  CAREER. — THE 
LONG  CANOE  JOURNEY. — MISSION  OF  SAULT  ST.  MARIE. — FIRST  MENTION 
OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. — ASSAULT  BY  THE  Sioux. — JOINED  BY  JOLLIET. — DEPART- 
URE FROM  MACKINAW. — BY  THE  LAKES  TO  THE  GREAT  RIVER. — MEETING 
STRANGE  TRIBES. — THE  JOURNEY  OF  THE  CROSS. — SOJOURN  AT  CHICAGO. — 
AMONG  THE  KASKASKIAS. — THE  DYING  MISSIONARY. — Ox  MICHIGAN'S  LONELY 
SHORE. — LAST  HOURS  OF  A  SAINT. — ESTIMATES  OF  CHARACTER  AXD  VIRTUES. — 
PROTESTANT  APPRECIATION. 

r 

,HE  peninsula  lying  between  Lake  Superior  on  the  north,  and  Lake 

Michigan  on  the  east,  extending  back  to  the  Mississippi,  was  in 
early  times  the  last  outpost  of  the  Algonquin  race  in  the  west, 
inhabited  by  several  tribes  of  that  family,  who  thus  formed  a 
barrier  to  the  Dakotas  or  Sioux — a  tribe  of  tartar  origin,  who  had 
advanced  eastward  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  One  Dakota 

tribe  had,  however,   pushed   farther  on,  and  settled  on  the  shores  of   Green 

Bay,  amid  the  Algonquins,  who  styled  them    Winnebagoes  or  salt-water 

men. 

The  chief  tribes  of  this  section   were,  on  the  north,  the  Ottawas  or 

Traders,  the  Chippeways  or  Ojibways,  the  Menomonees  or  Wild-rice  tribe, 

the   Sacs,  the  Foxes,  the    Mascoutens  or   Fire-nation,  the   Kikapoos,  and, 

toward  the  south,  the  Miamis  arid  Illinois. 

Trading  as  they  did  with  the  Hurons,  these  tribes  were  soon   known   to 

the  French,  and  their  country  was  visited  at  an  early  day  by  Nicolet,  one  of 

333 


334 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


the  hardiest  pioneers  of  civilization  in  the  annals  of  New  France.  Ten  years 
spent  in  Algonquin  cabins  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Nipissing  and  the  Ottawa, 
fitted  him  to  traverse  in  safety  the  vast  regions  where  that  language  prevailed. 
Several  years  prior  to  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1642,  while  engaged  in 
a  work  of  charity,  Nicolet  set  out  from  the  Huron  country,  and,  after  a  voyage 
of  three  hundred  leagues,  visited  the  "  Sea-tribe,"  undoubtedly  the  Winne- 
bagoes  or  Green  Bay,  with  whom,  in  the  name  of  France,  he  concluded  a 
treaty  in  an  assembly  of  four  or  five  thousand  men. 

There  was  none  to  follow  him  to  that  wild  West  till  1641,  when  a  great 
"  feast  of  the  dead,"  given  by  the  Algonquins  in  Huronia,  gathered  there  al! 
the  kindred  tribes  to  take  part  in  the  funereal  games,  the  dances,  chants,  and 
mournful  processions  of  those  decennial  rites.  Among  the  rest  came  the 
Chippewas  from  the  Rapids,  which  close  to  the  vessels  of  man  the  entrance 
of  the  vast  upper  lake.  The  deputies,  like  the  rest,  were  visited  by  the  Jesuit 
missionaries,  and  so  won  were  the  good  Chippeways  by  the  gentle,  self- 
devoting  ways  of  those  heralds  of  the  cross,  that  they  earnestly  invited  them  to 
their  cabins  at  the  falls,  portraying  with  all  the  lively  imagination  of  the  child 
of  the  forests  the  riches  and  plenty  that  reigned  in  their  sylvan  abodes.  Ever 
eager  to  extend  their  spiritual  conquests,  to  enlarge  the  bounds  of  freedom 
in  this  western  world  (for  there  alone  is  liberty  where  dwells  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord),  the  missionaries  joyously  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  Chippeways. 

By  command  of  their  superior,  two  missionaries,  Father  Charles 
Raymbaut,  thoroughly  versed  in  the  Algonquin  customs  and  language,  with 
Father  Isaac  Jogues,  no  less  complete  a  Huron,  were  detached  to  visit  them. 
On  the  iyth  of  June,  they  launched  their  canoes  at  the  mission-house  of  St. 
Mary's,  and  for  seventeen  days  advanced  over  the  crystal  waters  of  the  inland 
sea,  amid  the  beautiful  islands  which  stretch  across  the  lake,  clustering  around 
the  lake-gemmed  Manitouline,  so  hallowed  to  the  Indian's  mind.  When 
they  reached  the  falls,  they  found  two  thousand  Indians  assembled  there,  and 
amid  their  joyful  greetings,  the  missionaries  gazed  with  delight  on  the  vast 
fields  which  lay  before  them.  They  heard  of  tribe  after  tribe  which  lav 
around,  and  ever  and  anon  of  the  terrible  Nadowessi  who  dwelt  on  the  great 
river  of  the  West.  Earnestly  did  the  Chippeways  press  the  two  fathers  to 
stay  in  their  midst.  "We  will  embrace  you,"  said  they, "  as  brothers ;  we 
shall  derive  profit  from  your  words;"  but  it  could  not  be  so.  The  paucity  of 
missionaries  in  the  Huron  country  did  not  yet  permit  the  establishment  of 
that  distant  mission.  Raymbaut  and  Jo^nes  could  but  plant  the  cross  to  mark 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS.  335 

the  limit  of  their  spiritual  progress;  yet  they  turned  it  to  the  south,  for  thither 
now  their  hopes  began  to  tend.  After  a  short  stay  they  returned  to  St. 
Mary's,  and  hopes  were  entertained  of  soon  establishing  a  mission  on  Lake 
Superior;  but  Raymbaut  shortly  after  fell  a  victim  to  the  climate,  while 
Jogues  began  in  his  own  person  a  long  career  of  martyrdom,  preluding  the 
ruin  of  the  Huron  mission,  the  death  of  its  apostles,  and  the  destruction  of 
the  tribe. 

By  1650,  Upper  Canada  was  a  desert,  and  the  missionaries,  thinned  in 
numbers,  turned  to  nearer  fields,  and  even  tried  to  bend  the  haughty  Iroquois, 
and  bow  his  neck  to  the  cross. 

The  West,  however,  was  not  forgotten.  In  1656,  a  flotilla  of  Ottawas 
appeared  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  led  by  two  adventurous  traders  who  had  two 
years  previously  struck  into  the  far  West.  These  Indians  asked  a  French 
alliance  and  missionaries,  both  of  which  were  readily  granted.  Two  Jesuit 
fathers  were  selected  to  accompany  them,  with  a  considerable  number  of 
Frenchmen,  intended  to  form  a  commercial  establishment  in  the  West.  Dis- 
gusted with  the  brutality  and  heedlessness  of  the  Ottawas,  the  Frenchmen,  on 
reaching  Three  Rivers,  resolved  to  abandon  the  undertaking;  but  the  two 
missionaries,  Fathers  Leonard  Garreau  and  Gabriel  Druillettes,  undismayed 
by  the  danger,  still  kept  on  their  way.  As  the  French  had  foreseen,  the 
flotilla  was  attacked  by  an  Iroquois  war-party,  posted  in  ambush.  At  the 
first  volley,  the  generous  Garreau  was  mortally  wounded,  and  abandoned  by 
the  Ottawas,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  who,  tearing  off  his  clothing, 
left  him  weltering  in  his  blood  in  a  fort  which  they  had  thrown  up  on  the 
end  of  the  island  of  Montreal.  Yet  after  several  days,  fearing  the  vengeance 
of  the  French,  they  cairied  him  to  Montreal,  where  he  soon  after  expired. 
Druillettes  meanwhile  had  been  left  by  the  Ottawas  in  another  fort,  which 
they  threw  up,  but  finally  abandoned,  refusing  to  take  the  missionary  with 
them.  Thus  failed  the  second  projected  mission  in  the  West,  baffled  like  the 
first  by  the  cruelty  of  the  Iroquois. 

In  1660,  another  flotilla  descended;  the  result  of  the  enterprise  of  French 
voyagers,  who  now  led  to  the  trading-posts  of  France  sixty  canoes  loaded 
with  peltry,  and  manned  by  three  hundred  western  Algonquins.  These,  too, 
asked  an  alliance  and  black-gowns  to  teach  them  to  pray.  At  this  epoch  the 
missions  had  received  a  new  impulse  from  the  zeal  and  devotedness  of  the 
first  bishop  of  Quebec,  who  found  a  kindred  spirit  in  the  veteran  Father 
Jerome  Lallemant,  then  superior  of  the  Jesuits  in  Canada,  a  man  full  of 


336  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

energy  and  zeal.  Gladly  would  he  have  gone  himself  to  the  upper  lake«,  to 
which,  as  superior  of  the  Huron  mission,  he  had  sent  Jogues  and  Raymbaut 
nearly  twenty  years  before.  His  duties,  however,  detained  him  at  Quebec. 
There  was  still,  however,  another  survivor  of  the  old  Huron  missions,  long 
years  before  the  comrade  and  fellow-laborer  of  Jogues,  Bressani,  Bre"beuf, 
Gamier,  Garreau,  and  others,  who  had  already  won  a  martyr's  crown  amid 
their  apostolic  toil.  His  head  was  whitened  with  years,  his  face  scarred  with 
wounds  received  in  the  streets  of  Cayuga,  for  he  had  been  one  of  the  first  to 
bear  the  Faith  into  central  New  York.  Thoroughly  inured  to  Indian  life 
with  many  a  dialect  of  Huron  and  Algonquin  at  his  command,  Rene1  Menard 
sought  to  die  as  his  earlier  friends  and  comrades  had  long  since  done.  The 
West  seemed  a  promised  land  to  be  reached  only  through  the  Red  Sea  of 
his  own  blood,  and  with  joy  he  received  the  order  to  begin  his  march  into  the 
wilderness.  We  have  still  extant  a  letter  written  by  him  in  August,  1 660,  on 
leaving  Three  Rivers,  replete  with  a  spirit  of  sacrifice,  which  can  scarce  find 
a  parallel.  He  went  destitute  and  alone,  broken  with  age  and  toil,  but  with 
a  life  which  he  saw  could  last  only  a  few  months;  yet  he  had  no  thought  of 
recoiling;  it  was  the  work  of  Providence;  and  in  utter  want  of  all  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  he  exclaims:  "  He  who  feeds  the  young  raven  and  clothes  the 
lily  of  the  field,  will  take  care  of  his  servants;  and  should  we  at  last  die  of 
misery,  how  great  our  happiness  would  be!" 

There  is  something  grand  and  sublime  in  the  heroism  of  these  early  mis- 
sionaries, which  rises  as  we  contemplate  it;  and  few  will  win  our  admiration 
more  than  Menard,  a  man  devoid  of  enthusiasm,  whose  letters  are  as  calm  and 
unimpassioned  as  those  of  a  commercial  house,  yet  one  who,  in  his  vocation  and 
in  the  appointment  of  his  superiors,  saw  the  will  of  God,  and  did  it  manfully. 

Soon  after  leaving  Three  Rivers  he  met  Bishop  Laval.  "Every  con- 
sideration, father,"  said  the  pious  prelate,  "would  seem  to  require  you  to 
remain  here;  but  God,  stronger  than  all,  will  have  you  there,"  and  he  pointed 
to  the  distant  West.  Encouraged  and  borne  up  still  more  by  this,  full  of  a 
desire  of  suffering,  he  finally  started  from  Montreal,  the  frontier  post.  In 
spite  of  their  promises  of  good  treatment,  the  Ottawas  compelled  the  aged 
priest  to  paddle  from  morning  to  night,  to  help  them  at  the  many  portages — 
in  a  word,  to  take  on  him  all  their  drudgery.  The  moments  he  could  steal 
to  say  his  office  displeased  them;  they  flung  his  breviary  into  the  water;  and 
at  last,  insensible  to  pity,  left  him  on  the  shore  without  food  or  protection. 
During  the  whole  voyage,  Menard  had,  like  the  rest,  suffered  greatly  from 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTA^.  337 

famine.  Berries  were  their  chief  food;  and  happy  he  who  found  some  edible 
moss,  and  happier  he  who  had  in  his  clothing  a  piece  of  moose-skin.  He 
had  borne  all  patiently ;  but  now,  barefoot  and  wounded  by  the  sharp  stones, 
he  stands  at  last  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  abandoned  to  starvation. 
After  a  few  days,  during  which  he  lived  on  pounded  bones  and  such  other 
objects  as  he  could  find,  his  faithless  conductors  relenting,  returned,  and  con- 
veyed him  to  the  rendezvous  of  the  tribe,  a  bay  which  he  reached  on  St. 
Theresa's  day,  and  named  after  her.  "Here,"  says  he,  "I  had  the  consola- 
tion of  saying  Mass,  which  repaid  me  with  usury  for  all  my  past  hardships, 
Here  I  began  a  mission,  composed  of  a  flying  church  of  Christian  Indians 
from  the  neighborhood  of  the  settlements,  and  of  such  as  God's  mercy  has 
gathered  in  here." 

This  first  mission  in  the  West  was  situated,  as  the  date  of  his  letter  tells 
us,  one  hundred  leagues  west  of  Sault  St.  Marv's;  in  all  probability  at 
Keeweenaw.  Without  waiting  to  repose,  he  began  his  ministry  among  the 
few  Christians  there,  and  sought  out  the  afflicted  and  miserable.  "  One  of 
my  first  visits,"  says  he,  "was  in  a  wretched  hut  dug  out  under  a  large  rotten 
tree, which  shielded  it  on  one  side,  and  supported  by  some  fir-branches,  which 
sheltered  it  against  the  wind.  I  entered  on  the  other  side  almost  flat  on  my 
face,  but  creeping  in  I  found  a  treasure,  a  poor  woman,  abandoned  by  her 
husband  and  by  her  daughter, who  had  left  her  two  dying  children,  one  about 
two,  and  the  other  about  three  years  old.  I  spoke  of  the  Faith  to  this  poor 
afflicted  creature,  who  listened  to  me  with  pleasure." 

"Brother,"  said  she,  "I  know  well  that  our  folks  reject  thy  words;  but, 
for  my  part,  I  like  them  well;  what  thou  sayest  is  full  of  consolation." 

With  these  words  she  drew  from  under  the  tree  a  piece  of  dry  fish, 
which,  so  to  say,  she  took  from  her  very  mouth  to  repay  my  visit.  I  thanked 
her,  however,  valuing  more  the  happy  occasion  which  God  gave  me  of 
securing  the  salvation  of  these  two  children,  by  conferring  on  them  holy  bap- 
tism. I  returned  some  time  after  to  this  good  creature,  and  found  her  full  of 
resolution  to  serve  God;  and,  in  fact,  from  that  time,  she  began  to  come  to 
morning  and  evening  prayers  so  constantly  that  she  did  not  fail  once,  how- 
ever busied  or  engaged  in  gaining  her  scanty  livelihood.  Soon  after  thus 
beginning  his  distant  and  laborious  mission,  Le  Brochet,  a  chief,  who  had 
especially  ill-treated  him  on  the  way,  drove  him  out  of  his  cabin;  and  Menard 
had  no  refuge  but  "  a  kind  of  little  hermitage,  a  cabin  built  of  fir-branches, 
piled  on  one  another,  not  so  much,"  says  he,  "  to  shield  me  from  the  rigor  of 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  season  as  to  correct  my  imagination  and  persuade  me  that  I  was  sheltered." 

Such  was  the  winter  residence  of  an  aged  and  enfeebled  man.  Consola- 
tions were  not  wanting.  A  pure  and  noble  young  man,  who,  amid  the  vice 
and  debauchery  of  his  nation,  had  always  been  regarded  rather  as  a  spirit 
than  a  being  of  flesh  and  blood,  came  to  be  instructed.  Heroically  he 
embraced,  heroically  he  professed  the  faith  of  the  cross.  His  widowed  sister 
and  her  children,  and  some  few  others,  were  soon  added  to  Menard's  flock, 
but  the  missionary's  progress  was  slow.  He  had,  however,  no  idea  of  aban- 
doning his  post. 

"I  would  have  to  do  myself  great  violence,"  says  he,  "to  come  down 
from  the  cross,  which  God  has  prepared  for  me,  in  this  extremity  of  the 
world  in  my  old  days.  I  know  not  the  nature  of  the  nails  which  fasten  me 
to  this  adorable  wood ;  but  the  mere  thought  that  anyone  should  come  to 
take  me  down  makes  me  shudder,  and  I  often  start  up  from  my  slumbers, 
imagining  that  there  is  no  Ottawa  land  for  me,  and  that  my  sins  send  me 
back  to  the  spot  from  which  the  mercy  of  my  God  had  by  so  signal  a  favor 
once  drawn  me." 

His  letter  of  July,  1661,  announces  his  desire,  or  rather  his  resolution,  to 
attempt  a  journey  of  two  or  three  hundred  leagues  over  a  land  intersected  by 
lakes  and  marshes,  in  order  to  announce  the  gospel  to  four  populous  nations, 
doubtless  the  Dakotas,  of  whom  he  had  heard. 

The  project,  however,  he  never  realized ;  another  field  opened  before 
him.  It  had  nothing  grand  or  sublime  in  its  novelty  or  the  power  of  the 
nation,  it  was  beset  with  difficulty  and  danger,  but  it  was  one  which  an  old 
Huron  missionary  could  not  think  of  refusing.  A  party  of  the  unfortunate 
Wyandots  had,  as  we  have  seen,  fled  to  the  upper  lake,  and  at  this  moment, 
lay  on  or  near  the  Noquet  Islands,  in  the  mouth- of  Green  Bay.  Long  desti- 
tute of  a  pastor,  the  Christians  were  fast  relapsing  into  pagan  habits;  but, 
still  clinging  to  the  faith,  they  sent  to  implore  Menard  to  visit  them.  The 
missionary  first  sent  some  of  his  French  companions  to  explore  the  way. 
They  descended  a  rapid  river,  and  after  countless  rapids,  portages,  and  preci- 
pices, reached  the  village,  which  was  inhabited  by  a  few  wretched  Hurons, 
mere  living  skeletons.  Convinced  of  the  impossibility  of  Menard's  reaching 
it,  or  remaining  if  he  did,  they  returned,  encountering  still  greater  difficulty 
in  ascending  the  river.  On  arriving  at  the  mission  in  June,  1661,  they 
implored  the  aged  missionary  not  to  attempt  a  journey  so  evidently  beyond  his 
strength.  All  the  French  joined  their  entreaties  to  those  who  spoke  from 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS. 


339 


experience,  but  in  vain.  Speaking  of  his  Sioux  mission  he  had  said,  "  I  hope 
to  die  on  the  way."  No  fear  of  death  then  could  deter  him  from  answering 
a  call  of  duty.  His  faithful  companion,  the  lay-brother,  John  Guerin,  spoke 
in  the  spirit  of  the  cross,  and  reminding  him  of  St.  Francis  Xavier  expiring  at 
the  very  threshold  of  the  Celestial  Empire,  induced  him  to  attempt  the  voyage, 
even  if  he,  too,  should  perish  ere  he  reached  the  scene  of  labor.  "  God  calls 
me  thither;  I  must  go,  if  it  cost  me  my  life;  I  cannot  surfer  souls  to  perish 
under  the  pretext  of  saving  the  bodily  life  of  a  wretched  old  man  like  myself. 
What!  are  we  to  serve  God  only  when  there  is  nothing  to  surfer  and  no  risk 
of  life  ? " 

He  set  out  with  some  Hurons  whom  accident  had  brought  to  the  mission; 
but,  on  reaching  a  lake,  they  left  him.  After  waiting  here  a  month  for  their 
return,  he  and  Gue"rin  proceeded;  but,  on  the  loth  of  August,  the  poor  father, 
following  his  companion  at  the  last  portage  on  the  river,  mistook  one  wood 
for  another,  and  was  lost  or  seized  by  some  band  of  Indians.  Gudrin  having 
accomplished  the  portage,  sought  him, but  in  vain;  hurrying  on  to  the  Huron 
village,  he,  by  signs,  at  last  procured  assistance;  but  no  trace  of  the  mission- 
ary could  be  found.  Long  after  his  bag  was  found  in  the  hands  of  an  Indian, 
who  refused  to  tell  where  he  he  had  got  it,  and  some  of  his  chapel-service 
was  subseqently  seen  in  a  lodge.  He  was  probably  murdered  on  the  first 
rapid  of  the  Menomonee,  closing  a  long  life  of  assiduous  toil  in  the  missions 
of  America  by  a  death  glorious  in  the  sight  of  heaven,  although  there  was 
none  to  chronicle  his  sufferings  and  his  constancy  in  death.  He  died  about 
the  loth  of  August,  1661,  being  57  years  of  age.  His  constitution  was  weak 
and  delicate,  but  his  courage  boundless.  His  fervent  piety  made  him  in  all 
adversities  and  hardships  consider  only  the  glory  of  God,  and  realize  the 
truth  that  "when  most  bereft  of  human  consolation,  God  takes  possession  of 
the  heart  and  convinces  it  how  far  His  holy  grace  surpasses  all  consolation  to 
be  found  in  creatures." 

With  the  death  of  Menard  closed  the  first  Ottawa  mission.  At  that 
moment  there  was  not  a  missionary  station  nearer  than  Montreal,  and  indeed 
his  post  was  almost  as  near  to  the  Spanish  missions  of  Santa  Fe  or  Alachua 
as  it  was  to  Montreal;  yet,  regardless  of  all,  he  had  fearlessly  penetrated  to 
that  distant  spot. 

The  Jesuits  had  faced  death  and  difficulty  in  every  shape;  mission  after 
mission  had  been  ruined,  and  the  ablest  men  of  the  order  ruthlessly  butchered. 
"  But,"  says  the  Protestant  Bancroft,  "  it  may  be  asked  if  these  massacres 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

quenched  enthusiasm.  I  answer  that  the  Jesuits  never  receded  one  foot;  but, 
as  in  a  brave  army,  new  troops  press  forward  to  fill  the  places  of  the  fallen, 
there  was  never  wanting  heroism  and  enterprise  in  behalf  of  the  cross  under. 
French  dominion." 

At  the  present  moment  they  were  true  to  their  spirit;  no  idea  of  aban- 
doning the  Ottawa  mission  seems  to  have  entered  their  minds.  The  superiors 
needed  only  a  man  fitted  for  the  vast  field.  One  soon  arrived.  Claudius 
Allouez  had  long  sought  the  Canada  mission,  not  buoyed  up  by  any  false 
enthusiasm,  founded  en  an  ignorance  of  the  real  state  of  the  Indians,  but 
conscious  of  the  difficulty,  and  ready  to  meet  it.  Him  the  superior  of  the 
mission  now  selected,  and  he  soon  prepared  to  face  all  the  dangers  of  a  long 
and  perilous  route,  to  meet  hunger,  nakedness,  cold,  and  cruelty,  to  win  the 
West  to  Catholicity.  In  1664  he  was  at  Montreal,  too  late,  however  to 
embark,  as  the  Ottawa  flotilla  was  already  gone.  More  successful  in  the 
following  year,  he  embarked,  and,  with  happier  auspices,  reached  the 
southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior  and  began  his  labors,  which,  for  the  next 
thirty  years,  were  devoted  with  unabated  zeal  to  the  moral  and  mental 
elevation  of  the  Indians  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Illinois.  He  may 
indeed  be  styled  in  justice  the  apostle  of  the  West. 

After  great  toil  and  suffering,  aggravated  by  the  brutality  of  his  con- 
ductors, he  arrived  on  the  1st  of  September,  1665,  at  Sault  St.  Mary's,  and 
for  a  month  coasted  along  the  southern  shore.  After  stopping  at  St.  Theresa's 
Bay,  where  two  Christian  women  reminded  him  of  Menard's  labors,  he 
advanced  to  the  beautiful  bay  of  Chegoimegon,  which  he  reached  on  the  ist  of 
October.  Ten  or  twelve  petty  Algonquin  tribes  soon  assembled  there  to 
hang  on  the  war-kettle,  and  prepare  for  a  general  invasion  of  the  land  of 
the  Sioux.  The  young  braves  were  rousing  each  other  to  phrensy  by  dance, 
and  song,  and  boast.  The  envoy  of  Christ  was  the  envoy  of  peace.  His 
influence  was  not  exerted  in  vain.  The  sachems  pronounced  against  the 
war.  Tranquillity  being  thus  insured,  Allouez  adorned  his  chapel  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  at  the  spot  henceforth  called  Lapointe  du  Saint  Esprit,  and  began 
to  gather  his  Indian  church.  His  chapel  was  soon  an  object  of  wonder,  and 
wandering  hunters  of  many  a  tribe  came  to  wonder  and  to  listen.  Their 
numbers  and  attention  roused  the  hopes  of  the  earnest  and  laborious  mission- 
ary. In  a  short  time  the  Chippeways,  Pottawotamies,  Sacs  and  Foxes, 
Kikapoos,  Miamis,  and  Illinois  became  known  to  him,  and  to  all  he  announced 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS. 


34  > 


the  truths  of  Christianity.  In  his  excursions  he  met  the  Sioux,  and  wrote 
home  telling  of  the  great  river  "  Mesipi." 

At  Chegoimegon  his  labors  were  crowned  with  but  partial  success. 
Many  were  no  strangers  to  Christianity,  but  had  long  resisted  its  saving 
doctrines.  Like  Menard,  he  had  to  struggle  with  superstition  and  vice,  con- 
soled only,  amid  hardship  and  ill-treatment,  by  the  fervor  of  a  few  faithful 
souls.  His  mission  comprised  two  towns — one  inhabited  by  the  Ottawa  clans, 
the  Kiskakons  and  Sinagos,  the  other  by  the  Tionontates.  The  latter  mostly 
converted  in  their  own  land,  he  endeavored  to  recall;  the  former,  embittered 
against  the  faith,  he  endeavored  to  gain,  and  not  in  vain.  In  the  first  winter 
he  baptized  eighty  infants  and  three  adults  in  danger  of  death,  and  had  the 
consolation  of  gaining  one  whom  he  deemed  worthy  of  the  sacrament  in 
health. 

Superstition  reigned  around  him.  The  lake  was  a  god,  the  rapids, 
rocks,  and  metals,  all  were  gods;  and  a  chimera  of  their  own  imagination, 
Missipsi,  was  the  object  of  universal  adoration.  He  visited  also  the  Saul- 
teurs  at  Sault  St.  Mary's,  and  after  spending  a  month  among  them,  proceeded 
to  Lake  Alimpegon,  where  the  Nipissings,  better  taught  by  adversity  than 
their  old  Tionontate  neighbors,  afforded  the  missionary  greater  consolation. 
They  had  had  no  priest  for  twenty  years,  and  many  were  still  pagans,  but  the 
old  Christians  were  full  of  fervor.  But  the  great  field  in  his  eyes  was,  how- 
ever, the  new  tribes  yet  uncorrupted  by  intercourse  with  the  whites. 

After  two  years  of  labor,  Allouez,  having  thus  founded  the  missions  of 
the  Ottawas  and  Ojibwas,  and  revived  those  of  the  Hurons  and  Nipissings, 
returned  to  Quebec  to  lay  before  his  superior  a  full  account  of  the  West,  and 
then,  two  days  later,  without  waiting  for  repose,  having  received  supplies  and 
a  companion  in  the  person  of  Father  Louis  Nicholas,  he  set  out  again  for 
Chegoimegon.  Though  forced  to  leave  their  French  companions  at  Mon- 
treal, and  otherwise  harassed,  they  reached  their  mission  in  safety,  and 
entered  on  their  apostolic  duties,  in  poverty  and  hunger,  amid  the  insolence 
and  mockery  of  the  unbeliever.  They  announced  the  faith  to  twenty-five 
different  tribes,  and  out  of  these  men  of  many  tongues  gathered  eighty  souls 
by  baptism  into  the  Church  of  Christ. 

But  a  powerful  assistance  was  now  coming.  In  April,  1668,  Father 
James  Marquette,  S.  J.,  left  Quebec  with  Brother  Le  Boesme,  to  begin  his 
labors  in  the  west.  As  this  famous  Catholic  missionary  enters  on  the  field 
some  special  account  of  his  career  will  be  found  acceptable. 


342  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Among  the  names  that  have  become  immortalized  in  the  history  of 
our  country  there  are  few  more  certainly  destined  for  perpetual  fame  than 
those  connected  with  the  discovery  and  exploration  of  that  mighty  river  which 
courses  so  boldly  and  majestically  through  this  vast  continent.  Thus  it  is 
probable  that  there  never  will  be  a  time  when  even  children  at  school  will 
not  be  familiar  with  such  names  as  De  Soto,  Marquette,  and  La  Salle. 

James  Marquette  was  born  in  the  city  of  Laon,  near  a  small  branch  of 
the  Oise,  in  the  department  of  Aisne,  France,  in  the  year  1637.  His  family 
was  the  most  ancient  of  that  ancient  city,  and  had,  during  many  generations, 
filled  high  offices  and  rendered  valuable  services  to  their  country,  both  in 
civil  and  military  life.  We  have  accounts  of  eminent  services  rendered  to 
his  sovereign  by  one  of  his  ancestors  as  early  as  1360.  The  usefulness  and 
public  spirit  of  the  family,  we  may  well  suppose,  did  not  expire  with  the  dis- 
tinguished subject  of  this  memoir;  for  we  find  that,  in  the  French  army  that 
aided  our  fathers  in  the  achievement  of  American  independence,  there  were 
no  less  than  three  Marquettes  who  laid  down  their  lives  in  the  cause  of  lib- 
erty. His  maternal  name  was  no  less  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  the 
Church.  On  the  side  of  his  mother,  Rose  de  la  Salle,  he  was  connected  with 
the  good  and  venerable  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle,  founder  of  the  Brothers  of 
the  Christian  Schools,  so  distinguished  for  their  successful  services  in  the 
cause  of  popular  religious  education.  It  was  this  pious  mother  that  instilled 
into  her  illustrious  son  that  tender  and  fervid  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
which  so  ravished  his  soul  and  adorned  his  whole  life.  In  1654,  when  but 
seventeen  years  old,  he  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus,  in  which  the  time  of  his 
novitiate,  the  terms  of  teaching  and  of  his  own  theological  studies,  consumed 
twelve  years.  He  had  chosen  for  his  model  St.  Francis  Xavier,  and  in  study- 
ing his  patron's  life,  and  meditating  on  his  virtues,  the  young  priest  conceived 
a  holy  longing  to  enter  the  field  of  missionary  toil.  He  was  enrolled  in  the 
province  of  Champagne;  but,  as  this  had  no  foreign  missions,  he  caused  him- 
self to  be  transferred  to  the  province  of  France.  His  cherished  object  was 
soon  attained.  In  1666  he  was  sent  out  to  Canada,  and  arrived  at  Quebec  on 
the  2Oth  of  September  of  that  year. 

Father  Marquette  was  at  first  destined  for  the  Montagnais  mission, 
whose  central  station  was  at  Tadousal,  and  on  the  loth  of  October  he  started 
for  Three  Rivers,  in  order  to  study  the  Montagnais  language,  a  key  to  many 
neighboring  Indian  tongues,  under  that  celebrated  philologist,  as  well  as 
renowned  missionary,  Father  Gabriel  Druillettes.  His  intervals  of  leisure 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS. 


were  here  employed  in  the  offices  of  the  holy  ministry.  Father  Marquette 
was  thus  occupied  till  April,  1668,  when  his  destination  was  changed,  and  he 
received  orders  to  prepare  for  the  Ottawa  mission  on  Lake  Superior.  He 
accordingly  returned  to  Quebec,  and  thence  set  out  on  the  2ist  of  April,  with 
Brother  Le  Boesme  and  two  other  companions. 

The  first  stopping-place  on  the  vast  journey  was  Montreal,  one  hundred 
and  eighty  miles  up  the  river.  This  part  of  the  voyage  was  made  in  a  birch- 
lni~k  canoe,  with  three  boatmen  to  aid  the  priest  in  paddling  it  against  the 
stream.  The  frail  craft  proceeded  at  the  rate  of  about  thirty  miles  a  day;  and 
when  night  came  on  Father  Marquette  and  his  companions  stretched  their 
weary  limbs 
on  the  banks 
of  the  lordly 
river.  Some, 
times  they 
halted  at  an 
Indian  vil- 
lage; at  other 
times  they 
encamped  i  n 
the  forest, 
with  naught 
save  the  blue 
sky  to  shield 
them,  the 
night  wind 
lulling  the 
lone  travelers 

to  sleep,  as  it  sighed  through  the  leafless  branches,  which  the  slowly-return- 
ing sun  of  spring  had  scarcely  yet  caused  to  bud. 

The  Montreal  of  that  day  was  very  different  from  the  beautiful  and 
stately  city  which  now  stands  at  the  head  of  ship  navigation  on  the  St. 
Lawrence.  It  was  merely  a  little  fort,  with  a  few  cabins  and  wigwams. 
After  a  short  stay  at  this  point,  waiting  for  a  suitable  guide  to  traverse  the 
hundreds  of  miles  of  pathless  wilderness  yet  to  come,  a  party  of  Indians 
from  Lake  Superior  came  down  the  river  in  their  canoes.  Father  Marquette 
embarked  with  them  on  their  return  trip. 


FATHER    MARQUETTE    ASCENDING    THE    ST.    LAWRENCE 


344  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

The  red  navigators  and  their  apostolic  companion  paddled  up  the  turbid 
Ottawa,  a  distance  of  nearly  four  hundred  miles.  Thence,  by  a  chain  of 
narrow  streams  and  small  lakes,  they  entered  Lake  Nipissing.  Then,  paddling 
down  the  rapid  course  of  the  French  River,  through  cheerless  solitudes  eighty 
miles  in  extent,  the  little  fleet  finally  entered  the  well-known  Georgian  Bay. 
Nor  was  this  the  end.  Crossing  this  vast  sheet  of  water,  they  beheld,  open- 
ing before  them,  the  seemingly  boundless  expanse  of  Lake  Huron.  They 
skirted  along  the  wild  northern  shores  of  this  inland  sea  until  they  reached 
Sault  Ste.  Marie,  which  marks  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior  into  Lake  Huron. 

Here  Father  Marquette  founded  the  famous  mission  of  Saulte  Sainte 
Marie;  and,  planting  his  cabin  at  the  foot  of  the  rapids,  on  the  American 
side,  he  began  his  heroic  and  apostolic  career  in  the  great  West.  He  toiled, 
instructed,  and  built  a  church;  but  a  missionary  was  urgently  needed  for 
Lapointe,  and  to  "  that  ungrateful  field,"  Marquette  with  joy  bent  his  steps. 
Here,  truly,  it  was  up-hill  work.  The  Ottawas  and  Hurons,  among  whom 
he  was  now  stationed,  were  fearfully  corrupt.  As  he  himself  testifies,  in  a 
letter  to  his  superior,  dated  1669,  they  were  "far  from  the  kingdom  of  God, 
being  above  all  other  nations  addicted  to  lewdness,  sacrifices,  and  juggleries." 

In  the  letter  just  quoted,  Father  Marquette  for  the  first  time  mentions 
the  Mississippi.  He  says:  "When  the  Illinois  come  to  Lapointe  they  pass  a' 
large  river,  almost  a  league  wide.  It  runs  north  and  south,  and  so  far  that 
the  Illinois,  who  do  not  know  what  canoes  are,  have  never  yet  heard  of  its 
mouth.  This  great  river  can  hardly  empty  in  Virginia,  and  we  rather  believe 
that  its  mouth  is  in  California.  If  the  Indians  who  promise  to  make  me  a 
canoe  do  not  fail  to  keep  their  word,  we  shall  go  into  this  river  as  soon  as  we 
can  with  a  Frenchman  and  this  young  man,  given  me,  who  knows  some  of 
the  languages;  we  shall  visit  the  nations  which  inhabit  it,  in  order  to  open 
the  way  to  so  many  of  our  fathers  who  have  long  awaited  this  happiness. 
This  discovery  will  also  give  us  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  southern  and 
western  sea." 

The  clouds  of  war,  however,  were  gloomily  overshadowing  Lapointe. 
Provoked  by  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  the  fierce  Sioux  swooped  down  on 
their  villages  and  obliged  them  to  fly.  Father  Marquette  followed  his  fleeing 
Hurons  to  Mackinaw,  founded  the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius  there,  and  built  a 
chapel  in  1671.  This  rude  log  church  was  the  first  sylvan  shrine  raised  by 
Catholicity  at  Mackinaw. 

The  star  of  hope  which  lit  up  his  fancied  pathway  to  the  "  Father  of 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS.  345 

Waters,"  now  grew  dim,  and  at  last  faded  almost  out  of  view.  Still  he 
hoped  against  hope,  labored  among  his  Indians,  and  fervently  prayed  to  the 
Most  Blessed,  Virgin  to  obtain  for  him  the  privilege  of  discovering  the  great 
river,  and  of  spreading  the  light  of  the  Gospel  among  the  dusky  inhabitants 
of  its  banks. 

The  war  which  was  raging  in  the  country  rendered  it  impossible  for  the 
missionaries  of  themselves  to  undertake  the  opening  of  the  long-desired 
mission  of  the  Illinois,  and  they  had  accordingly  applied  for  assistance  to  the 
French  government  to  further  this  great  enterprise.  Father  Mnrquette,  as 
we  have  seen  from  his  letters,  remained  ever  ready  at  a  moment's  notice  from 
his  superiors  to  advance  into  this  dangerous  field.  He  was  not  deterred  bv  a 
consciousness  of  his  own  declining  health,  already  enfeebled  by  labors  and 
exposures,  nor  by  the  hostile  character  of  the  nations  through  whose  country 
he  would  have  to  pass,  nor  by  the  danger  of  a  cruel  death  at  the  hands  of 
the  fierce  Dakota.  This  last  only  made  the  prospect  more  enticing  to  one 
whose  highest  ambition  was  to  win  the  glorious  crown  of  martyrdom  in 
opening  the  way  for  his  brother  Jesuits  to  follow  in  the  battle  of  the  Faith. 
The  same  flotilla  that  carried  his  letter  to  Father  Dablon  to  Quebec  in  the 
summer  of  1672,  on  its  return  conveyed  to  him  the  joyous  news  that  the 
petition  of  the  missionaries  had  found  favor  with  the  government;  that  the 
Sieur  Jolliet  was  designated  to  undertake  the  exploration  of  the  Mississippi; 
and  that  Father  Marquette  was  chosen  the  missionary  of  the  expedition. 

It  was  the  Blessed  Virgin  whom  Father  Marquette  says,  "  I  had  aKvavs 
invoked  since  my  coming  to  the  Ottawa  country,  in  order  to  obtain  of  God 
the  favor  of  being  able  to  visit  the  nations  on  the  Mississippi  River."  It  \\a> 
on  the  feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  same  Blessed  Virgin  M.irv 
that  he  received  the  glorious  tidings  that  the  realization  of  his  hopes  and 
prayers  was  at  hand.  He  bestowed  upon  the  great  river  the  name  of  t  !:-..• 
Immaculate  Conception,  which,  however,  as  well  as  its  earlier  Spanish  name  of 
river  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  has  since  yielded  to  its  original  Indian  appellation. 

The  exploring  party,  consisting  of  the  meek,  single-hearted,  unpretend- 
ing, illustrious  Marquette,  with  Jolliet  for  his  associate,  five  Frenchmen  for 
his  companions,  and  two  Algonquins  as  guides,  lifting  their  canoes  on  their 
backs  and  walking  across  the  narrow  portage  that  divides  the  Fox  River 
from  the  Wisconsin,  set  out  upon  their  glorious  expedition. 

In  the  spring  they  embarked  at  Mackinaw  in  two  frail  bark  canoes;  each 
with  his  paddle  in  hand,  and  full  of  hope,  they  soon  plied  them  merrily  over 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  crystal  waters  of  the  lake.  All  was  new  to  Marquette,  and  he  describes 
as  he  went  along  the  Menonomies,  Green  Bay,  and  Maskoutens,  which 
he  reached  on  the  yth  of  June,  1673.  He  had  now  attained  the  limit 
of  former  discoveries;  the  New  World  was  before  them;  they  looked  back  a 
last  adieu  to  the  waters  which,  great  as  the  distance  was,  connected  them 
with  Quebec  and  their  countrymen;  they  knelt  on  the  shore  to  offer,  by  a  new 
devotion,  their  lives,  their  honor,  and  their  undertakings  to  their  beloved  Mother, 
the  Virgin  Mary  Immaculate;  then, launching  on  the  broad  Wisconsin,  sailed 
slowly  down  its  current,  amid  its  vine-clad  isles  and  its  countless  sand-bars. 
No  sound  broke  the  stillness,  no  human  form  appeared,  and,  at  last,  after  sailing 
seven  days,  on  the  i7th  of  June,  they  happily  glided  into  the  great  river.  Joy 
that  could  find  no  utterance  in  words  filled  the  grateful  heart  of  Marquette. 
The  broad  river  of  the  Conception,  as  he  named  it,  now  lay  before  them, 


MARQUETTE    AND  JOLLIET    OX    THE    GREAT    RIVER. 

stretching  away  hundreds  of  miles  to  an  unknown  sea.  Soon  all  was  new; 
mountain  and  forest  had  glided  away;  the  islands,  with  their  groves  of  cotton- 
wood,  became  more  frequent,  and  moose  and  deer  browsed  on  the  plains; 
strange  animals  were  seen  traversing  the  river,  and  monstrous  fish  appeared 
in  its  waters.  But  they  proceeded  on  their  way  amid  this  solitude,  frightful 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS. 


347 


by  its  utter  absence  of  man.  Descending  still  further,  they  came  to  the  land 
of  the  bison,  or  pisikiou,  which,  with  the  turkey,  became  sole  tenants  of  the 
wilderness;  all  other  game  had  disappeared.  At  last,  on  tne  25th  of  June, 
they  descried  footprints  on  the  shore.  They  now  took  heart  again,  and 
Joliet  and  the  missionary,  leaving  their  five  men  in  the  canoes,  followed  a 
little  beaten  path  to  discover  who  the  tribe  might  be.  They  traveled  on  in 
silence  almost  to  the  cabin  doors,  when  they  halted,  and  with  a  loud  halloa 
proclaimed  their  coming. 

Three  villages  lay  before  them;  the  first,  roused  by  the  cry,  poured 
forth  its  motley  group,  which  halted  at  the  sight  of  the  new-comers  and  the 
well-known  dress  of  the  missionary.  Old  men  came  slowly  on,  step  by 
measured  step,  bearing  aloft  the  all- mysterious  calumet.  All  was  silence; 
they  stood  at  last  before  the  two  Europeans,  and  Marquette  asked,  "Who  are 
you?  "  "  We  are  Illinois,"  was  the  answer,  which  dispelled  all  anxiety  from 
the  explorers,  and  sent  a  thrill  to  the  heart  of  Marquette;  the  Illinois  mission- 
ary was  at  last  amid  the  children  of  that  tribe  which  he  had  so  long,  so 
tenderly  yearned  to  see. 

After  friendly  greetings  at  this  town  of  Pewaria,  and  the  neighboring 
one  of  Moing-wena,  they  returned  to  their  canoes,  escorted  by  the  wondering 
tribe,  who  gave  their  hardy  visitants  a  calumet,  the  safeguard  of  the  west. 
With  renewed  courage  and  lighter  hearts,  they  sailed  in,  and,  passing  a  high 
rock  with  strange  and  monstrous  forms  depicted  on  its  rugged  surface,  heard 
in  the  distance  the  roaring  of  a  mighty  cataract,  and  soon  beheld  Pekitanoui, 
or  the  Muddy  River,  as  the  Algonquins  call  the  Missouri,  rushing  like  some 
untamed  monster  into  the  calm  and  clear  Mississippi,  and  hurrying  in  with 
its  muddy  waters  the  trees  which  it  had  rooted  up  in  its  impetuous  course. 
Already  had  the  missionaries  heard  of  the  river  running  to  the  western  sea 
to  be  reached  by  the  branches  of  the  Mississippi,  and  Marquette,  now  better 
informed,  fondly  hoped  to  reach  it  one  day  by  the  Missouri.  But  now  their 
course  lay  south,  and,  passing  a  dangerous  eddy,  the  demon  of  the  western 
Indians,  they  reached  the  Waboukigou,  or  Ohio,  the  river  of  the  Shawnees, 
and,  still  holding  on  their  way,  came  to  the  warm  land  of  the  cane,  and  the 
country  which  the  mosquitoes  might  call  their  own.  While  enveloped  in  their 
sails  as  a  shelter  from  them,  they  came  upon  a  tribe  who  invited  them  to  the 
shore.  They  were  wild  wanderers,  for  they  had  guns  bought  of  Catholic 
Europeans  at  the  east. 

Thus,  after  all  had  been  friendly,  and  encouraged  by  this  second  meet- 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

ing,  they  plied  their  oars  anew,  and,  amid  groves  of  cottonwood  on  either 
side,  descended  to  the  33d  degree,  when,  for  the  first  time,  a  hostile  reception 
was  promised  by  the  excited  Metchigameas.  Too  few  to  resist,  their  only 
hope  on  earth  was  the  mysterious  calumet,  and  in  heaven  the  protection  of 
Mary,  to  whom  they  sent  up  fervent  prayers.  At  last  the  storm  subsided, 
and  they  were  received  in  peace;  their  language  formed  an  obstacle,  but  an 
interpreter  was  found,  and  after  explaining  the  object  of  their  coming,  and 
announcing  the  great  truths  of  Christianity,  they  embarked  for  Akamsea,  a 
village  thirty  miles  below  on  the  eastern  shore. 

Here  they  were  well  received  and  learned  that  the  mouth  of  the  river 
was  but  ten  days'  sail  from  this  village;  but  they  heard,  too,  of  nations  there 
trading  with  the  Europeans,  and  of  wars  between  the  tribes,  and  the  two 
explorers  spent  a  night  in  consultation.  The  Mississippi,  they  now  saw, 
emptied  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  between  Florida  and  Tampico,  two  Span- 
ish points.  They  might,  by  proceeding,  fall  into  their  hands.  Thus  far  only 
Marquette  traced  the  map,  and  he  put  down  the  names  of  other  tribes  of 
which  they  heard.  Of  these,  in  the  Atotchasi,  Matora,  and  Papihaka,  we 
recognize  Arkansas  tribes;  and  the  Ankoroas,  Samikwas,  Pawnees,  and  Oma- 
has,  Kansas  and  Apiches,  are  well-known  in  after  days. 

They  accordingly  set  out  from  Akensea  on  the  lyth  of  July,  to  return. 
Passing  the  Missouri  again,  they  entered  the  Illinois,  and  meeting  the  friendly 
Kaskaskias  at  its  upper  portage,  were  led  by  them  in  a  kind  of  triumph  to 
Lake  Michigan;  for  Marquette  had  promised  to  return  and  instruct  them  in 
the  Faith.  Sailing  along  the  lake,  they  crossed  the  outer  peninsula  of  Green 
Bay,  and  reached  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  just  four  months  after 
their  departure  from  it. 

Thus  had  the  missionaries  achieved  their  long  projected  work.  The 
triumph  of  the  age  was  thus  completed  in  the  discovery  and  exploration  of 
the  Mississippi,  which  threw  open  to  France  the  richest,  most  fertile  and 
accessible  territory  of  the  New  World.  Marquette,  whose  health  had  been 
severely  tried  in  this  voyage,  remained  at  St.  Francis  to  recruit  his  strength 
before  resuming  his  wonted  missionary  labors,  for  he  sought  no  laurels,  he 
aspired  to  no  tinsel  praise. 

The  distance  passed  over  by  Father  Marquette  on  this  great  expedition, 
in  his  little  bark  canoe,  was  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-seven 
miles.  The  feelings  with  which  he  regarded  an  enterprise  having  so  grave  a 
bearing  on  the  future  history  and  development  of  mankind,  may  be  appreci- 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS.  349 

ated  from  the  following  closing  passage  of  the  ninth  section  of  his  Voyages 
and  Discoveries: 

"Had  all  this  voyage  cost  but  the  salvation  of  a  single  soul,  I  should  deem 
all  my  fatigue  well  repaid.  And  this  I  have  reason  to  think ;  for,  when  I 
was  returning,  I  passed  by  the  Indians  at  Peoria.  I  was  three  days  announc- 
ing the  Faith  in  all  their  cabins,  after  which,  as  we  were  embarking,  they 
brought  me  to  the  water's  edge  a  dying  child,  which  I  baptized  a  little  before 
it  expired,  by  an  admirable  Providence,  for  the  salvation  of  that  innocent 
soul." 

Father  Marquette  prepared  a  narrative  of  his  voyage  down  the  Missis- 
sippi (from  which  the  foregoing  quotation  is  taken)  and  a  map  of  that  river; 
and  on  his  return  transmitted  copies  to  his  superior,  by  the  Ottawa  flotilla  of 
that  year.  While  pursuing  the  homeward  journey  he  promised  the  Kaskaskia 
Indians,  who  then  occupied  towns  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Illinois,  that  he 
would  return  to  teach  them  the  faith  which  he  announced.  His  health, 
broken  by  exposure  and  mission  labor  on  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  upper 
lakes,  was  very  frail,  but  he  had  no  idea  of  rest.  Devoted  in  an  especial 
manner  to  the  great  privilege  of  Mary — her  Immaculate  Conception — he 
named  the  great  artery  of  our  continent  The  River  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception, and  in  his  heart  bestowed  the  same  name  on  the  mission  which  he 
hoped  to  found  among  the  Kaskaskias. 

To  enter  upon  that  work,  so  dear  to  his  piety,  he  needed  permission 
from  his  distant  superior.  When  the  permission  came  he  took  leave  of  the 
Mackinac  mission  which  he  had  founded,  and  pushed  off  his  bark  canoe  into 
Lake  Michigan.  The  autumn  was  well  advanced — for  it  was  the  25th  of 
October,  1674 — and  the  reddening  forests  swayed  in  the  chill  lake  winds  as 
he  glided  along  the  western  shore.  Before  he  reached  the  southern  extremity 
winter  was  upon  him  with  its  cold  and  snows,  and  the  disease  which  had 
been  checked,  but  not  conquered,  again  claimed  the  frail  frame.  It  could  not 
quench  his  courage,  for  he  kept  on  in  his  open  canoe  on  the  wintry  lake  till 
the  4th  of  December,  when  he  reached  Chicago.  There  he  had  hoped  to 
ascend  the  river  and  by  a  portage  reach  the  Illinois.  It  was  too  late.  The 
ice  had  closed  the  stream,  and  a  winter  march  was  beyond  his  strength.  His 
two  men,  simple,  faithful  companions,  erected  a  log  hut,  home  and  chapel, 
the  first  dwelling  and  first  church  of  Chicago.  Praying  to  Our  Lady  to 
enable  him  to  reach  his  destination,  offering  the  Holy  Sacrifice  whenever  his 
illness  permitted,  receiving  delegations  from  his  flock,  the  Kaskaskias,  the 


350  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

winter  waned  away  in  the  pious  foundation  of  the  white  settlement  at  Chicago. 
With  the  opening  of  spring  Marquette  set  out,  and  his  last  letter  notes 
his  progress  till  the  6th  of  April,  1675.  Two  days  after  he  was  among  the 
Kaskaskias,  and,  rearing  his  altar  on  trie  prairie  which  lies  between  the 
present  town  of  Utica  and  the  Illinois  River,  he  offered  up  the  Mass  on 
Maundy  Thursday,  and  began  the  instruction  of  the  willing  Indians  who 
gathered  around  him.  A  few  days  only  were  allotted  to  him,  when,  after 
Easter,  he  was  again  stricken  down.  If  he  would  die  in  the  arms  of  his 
brethren  at  Mackinac,  he  saw  that  he  must  depart  at  once;  for  he  felt  that 
the  days  of  his  sojourning  were  rapidly  closing.  Escorted  by  the  Kaskaskias, 
who  were  deeply  impressed  by  the  zeal  that  could  so  battle  with  death,  the 
missionary  reached  Lake  Michigan,  on  the  eastern  side.  Although  that  shore 
was  as  yet  unknown,  his  faithful  men  launched  his  canoe.  "  His  strength, 
however,  failed  so  much,"  says  Father  Dablon,  whose  words  we  shall  now 
quote,  "that  his  men  despaired  of  being  able  to  convey  him  alive  to  their 
journey's  end;  for,  in  fact,  he  became  so  weak  and  so  exhausted  that  he  could 
no  longer  help  himself,  nor  even  stir,  and  had  to  be  handled  and  carried  like 
a  child.  He  nevertheless  maintained  in  this  state  an  admirable  resignation, 
joy,  and  gentleness,  consoling  his  beloved  companions,  and  encouraging  them 
to  suffer  courageously  all  the  hardships  of  this  voyage,  assuring  them  that 
our  Lord  would  not  forsake  them  when  he  was  gone.  It  was  during  this 
navigation  that  he  began  to  prepare  more  particularly  for  death,  passing  his 
time  in  colloquies  with  our  Lord,  with  his  holy  Mother,  with  his  angel 
guardian,  or  with  all  heaven. 

"He  was  often  heard  pronouncing  these  words:  "  I  believe  that  my 
Redeemer  liveth,'  or  '  Mary,  Mother  of  grace,  Mother  of  God,  remember 
me '  Besides  a  spiritual  reading  made  for  him  every  day,  he  toward  the 
close  asked  them  to  read  him  his  meditation  on  the  preparation  of  death, 
which  he  carried  about  him ;  he  recited  his  breviary  every  day ;  and  although 
he  was  so  low  that  both  sight  and  strength  had  greatly  failed,  he  did  not  omit 
it  till  the  last  day  of  his  life,  when  his  companions  excited  his  scruples.  A 
week  before  his  death  he  had  the  precaution  to  bless  some  holy  wate'r  to 
serve  him  during  the  rest  of  his  illness,  in  his  agony,  and  at  his  burial,  and  he 
instructed  his  companions  how  to  use  it. 

"On  the  eve  of  his  death,  which  was  a  Friday  5  he  told  them,  all  radiant 
with  joy,  that  it  would  take  place  on  the  morrow.  During  the  whole  day 
he  conversed  with  them  about  the  manner  of  his  burial,  the  way  in  which  he 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS.  351 

should  be  laid  out,  the  place  to  be  selected  for  his  interment;  how  they  should 
arrange  his  hands,  feet,  and  face,  and  how  they  should  raise  a  cross  over  his 
grave.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  enjoin  them,  only  three  hours  before  he 
expired,  to  take  his  chapel  bell,  as  soon  as  he  was  dead,  and  ring  it  while 
they  carried  him  to  the  grave.  Of  all  this  he  spoke  so  calmly  and  collectedly 
that  you  would  have  thought  he  spoke  of  the  death  and  burial  of  another,  and 
not  his  own. 

"  Thus  did  he  speak  to  them  as  he  sailed  along  the  lake,  till,  perceiving 
the  mouth  of  a  river,  with  an  eminence  on  the  bank  which  he  thought  suited 
for  his  burial,  he  told  them  that  it  was  the  place  of  his  last  repose.  They 
wished,  however,  to  pass  on,  as  tne  weather  permitted  it  and  the  day  was  not 
far  advanced;  but  God  raised  a  contrary  wind,  which  obliged  them  to  return 
and  enter  the  river  which  the  father  had  designated. 

<;  They  then  carried  him  ashore,  kindled  a  little  fire,  and  raised  a  wretched 
bark  cabin  for  his  use,  laying  him  in  it  with  as  little  discomfort  as  they  could; 
but  they  were  so  depressed  by  sadness  that,  as  they  afterwards  said,  they  did 
not  know  what  they  were  doing. 

"The  father  being  thus  stretched  on  the  shore  like  St.  Francis  Xavier, 
as  he  had  always  so  ardently  desired,  and  left  alone  amid  those  forests — for 
his  companions  were  engaged  in  unloading — he  had  leisure  to  repeat  all  the 
acts  in  which  he  had  employed  himself  during  the  preceding  days. 

"  When  his  dear  companions  afterwards  came  up,  all  dejected,  he  con- 
soled them,  and  gave  them  hopes  that  God  would  take  care  of  them  after  his 
death  in  those  new  and  unknown  countries;  he  gave  them  his  last  instruct- 
ions,thanked  them  for  all  the  charity  they  had  shown  him  during  the  voyage, 
begged  their  pardon  for  the  trouble  he  had  given  them,  directed  them  also  to 
ask  pardon  in  his  name  of  all  our  fathers  and  brothers  in  the  Ottawa  country, 
and  then  disposed  them  to  receive  the  sacrament  of  Penance,  which  he  admin- 
istered to  them  for  the  last  time.  He  also  gave  them  a  paper  on  which  he 
had  written  all  his  faults  since  his  last  confession,  to  be  given  to  his  superior. 
to  oblige  him  to  pray  to  God  more  earnestly  for  him.  In  fine,  he  promised 
not  to  forget  them  in  heaven,  and  as  he  was  very  kind-haarted,  and  knew 
them  to  be  worn  out  with  the  toil  of  the  preceding  days,  he  bade  them  go 
and  take  a  little  rest,  assuring  them  that  his  hour  was  not  yet  so  near,  but 
that  he  would  wake  them  when  it  was  time — as,  in  fact,  he  did  two  or  three 
hours  aftef ,  calling  them  when  about  to  enter  into  his  agony. 

"  When  they  came  near  he  embracad  them  again  for  the  last  time,  while 
they  melted  in  tears  at  his  feet.  He  then  asked  for  the  holy  water  and  his 


352 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


reliquary,  and,  taking  off  his  crucifix,  which  he  always  wore  hanging  from 
his  neck,  he  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  one  of  his  companions,  asking  him  to 
hold  it  constantly  opposite  him,  raised  before  his  eyes.  Feeling  that  he  had 
but  a  little  while  to  live,  he  made  a  last  effort,  clasped  his  hands,  and,  with 
his  eyes  fixed  sweetly  on  his  crucifix,  he  pronounced  aloud  his  profession  of 


DEATH    OF    FATHER    MARQUETTE. 

faith,  and  thanked  the  divine  Majesty   for   the  immense   favor   he  bestowed 

upon  him  in  allowing  him  to  die  in  the  Society  of  Jesus,  to  die  in  it  as  a  mis- 

i 
sionary  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  above  all  to  die  in  it,  as  he  had  always  asked,  in 

a  wretched  cabin,  amid  the  forests,  destitute  of  air  human  aid. 

"  On  this  he  became  silent,  conversing  inwardly  with  God ;  yet  from 
time  to  time  words  escaped  him :  '•Sustinuit  anima  mea  in  verbo  ejusj  or 
'•Mater  Dei,  memento  met?  which  were  the  last  words  he  uttered  before  enter- 
ing into  his  agony,  which  was  very  calm  and  gentle. 

"He  had  prayed  his  companions  to  remind  him,  when  they  saw  him 
about  to  expire,  to  pronounce  frequently  the  names  of  Jesus  and  Mary,  if  he 
did  not  do  so  himself;  they  did  not  neglect  this;  and  when  they  thought  him 
about  to  pass  away  one  cried  aloud, 'Jesus!  Mary!'  which  he  several  times 
repeated  distinctly,  and  then,  as  if  at  those  sacred  names  something  had 
appeared  to  him,  he  suddenly  raised  his  eyes  above  his  crucifix,  fixing  them 
apparently  upon  some  object,  which  he  seemed  to  regard  with  pleasure;  and 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAS.  353 

thus,  with  a  countenance  all  radiant  with  smiles,  he  expired  without  a  struggle, 
and  so  gently  that  it  might  be  called  a  quiet  sleep. 

"Thus  he  died,  the  great  apostle, 

Far  away  in  regions  west; 
By  the  lake  of  the  Algonquins 

Peacefully  his  ashes  rest; 
But  his  spirit  still  regards  us 

From  his  home  among  the  blest." 

Such  was  the  edifying  and  holy  death,  in  his  thirty-eighth  year,  of  the 
illustrious  explorer  of  the  Mississippi,  on  Saturday,  the  iSth  of  May,  1675. 
"  He  was  of  a  cheerful,  joyous  disposition,"  says  Dr.  Shea,  "  playful  even  in 
his  manner,  and  universally  beloved.  His  letters  show  him  to  us  as  a  man  of 
education,  close  observation,  sound  sense,  strict  integrity,  a  freedom  from 
exaggeration,  and  yet  a  vein  of  humor  which  here  and  there  breaks  out  in 
spite  of  all  his  self-command." 

The  devoted  companions  of  the  illustrious  missionary,  happy,  in  the 
midst  of  their  bereavement,  in  the  privilege  of  witnessing  one  of  the  most 
heroic  and  saintly  deaths  recorded  in  the  history  of  our  race,  carried  out  every 
injunction  of  their  departed  father,  and  added  every  act  that  love  and  venera- 
tion could  suggest,  and  that  their  impoverished  condition  in  the  wilderness 
could  afford.  They  laid  out  his  remains  as  he  had  directed,  rang  the  little 
altar  bell  as  they  carried  him  with  profound  respect  to  the  mound  of  earth 
selected  by  himself,  interred  him  there,  and  raised  a  large  cross  to  mark  the 
sacred  spot. 

The  surviving  companions  of  the  deceased  now  prepared  to  embark.  One 
of  them  had  been  ill  for  some  time,  suffering  with  such  depression  of  spirits 
and  feebleness  of  body  that  he  could  neither  eat  nor  sleep.  Just  before 
embarking  he  knelt  at  the  grave  of  his  saintly  friend,  and  begged  him  to 
intercede  for  him  in  heaven  as  he  had  promised,  and,  taking  some  earth  from 
the  breast  of  the  departed  and  placing  it  upon  his  own  breast,  it  is  related  that 
he  felt  his  sadness  and  bodily  infirmity  immediately  depart,  and  he  resumed 
his  voyage  in  health  and  gladness.  Many  are  the  pious  traditions  of  miracu- 
lous results  attributed  to  the  sanctity  of  Father  Marquette;  many  of  them  are 
still  handed  down  among  the  western  missionaries,  and  some  [of  them  have 
found  a  place  in  the  pages  of  serious  history. 

The  remains  of  the  saintly  Jesuit  were,  two  years  afterwards,  disinterred 
by  his  own  flock,  the  Kiskakons,  while  returning  from  their  hunting-grounds, 
placed  in  a  neat  box  of  bark  and  reverently  carried  to  their  mission.  The  flotilla 
of  canoes,  as  it  passed  along  in  funeral  solemnity,  was  joined  by  a  party  of  the 
Iroquois,  and,  as  they  approached  Mackinaw,  mdny  other  canoes',  including 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

those  of  the  two  missionaries  of  the  place,  united  in  the  imposing  convoy,  and 
the  deep,  reverential  chant,  De  Profundis,  arose  heavenward  from  the  bosom 
of  the  lake  until  the  body  reached  the  shore.  It  was  carried  in  procession 
with  cross,  burning  tapers,  and  fragrant  incense  to  the  church,  where  every 
possible  preparation  had  been  made  for  so  interesting  and  affecting  a  cere- 
mony; and,  after  the  Requiem  service,  the  precious  relics  were  deposited  in  a 
vault  prepared  for  them  in  the  middle  of  the  church,  "  where  he  reposes," 
says  the  pious  chronicler, "  as  the  guardian  angel  of  our  Ottawa  missions." 
"  Ever  after,"  says  Bancroft,  "  the  forest  rangers,  if  in  danger  on  Lake  Mich- 
igan, would  invoke  his  name.  The  people  of  the  west  will  build  his 
monument." 

We  close  this  account  of  the  great  explorer-missionary  with  some  extracts 
from  another  Protestant  source.  They  are  from  a  recent  address  by  Mr. 
Franklin  McVeagh,  a  resident  of  Chicago,  and  a  scholarly  and  eloquent  gen- 
tleman, who  says: 

Let  us  not  misconceive  the  spirit  and  lives  of  the  French  missionaries  in  North 
America  because  of  our  familiarity  with  present  missionary  ideas  and  conditions.  We 
can  hardly  say  too  much  in  praise  of  contemporary  missionaries;  but  conditions  have 
changed.  Marquette  and  his  compeers  traveled  on  snow-shoes  when  they  did  not  go 
barefoot ;  they  lived  on  moss  when  they  could  not  feast  upon  pounded  maize ;  they  lived 
in  bark  huts  when  fortunate  enough  to  sleep  indoors,  and  they  died  of  labor  and  expo- 
sure when  they  were  not  murdered  by  the  Indians.  Their  missions  therefore  existed 
without  great  revenues,  and  the  most  they  asked  of  their  friends  at  home  was  prayers 
for  the  souls  they  had  come  to  save. 

Nor  let  us  fail  to  conceive  the  phenomenal  nobleness  of  these  Frenchmen 
because  they  were  heroes  and  martyrs  in  the  name  of  a  church  that  may  not  be  ours 
and  which  expresses  itself  in  ways  that  we  may  not  prefer.  Whosesoever  church  it  is, 
and  whosesoever  it  is  not,  it  is  at  least  a  great  church  and  beyond  compare;  and  it  has 
in  its  history  splendid  epochs,  when  it  commanded  greater  self-sacrifice  and  higher 
endeavor  than  Christianity  has  otherwise  known  since  its  first  lofty  days.  One  such 
epoch,  raised  distinctly  above  the  level  of  the  centuries,  was  the  epoch  of  the  French 
Jesuits  in  North  America.  They  were  the  select  of  a  society  which  had  a  first  claim 
upon  the  most  fervent  souls.  The  records  of  humanity  will  be  sought  in  vain  for  the 
story  of  purer  lives,  of  more  steadfast  apostleship,  or  of  sterner  martyrdoms.  Jogues, 
Bressani,  Daniel,  Brebeuf,  Lallemant,  Gamier,  Marquette,  living  and  dying  illustrated 
he  loftiest  virtue  in  the  world.  No  praise  is  too  extravagant,  no  language  is  too  sa  red 
to  apply  to  them.  They  were  a  "glorious  company  of  apostles;"  they  were  a  "noble 
army  of  martyrs." 

When  Marquette  came  to  America  France  had  long  been  in  possession  of  Canada 
on  the  St. Lawrence  and  the  Lower  lakes;  and  the  time  was  at  hand  to  push  onward 
through  the  wilderness  to  the  Upper  lakes.  In  this  new  advance  Marquette  was  des- 
tined for  a  distinguished  part.  He  was  in  a  short  time  sent  into  this  frontier  field — the 
frontier  of  a  frontier.  There  he  spent  five  of  his  famous  seven'years.  He  learned  six 
Indian  languages,  he  journeyed  widely,  he  established  missions  and  founded  towns,  he 
taught  and  preached.  In  brief,  he  led  the  life  of  a  Jesuit  missionary  in  the  wilds  of 
early  America.  Can  we  mistake  the  life  he  led?  Five  years — five  years  in  the  wilds 
of  our  northern  lakes  two  hundred  years  ago — five  thousand  miles  from  home,  one 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DAKOTAH. 


355 


thousand  miles  of  wilderness  from  even  a  semblance  of  France.  Five  years  that  see-in 
to  us  so  short,  that  must  have  been  so  long.  Five  years  in  the  savage  north,  without 
one  day  of  home  or  France — without  one  hope  of  home  or  France.  Five  years  in 
which  this  cultured  mind  had  not  one  touch  with  culture,  in  which  this  loving  he^rt 
had  not  one  touch  of  love.  In  which  he  carried  his  life  in  his  hand  and  had  not  ne 
comfort  of  civilization  or  one  moment's  protection  of  law.  Five  years  in  which  per- 
ished every  dream  of  home  and  love.  Snow,  and  ice,  and  savages  for  five  winters. 
He  had  nothing  to  live  for  but  duty,  and  nothing  to  hope  for  but  death.  And  when  his 
magnificent  duty  was  done,  nothing  came  but  death.  Is  it  a  wonder  that  these  years, 
though  they  only  confirmed  his  purpose,  to  devote  every  breath,  every  shred  of  his  life 
to  his  mission,  brought  him  broken  health  a*)d  a  constitution  beyond  repair?  This 
young  man  did  absolutely  what  he  could,  and  five  ardent  years  consumed  his  strength. 
A  fatal  malady  took  hold  upon  him,  and  though  in  the  next  two  years  he  grew  better 
and  worse,  at  the  end  he  died. 

Did  he  spend  his  invalid  life  in  repose?  It  is  a  shame  to  ask  it.  These  two  ears 
are  the  years  especially  that  made  him  famous.  During  his  life  on  the  lakes,  in  the 
advance  of  the  French  movement  in  America,  he  conceived  and  faithfully  cherished 
the  design  of  discovering  the  Mississippi.  This  purpose  possessed  his  mind,  and  I  have 
sometimes  fancied  him  standing  upon  some  outlook  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  in 
the  full  expression  of  his  noble  spirit,  looking  into  the  west  and  feeding  his  lonely  soul 
with  visions  of  his  great  adventure.  Not,  however,  with  the  purpose  of  discovery  only 
was  his  mind  inflamed.  He  knew  the  political,  and  commercial,  and  scientific  impor- 
tance of  the  discovery,  and  he  valued  it  for  the  sake  of  France.  But  he  longed  also  to 
carry  the  Gospel  to  the  far-away  tribes  on  the  banks  of  that  unknown  river,  and  to 
establish  a  mission  among  them.  It  is  this  double  purpose,  and  this  double  devotion 
that  distinguished  Marquette  from  other  great  discoverers  and  from  other  great  priests. 

After  describing  in  graphic  language  the  memorable  exploration  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  Mr.  McVeagh  proceeds: 

It  was  no  holiday  excursion  to  him.  He  knew  the  hazard.  He  said  he  "gladly 
exposed  his  life,"  and  Marquette  never  boasted.  And  he  did  expose  his  life  for  days 
and  nights  continually  until  months  rolled  away.  Contemplate  the  little  band  of  seven 
exploring  twenty-seven  hundred  miles  through  a  region  of  savages  where  the  face  of  a 
civilized  man  had  never  been  seen  before.  Danger  on  every  side  of  them.  No  refuge 
anywhere  outside  of  their  steady  courage.  Among  a  people  trained  to  treachery  and 
with  whom  pity  has  no  prompter  when  policy  is  silent.  A  race  among  whom  the 
murder  of  a  stranger  was  not  a  crime;  among  whom  hospitality  does  not  include  the 
idea  of  protection;  whose  only  lenity  proceeds  from  fear  or  indifference.  Such  savages 
Marquette  found  before  him,  behind  him,  and  about  him  when  he  went  to  find  the  great 
river  and  to  carry  salvation  to  lost  nations  on  its  borders. 

Marquette's  health  was  now  completely  shattered.  He  did  not  repine.  He  was 
content.  He  had  done  his  duty.  He  had  served  God  and  his  country.  He  had,  he 
believed,  saved  souls,  and  had  done  a  great  service  to  the  future.  To  his  simple  soul 
that  was  enough  and  more  than  enough.  Nor  did  he  go  or  seek  to  go  to  Quebec, 
where  praise  and  reputation  awaited  him.  He  did  not  attempt  to  place  his  great  service 
before  the  government.  He  stayed  at  Mackinac.  Nor  did  he  ever  go  to  Quebec  or 
France.  He  had  no  time  to  protect  his  fame.  His  remaining  days  were  too  short  and 
precious  to  be  given  to  personal  glory.  He  purposed  to  die  in  the  wilderness  doing  his 
duty.  Would  not  a  familiar  knowledge  of  such  a  man  be  of  untold  value  to  the  men 
and  the  youth  of  this  city? 

Nursing  his  health  for  the  completion  of  his  long  cherished  design,  he  persuaded 
himself,  after  a  year  of  further  labor  at  Mackinac,  that  he  was  equal  to  the  one  task 


356  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

which  especially  remained.  This  was  to  establish  to  the  honor  of  the  Virgin  and  the 
salvation  of  souls  a  mission  on  the  banks  of  the  Illinois.  This,  his  cherished  design, 
he  hoped  to  complete,  knowing  it  was  to  be  the  last  service  of  his  life — the  crowning 
sacrifice  of  those  two  last  years  that  have  brought  him  lasting  fame. 

He  journeyed  hundreds  of  miles  in  the  face  of  winter  into  the  lonely  and  savage 
wilderness.  In  November  or  December,  with  his  two  attendants,  he  reached  the 
Chicago  River.  Here  his  health  again  gave  way,  and  so  weak  and  ill  had  he  become 
that,  though  so  near  the  tribes  he  came  to  save,  he  could  go  no  further.  For  four 
months  he  lived  upon  the  desolate  banks  of  our  river  in  mid-winter.  His  faithful 
attendants  built  a  hut  in  which  he  lived.  Thus  Marquette  became  again  identified  with 
Chicago — this  time  as  the  first  civilized  resident  upon  its  site,  and  this  constitutes  the 
greatest  honor  of  which  this  city  can  boast. 

Lying  or  weakly  sitting  in  his  lonely  hut  on  the  banks  of  our  river,  the  whole 
desolate  region  covered  with  snow  and  ice,  with  savage  desolation  and  wilderness  all 
about  him,  himself  chilled  with  the  cruel  winter  winds  of  our  prairie  and  lake,  his 
health  long  since  gone,  and  his  strength  now  gone,  too,  and  death  standing  daily  at  his 
lonely  side,  the  great,  gentle  spirit  of  Marquette  never  revealed  itself  more  superbly. 
No  matter  his  misfortunes,  he  permitted  no  thought  but  of  his  duty;  no  matter  his 
helplessness,  he  contemplated  no  refuge  but  the  banks  of  the  Illinois.  He  spent  days 
and  nights  in  religious  devotions,  and  at  last  spent  nine  days  in  fasting  and  sacrifice 
that  the  Blessed  Virgin  might  still  permit  him  to  carry  at  least  one  word  of  the  Gospel 
to  the  Indians  of  the  Illinois.  And  he  believed  the  Virgin  granted  his  prayer. 

Such  a  life  upon  the  site  of  this  city — the  first  civilized  life  in  its  history — should 
have  baptized  it  into  the  best  faith  of  humanity. 

About  the  end  of  March — the  year  was  1675 — he  felt  himself  revive  at  last,  and, 
having  faith  that  strength  would  be  vouchsafed  until  he  reached  his  goal,  he  journeyed 
to  Kaskaskia— an  Indian  town  he  named  himself,  and  which  was  near  where  Ottawa,  or 
rather  Utica,  now  is.  Knowing  his  time  was  short  he  preached  and  taught  as  best  he 
could,  and  lost  no  time.  He  knew  he  should  not  preach  again.  When  he  had  taught 
and  preached  his  last  and  knew  his  end  was  near,  with  his  faithful  men  he  took  the 
way  to  Mackinac.  They  reached  our  lake  and  started  in  their  rude  canoes  around  its 
bend  and  up  its  eastern  shore.  They  journeyed  on,  a  speck  of  civilization  in  that  wide 
expanse  of  savage  lake  and  land,  and  as  they  paddled  their  canoes  one  afternoon  in 
that  lonely  springtime  the  good  Marquette,  who  calmly  felt  he  now  must  die,  asked 
his  men  to  take  him  to  the  shore  just  where  a  little  river,  since  fondly  named  for  him, 
ran  down  into  the  lake.  They  took  him  to  the  shore  and  built  a  birch-bark  hut  in 
which  he  might  lie  down  and  rest.  He  told  them,  though,  that  he  should  die,  and 
asked  that  they  would  make  his  grave  when  he  was  dead  near  where  he  lay.  He 
thanked  them  for  their  constant  kindness,  regretted  to  them  that  he  had  been  such 
trouble,  then  said  good-night  and  bade  them  go  and  sleep,  saying  that  he  would  call 
them  when  he  came  to  die.  In  the  middle  hours  of  that  same  night  a  quiet,  feeble 
voice  awaked  the  sleepers.  He  said  his  hour  had  come  at  last.  He  then  thanked  God 
that  He  permitted  him  to  die  a  missionary  in  the  wilderness;  then  asked  his  men  to 
hold  for  him  a  crucifix,  on  which  he  gazed  until  he  died.  Even  Mackinac — even  that 
much  of  home  and  love — he  dia  not  reach.  And  so  lived  and  died  Father  Marquette. 
Was  he  not  both  a  hero  and  martyr? 

And  now  I  am  done.  Bancroft  has  said :  "  The  West  will  build  his  monument."  I 
trust  it  may.  Noble,  gentle,  loving,  brave  Marquette!  Honors  paid  to  him  would 
have  the  peculiar  grace  of  honors  unsought  and  uncontemplated.  He  did  not  seek  to 
fill  a  great  place  among  his  contemporaries,  and  he  died  without  one  thought  of 
posterity  or  fame. 


Oftaptw 


CAREER  OF  DE  fcA 


WORTHY  Sciox  OF  AN  OLD  FAMILY.  — OFF  TO  SEEK  FORTUNE.  —  A  SHORT  ROUTF 
TO  CHIXA. — FOUNDING  A  SETTLEMENT. — COMMANDING  A  FORT. — EXNOBLKII  i:v 
His  KING. — NEW  HONORS  AND  COMMANDS. — A  CHAPEL  FOR  FATHER  HEN- 
NEPIN. — THE  LORD  OF  CASTLE  FRONTENAC. — DISCOVERY  OF  NIAGARA  FALLS. 
— PREPARING  FOR  A  GREAT  JOURNEY. — COUNCIL  OF  INDIAN  CHIEFS. — VOYAGE 
OF  THE  GRIFFIN. — MASS  AT  MACKINAW. — DOWN  THROUGH  ILLINOIS. —  FORT 
BROKEN-HEART.  -HUNGER  IN  THE  WOODS. — Loss  OF  THE  GRIFFIN. — INDOMIT- 
ABLE LEADERSHIP.  —  DESERTERS  AND  DISASTERS.  —  A  TERRIBLE  FOREST 
JOURNEY. — TROUBLES  FROM  THE  IROQUOIS. — COUNCIL  OF  MIAMI  CHIEFS. — "ON 
TO  THE  MISSISSIPPI!" — REACHING  THE  MEXICAN  GULF. — TAKING  POSSESSION 
FOR  FRANCE. — RETURN  OF  THE  EXPLORER. — LOST  IN  THE  SOUTH.— A  DESPER- 
ATE JOURNEY.  —  DISCONTENT  AND  REVOLT.  —  MURDER  OF  THE  EXPLORER. — A 
GREAT  CHARACTER. 

r 

CARCELY  had  the  last  words  of  the  glorious  Marquette— 
"Mother  of  God,  remember  me" — died  away  on  the  winds  of 
Michigan,  when  a  bold  and  devoted  spirit,  fired  by  the  fame  of 
previous  explorations,  was  meditating  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Ontario  the  prosecution  of  the  grand  work  begun  by  the  illustrious 
missionary.  A  Jesuit  father  had  led  the  way.  A  Catholic  noble- 
man now  advanced  to  complete  the  work. 

Robert  Cavelier  de  la  Salle  was  born  in  the  city  of  Rouen,  France,  in 
1643.  He  belonged  to  an  old  and  wealthy  family.  It  is  said  that  in  early 
youth  he  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus,  in  which  he  remained  for  several  years 
studying  and  teaching.  Providence,  however,  destined  him  for  a  somewhat 
different  sphere  of  labor  and  usefulness,  but  one  having  a  close  relationship 
with  the  vast  work  of  the  church  among  mankind. 

La  Salle  had  a  great  fondness  for  the  exact  sciences,  especially  mathe- 
matics, in  which  he  was  remarkably  proficient;  and  he  left  the  seminary  of 

357 


358  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  Jesuit  fathers  carrying  with  him  the  highest  testimonials  of  his  superiors,  for 
purity  of  character,  excellent  acquirements,  and  an  energy  seldom  matched.  On 
account,  however,  of  having  been  connected  with  the  religious  state,  he  was  by 
a  new  and  unjust  provision  of  the  French  law,  deprived  of  nearly  all  his  fortune. 

He  had  an  elder  brother  in  Canada,  the  Abbe"  John  Cavelier,  a  priest  of 
St.  Sulpice.  Apparently  it  was  this  that  shaped  his  destinies.  His  family 
made  him  an  allowance  of  four  hundred  livres  a  year,  the  capital  of  which  was 
paid  over  to  him;  and  with  this  pittance  in  his  pocket,  he  sailed  for  Canada 
to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  spring  of  1666. 

La  Salle  obtained  from  the  Sulpitians  the  grant  of  a  large  tract  of  land, 
about  nine  miles  from  Montreal.  Here  he  began  a  village  which  he  called 
La  Chine,  and  which  to  this  day  retains  the  suggestive  name.  He  also 
explored  a  little,  and  began  the  study  of  the  Indian  languages.  It  is  said  that 
in  two  or  three  years  he  became  quite  familiar  with  the  Huron,  Algonquin, 
and  five  or  six  other  native  dialects. 

At  that  time  the  whole  of  the  great  Northwest  of  the  United  States  was 
an  entirely  unknown  land.  No  one  had  the  slightest  idea  as  to  whether  the 
continent  of  North  America  was  2,000  or  10,000  miles  in  breadth.  It  was  the 
general  impression,  however,  that  the  waves  of  the  Pacific  were  dashing 
against  the  rocks  a  few  miles  west  of  the  chain  of  Great  Lakes  which  washed 
the  southern  shores  of  Canada.  La  Salle  was  meditating  an  expedition  up 
the  St.  Lawrence,  through  those  sparkling  seas  of  fresh  water  to  Lake  Supe- 
rior, from  the  western  end  of  which  he  confidently  expected  to  find  easy  com- 
munication with  the  Pacific  Ocean.  There  he  would  again  spread  his  advent- 
urous sail,  having  discovered  a  new  route  to  China  and  the  East  Indies. 

There  was  grandeur  in  this  conception.  It  would  entirely  change  the 
route  of  the  world's  commerce.  It  would  make  the  French  possessions  in 
the  New  World  valuable  beyond  conception.  This  all  important  thorough- 
fare between  Europe  and  Asia,  across  A  merica,  would  be  under  the  control 
of  the  French  crown,  and  France  would  be  the  leader  of  commerce.  So 
thought  the  patriotic  and  enterprising  genius  of  La  Salle. 

In  the  winter  of  1670,  La  Salle  organized  an  expedition  which  included 
some  Sulpitian  priests,  and  proceeded  towards  the  southwest.  La  Chine  was 
the  starting-point.  The  accounts  of  this  voyage  are  rather  vague.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  he  discovered  the  Ohio,  down  which  he  sailed  as  far 
as  the  present  site  of  Louisville.  Here  his  men  refused  to  go  further,  left 
him,  and  the  youthful  explorer  returned  alone  to  Canada, 


CAREER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE.  359 

We  next  find  him  commander  of  the  newly  established  Fort  Frontenac 
— now  Kingston.  He  held  this  position  when  the  tidings  of  Marquette's 
discovery  of  the  Mississippi  first  reached  his  ears.  It  was  a  welcome  idea. 
It  suggested  new  trains  of  thought.  The  quick,  penetrating  intellect  of  La 
Salle  at  once  identified  "  the  great  river  of  Marquette  with  the  great  river  of 
De  Soto."  It  was,  in  truth,  a  fresh  impulse  to  his  vast  schemes  of  explor- 
ation. 

Three  thoughts,  rapidly  developing  in  his  mind,  were  mastering  La 
Salle,  and  engendering  an  invincible  purpose:  (i.)  He  would  achieve  that 
which  Champlain  had  vainly  attempted,  and  of  which  our  own  generation 
has  but  seen  the  accomplishment — the  opening  of  a  passage  to  India  and 
China  across  the  American  Continent.  (2.)  He  would  occupy  the  Great 
West,  develop  its  commercial  resources,  and  anticipate  the  Spanish  and 
English  in  the  possession  of  it.  (3.)  He  would  establish  a  fortified  post  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  thus  securing  an  outlet  for  the  trade  of  the 
interior,  checking  the  progress  of  the  Spaniards,  and  forming  a  base  whence 
in  time  of  war  their  northern  provinces  could  be  invaded  and  conquered. 
Such  were  the  great  projects  conceived  and  nursed  in  the  fertile  brain  of 
this  heroic  but  penniless  young  Frenchman! 

In  the  autumn  of  1674,  La  Salle  went  to  France  with  strong  letters  of 
recommendation  from  the  Count  de  Frontenac,  governor  of  Canada.  Writ- 
ing to  the  minister  Colbert,  Frontenac  says:  "I  cannot  help,  Monseigneur, 
recommending  to'you  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  is  about  to  go  to  France,  and 
who  is  a  man  of  intelligence  and  ability — more  capable  than  any  one  else  I 
know  here  to  accomplish  every  kind  of  enterprise  and  discovery  which  may 
be  intrusted  to  him.  He  has  the  most  perfect  knowledge  of  the  state  of  the 
country,  as  you  will  see,  if  you  are  disposed  to  give  him  a  few  moments  of 
an  audience." 

He  was  well  received  at  court,  and  made  two  petitions  to  the  king — 
one  for  a  patent  of  nobility,  in  consideration  of  his  services  as  an  explorer; 
the  other  for  a  grant  in  seigniory  of  Fort  Frontenac.  On  his  part,  La  Salle 
offered  to  pay  back  the  10,000  francs  which  the  fort  had  cost  the  government; 
to  maintain  it  at  his  own  charge,  with  a  garrison  equal  to  that  of  Montreal, 
besides  fifteen  or  twenty  laborers;  to  form  a  French  colony  around  it;  to 
build  a  Catholic  church  whenever  the  number  of  inhabitants  should  reach 
one  hundred;  and,  meanwhile,  to  support  one  or  more  Franciscan  fathers; 
and,  finally,  to  form  a  settlement  of  domesticated  Indians  in  the  neighborhood. 


36o  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

His  offers  were  accepted.  He  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  an  imtitled  noble, 
received  a  grant  of  the  fort  and  lands  adjacent  to  the  extent  of  four  leagues 
in  front  and  a  half  a  league  in  depth,  besides  the  neighboring  islands;  and  he 
was  invested  with  the  government  of  the  fort  and  settlement,  subject,  how- 
ever, to  the  orders  of  the  governor-general. 

When  La  Salle  gained  possession  of  Fort  Frontenac,  writes  Parkman, 
he  secured  a  base  for  all  his  future  enterprises.  That  he  meant  to  make  it  a 
permanent  one,  is  clear  from  the  pains  he  took  to  strengthen  its  defenses. 
Within  two  years  from  the  date  of  his  grant  he  had  replaced  the  hasty  pali- 
sade fort  of  Count  Frontenac  by  a  regular  work  of  hewn  stone,  of  which, 
however,  only  two  bastions,  with  their  connecting  curtains,  were  completed, 
the  inclosure  on  the  water-side  being  formed  of  pickets. 

Within  there  was  a  barrack,  a  well,  a  mill,  and  a  bakery;  while  a  wooden 
block-house  guarded  the  gateway.  Near  the  shore,  south  of  the  fort,  was  a 
cluster  of  small  houses  of  French  habitans;  and  farther,  in  the  same  direction, 
was  the  Indian  village.  Two  officers  and  a  surgeon,  with  a  half  a  score  or 
more  of  soldiers,  made  up  the  garrison;  and  three  or  four  times  that  number 
of  masons,  laborers,  and  canoemen,  were  at  one  time  maintained  at  the  fort. 
Besides  these,  there  were  two  Franciscan  fathers,  Luke  Buisset  and  Louis 
Hennepin.  La  Salle  built  a  house  for  them  near  the  fort,  and  they  turned  a 
part  of  it  into  a  chapel. 

Partly  for  trading  on  the  lake,  partly  with  a  view  to  ulterior  designs,  he 
caused  four  small-decked  vessels  to  be  built,  but,  for  ordinary  uses,  canoes 
best  served  his  purpose,  and  his  followers  became  so  skillful  in  managing 
them,  that  they  were  reputed  the  best  canoemen  in  America.  Feudal  lord  of 
the  forest  around  him,  commander  of  a  garrison  raised  and  paid  by  himself, 
founder  of  the  mission,  patron  of  the  Church,  La  Salle  reigned  the  autocrat 
of  his  lonely  little  empire. 

But  he  had  no  thought  of  resting  here.  He  had  gained  what  he  sought, 
a  fulcrum  for  bolder  and  broader  action.  His  plans  were  ripened  and  his 
time  was  come.  He  was  no  longer  a  needy  adventurer,  disinherited  of  all 
but  his  fertile  brain  and  his  intrepid  heart.  He  had  won  place,  influence, 
credit,  and  potent  friends.  Now,  at  length,  he  might  hope  to  find  the  long- 
sought  path  to  China  and  Japan,  and  secure  for  France  those  boundless 
regions  of  the  west,  in  whose  watery  highways  he  saw  his  road  to  wealth, 
renown,  and  power. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year    1677,  La  Salle  returned  to  France  to 


CAREER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE.  36 1 

report  the  progress  of  his  undertakings,  and  to  raise  fresh  supplies.  At  the 
court  his  reception  was  most  cordial.  The  king  gave  him  new  honors  and 
more  extended  privileges.  His  wealthy  relatives  advanced  large  sums  of 
money.  He  bought  supplies  and  engaged  men.  Among  these  was  one 
worth  all  the  rest — Henry  de  Tonti,  an  Italian  officer,  who  was  strongly 
recommended  to  La  Salle  by  the  Prince  de  Conde".  He  was  a  man  whose 
energy  and  address  made  him  equal  to  anything. 

La  Salle  sailed  from  La  Rochelle,  and  in  the  fall  of  1678  landed  at 
Quebec.  Here  a  number  of  Canadian  boatmen  joined  his  party.  lie  sent 
them  forward  to  Fort  Frontenac,  which  was  now  really  his  castle,  with  the 
surrounding  wilderness  as  his  estate.  The  boats  were  heavily  laden  with  all 
articles  necessary  for  trading  with  the  Indians,  and  with  everything  essential 
to  the  building  and  rigging  of  vessels. 

The  commander  himself  soon  followed.  He  proceeded  in  a  birch-bark 
canoe,  with  only  one  or  two  companions.  It  was  a  long  and  perilous  voyage. 
The  hardy  pioneers  patiently  stemmed  the  swift  currents  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
struggled  against  its  rapids,  glided  silently  along  its  lonely  forest-fringed 
shores,  and  several  times  came  very  near  being  wrecked. 

At  the  close  of  each  day,  it  was  always  necessary  to  run  the  canoes 
ashore  and  encamp.  But  with  men  fond  of  adventure  these  were  pleasures 
rather  than  pains.  In  half  an  hour  their  keen  axes  constructed  a  sheltering 
camp.  The  brilliant  fire  dispelled  all  gloom.  The  fragrant  twigs  of  the  pine 
or  hemlock  furnished  a  soft  couch.  Here  they  cooked  supper,  sang  songs, 
told  stories;  and,  perhaps,  enjoyed  as  much  pleasure  as  is  usually  found  in  the 
parlors  of  the  great  and  the  wealthy. 

Indian  villages,  in  those  days,  were  quite  profusely  scattered  along  the 
banks  of  this  majestic  river.  The  scene  was  often  quite  exciting  as  the  canoe 
of  the  voyagers  approached  one  of  these  clusters  of  picturesque  wigwams  in 
the  evening  twilight.  The  Indians  were  fond  of  songs  and  dances,  and  the 
blaze  of  the  crackling  bonfire.  The  whole  expanse  of  river,  cliff,  and  forest 
would  be  lighted  up.  The  gay  shouts  of  the  barbaric  revelry  echoed  through 
the  grand  solitudes ;  and  the  dusky  warrior,  squaw,  and  papoose  flitted  about 
in  all  the  varied  enjoyment  of  savage  life  and  leisure. 

Fort  Frontenac  was  reached  in  safety.  On  the  iSth  of  November, 
La  Salle  sent  a  small  vessel  of  ten  tons,  with  a  deck,  to  go  to  the  farther 
extremity  of  Lake  Ontario,  a  distance  of  about  two  hundred  miles,  and  to 
ascend  the  Niagara  River  until  the  famous  falls  were  reached.  This  little  craft 


362  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

contained  about  thirty  workmen,  with  provisions  and  implements  for  erecting 
a  fort,  and  building  a  vessel  beyond  the  falls,  at  the  eastern  end  of  Lake  Erie. 

About  ten  years  previously — in  1669 — La  Salle,  while  on  an  exploring 
tour  with  a  party  of  missionaries,  had  discovered  Niagara  Falls.  Galine"e,  in 
his  journal  of  this  expedition  writes:  "We  found  a  river  one-eighth  of  a 
league  broad  and  extremely  rapid,  forming  the  outlet  from  Lake  Erie  to 
Lake  Ontario.  The  depth  is  extraordinary.  We  found  close  to  the  shore 
fifteen  or  sixteen  fathoms  of  water.  This  outlet  is  forty  miles  long.  It  has, 
from  ten  to  twelve  miles  above  its  entrance  into  Lake  Ontario,  one  of  the 
finest  cataracts  in  the  world.  All  the  Indians  say  that  the  river  falls  from  a 
rock  higher  than  the  tallest  pines.  We  heard  the  roar  at  the  distance  of  ten 
or  twelve  miles.  The  fall  gives  such  a  momentum  to  the  water  that  its  cur- 
rent prevented  our  ascending,  except  with  great  difficulty.  The  current 
above  the  falls  is  so  rapid  that  it  often  sucks  in  deer  and  stags,  elk  and  roe- 
buck, in  their  efforts  to  cross  the  river,  and  overwhelms  them  in  its  frightful 
abyss." 

This  is  the  earliest  known  description  of  Niagara  Falls,  and  it  is  but  right 
to  add  that  it  is  from  the  pen  of  a  Catholic  missionary. 

La  Salle  joined  his  companions  ac  the  head  of  the  Niagara  River  on  the 
borders  of  Lake  Erie.  It  was  then  the  29th  of  January,  1679.  The  river 
above  the  falls  was  one  sheet  of  ice,  and  resembled  a  plain  paved  with  finely- 
polished  marble.  The  Indians  received  the  Frenchmen  with  much  friendliness. 

All  the  goods  were  to  be  transported  through  a  trail  of  the  forest,  cov- 
ered with  deep  snow,  around  the  falls,  a  distance  of  about  twenty  miles.  It 
was  to  be  done  on  the  shoulders  of  men.  The  savages  kindly  aided  in  these 
herculean  labors,  and  were  amply  repaid  for  days  of  toil  by  the  present  of  a 
knife,  a  hatchet,  or  a  few  trinkets,  as  dear  and  valuable  to  them  as  are 
pearls  and  diamonds  to  a  vain  duchess.  La  Salle  constructed  a  fortified  depot 
at  this  place  to  serve  as  a  base  for  future  operations.  Here  he  could  store 
such  additional  supplies  as  he  might  order  from  Fort  Frontenac. 

On  the  2Oth  of  January,  1679,  La  Salle,  accompanied  by  his  long  train 
of  heavily  laden  men,  in  single  file,  reached  his  large  log-cabin  and  ship-yard 
in  the  midst  of  a  dense  forest  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie.  They  carried 
upon  their  backs  provisions,  merchandise,  ammunition,  and  materials  for  rig- 
ging the  vessel.  The  dock-yard — it  could  hardly  be  called  a  fort — was  about 
six  miles  above  Niagara  Falls,  on  the  western  side  of  the  river,  at  the  outlet 
of  a  little  stream  now  called  Cayuga  Creek. 


CAREER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE.  363 

Everything  was  soon  prepared  for  the  building  of  the  vessel.  La  Salle 
laid  the  keel  with  his  own  hands,  and  drove  the  first  bolt.  He  had  no 
thought,  however  of  encroaching  upon  the  lands  of  the  Indians.  His  was  to 
be  no  warlike  conquest.  The  object  of  his  expedition  was  solely  to  make 
discoveries  in  the  name  of  France.  His  grand  ambition  was  to  see  the  ban- 
ner of  France  proudly  float  over  the  great  lakes  and  the  rich  and  boundless 
West. 

With  a  sagacity  quite  characteristic,  he  summoned  a  council  of  the  chiefs 
of  all  the  neighboring  tribes. 

"  I  come  to  you,"  he  said,  "as  a  friend  and  brother.  I  wish  to  buy  your 
furs.  I  will  pay  for  them  in  guns  and  powder,  knives,  hatchets,  kettles, 
beads,  and  such  other  articles  as  you  want.  You  can  do  me  good  and  I  can 
do  you  good.  We  can  be  brothers.  I  am  building  a  vessel,  that  I  may  visit 
other  tribes,  buy  their  furs,  and  carry  our  goods  to  them.  Let  us  shake 
hands  and  smoke  the  pipe  of  friendship.  The  Great  Spirit  will  be  pleased 
to  see  us,  His  children,  help  each  other  and  love  each  other.  I  wish  to  estab- 
lish a  trading-post  here,  where  I  can  collect  my  furs,  and  where  you  can 
come  to  sell  them.  And  here  you  will  find  mechanics  who  will  mend  your 
guns,  knives,  and  kettles  when  they  get  out  of  order." 

These  were  honest  and  convincing  words.  All  smoked  the  pipe  of 
peace  and  grasped  hands  in  token  of  fraternity.  The  Frenchman,  far  from 
being  an  enemy,  was  a  benefactor.  His  life  was  to  be  carefully  protected. 
Should  he,  from  unkind  treatment,  refuse  to  come  to  their  country,  they 
could  buy  no  more  guns,  or  knives,  or  kettles;  and  henceforth  every  wigwam 
welcomed  the  entrance  of  a  Frenchman. 

During  the  construction  of  the  new  vessel  La  Salle  was  absent  attending 
to 'other  matters  of  importance,  and  the  work  progressed  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  his  lieutenant,  Tonti.  In  the  spring  she  was  ready  for  launching. 
Father  Hennepin  gave  her  his  blessing;  the  cannons  were  fired,  and  amid  the 
wild  shouts  of  Indians,  and  the  solemn  chant  of  the  Te  Deum,  she  glided 
safely  into  the  Niagara  River.  La  Salle  named  her  the  Griffin,  in  honor  of 
the  Count  de  Frontenac's  armorial  bearings. 

On  the  yth  of  August,  1679,  t*16  voyagers,  thirty-four  in  all,  embarked, 
and  with  swelling  canvas  the  Griffin  ploughed  the  virgin  waves  of  Lake 
Erie,  where  sail  was  never  seen  before.  For  three  days  they  held  their 
course  over  these  unknown  waters,  and  on  the  fourth  turned  northward  into 
the  Strait  of  Detroit.  Here,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  lay  verdant 


364  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

prairies,  dotted  with  groves,  and  bordered  with  lofty  forests.  They  saw 
walnut,  chestnut,  and  wild-plum  trees,  and  oak  festooned  with  grape  vines; 
herds  of  deer,  and  flocks  of  swans  and  wild  turkeys.  The  bulwarks  of  the 
Griffin  were  plentifully  hung  with  game  which  the  men  killed  on  shore,  and 
among  the  rest  with  a  number  of  bears,  much  commended  by  Father  Henne- 
pin  for  their  want  of  ferocity  and  the  excellence  of  their  flesh.  "  Those," 
he  says,  "  who  will  one  day  have  the  happiness  to  possess  this  fertile  and 
pleasant  strait,  will  be  very  much  obliged  to  those  who  have  shown  them  the 
way."  They  crossed  Lake  St.  Clair,  and  still  sailed  northward  against  the 
current,  till  now,  sparkling  in  the  sun,  Lake  Huron  spread  before  them 
like  a  sea. 

After  bravely  weathering  a  violent  hurricane  of  several  days'  duration, 
the  Griffin  reached  Mackinaw.  On  La  Salle's  arrival  at  t'uis  old  mission 
center,  the  Indians  were  about  to  run  away  in  fright.  The  cause  of  it  all 
was  the  vessel  and  her  white,  flapping  sails;  but  when  they  heard  the  roar  of 
the  cannon,  their  terror  and  astonishment  were  indescribable. 

The  party  now  landed  in  state,  and  marched  under  arms,  to  the  bark 
chapel  of  the  Ottawa  village,  where  Mass  was  celebrated.  La  Salle  knelt 
before  the  altar,  dressed  in  a  mantle  of  scarlet,  bordered  with  gold.  Around 
him  on  every  side  were  kneeling  sailors,  artisans,  hardy  bush-rangers,  and 
painted  savages.  It  was  a  devout  but  motley  congregation. 

The  Griffin  proceeded  on  her  voyage,  and  on  the  2d  of  September  cast 
anchor  in  Green  Bay.  This  was  the  destination  of  the  travelers,  so  far  as 
they  could  proceed  by  water  and  make  use  of  their  vessel.  La  Salle  had 
come  to  this  trading-post  to  collect  the  furs,  which  had  been  brought  here 
from  the  interior,  and  having  laden  the  Griffin  with  them,  in  order  to  satisfy 
his  clamoring  creditors,  he  dispatched  her  for  Niagara,  with  the  "  richest 
cargo  that  had  yet  been  borne  on  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie." 

La  Salle  and  his  men  now  directed  their  course  towards  the  south.  On 
reaching  Lake  Peoria,  on  the  Illinois  River,  he  began  the  construction  of  a 
fort  to  which  he  gave  the  sad  name  of  Cre"vecoeur,  or  the  "  Broken-hearted." 
This  was  the  first  civilized  occupation  of  the  region  which  now  forms  the  State 
of  Illinois.  The  spot  may  still  be  seen  a  little  below  Peoria.  CreVecoaur  tells 
of  disaster  and  suffering,  but  does  no  justice  to  the  iron-hearted  constancy  of 
the  sufferer.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  clung  to  the  hope  that  his  vessel,  the 
Griffin,  might  still  be  safe.  Her  safety  was  vital  to  his  enterprise.  She  had 
on  board  articles  of  the  last  necessity  to  him,  including  the  rigging  and 


CAREER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE.  365 

anchors  of  another  vessel,  which  he  was  to  build  at  Fort  Crdvcccour,  in  order 
to  descend  the  Mississippi,  and  sail  thence  to  the  West  Indies.  Here  his  last 
hope  had  vanished.  She  was  doubtless  lost;  and  in  her  loss  he  and  all  his 
plans  seemed  ruined  alike. 

La  Salle's  supplies  were  now  exhausted.  He  depended  on  the  return  of 
his  vessel  for  more.  One  path,  beset  with  hardships  and  terrors,  still  lay 
open  to  him.  He  might  return  on  foot  to  Fort  Frontenac,  through  over 
twelve  hundred  miles  of  a  wilderness,  and  bring  thence  the  needful  succors. 
Leaving  Tonti  to  command  in  his  absence,  he  set  out,  accompanied  by  four 
Frenchmen  and  a  Mohegan  Indian. 

It  was  early  in  March,  1680.  The  journey  was  really  terrifying.  Sixty- 
five  days  of  toil  and  misery  passed  before  they  reached  Niagara  Falls.  All 
but  La  Salle  were  overcome  with  disease  and  exhaustion.  The  following  is 
a  glimpse  of  some  of  the  ordeals  through  which  they  passed.  It  is  from  the 
pen  of  La  Salle,  himself: 

"  At  noon  on  the  25th,"  he  writes,  "  we  resumed  our  walk  through  the 
woods,  which  were  so  matted  with  thorns  and  brambles  that  in  two  and  a 
half  days  our  clothes  were  torn  to  tatters,  and  our  faces  so  scratched  that  we 
hardly  knew  each  other.  On  the  28th  the  woods  were  more  open  and  we 
began  to  fare  better,  meeting  a  good  quantity  of  game,  such  as  deer,  bears, 
and  turkeys,  which  we  had  not  found  before,  so  that  we  had  often  traveled 
from  morning  till  night  without  breakfast." 

The  indomitable  travelers  were  now  crossing  the  southern  part  of  Mich- 
igan. Indians  were  following  them,  and,  to  throw  the  savages  off  the  track, 
they  set  fire  to  the  dry  grass  of  the  meadows  through  which  they  passed,  to 
wipe  out  any  marks  of  their  trail. 

"  We  did  this,"  continued  La  Salle,  "  every  night.  It  answered  very 
well  so  long  as  we  found  open  fields;  but  on  the  3oth  we  got  into  great 
marshes  flooded  by  the  thaws,  and  were  forced  to  wade  through  them  in  mud 
and  water,  so  that  our  tracks  were  seen  by  a  band  of  Maskoutins  who  were 
out  after  Iroquois.  They  followed  us  through  the  marshes  during  the  three 
days  we  were  crossing  them,  but  we  made  no  fire  at  night,  merely  taking  off 
our  soaked  clothes,  and  wrapping  ourselves  in  our  blankets  on  some  dry  knoll 
where  we  slept. 

"But  as  there  was  an  uncommonly  sharp  frost  on  the  night  of  the  2d  of 
April,  and  as  our  clothes,  which  were  completely  saturated,  were  stiff  as 
sticks  in  the  morning,  we  could  not  put  them  on  without  making  a  fire  to 


366  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

thaw  them.  This  betrayed  us  to  the  Indians,  who  were  encamped  across  the 
marsh.  They  ran  towards  us  with  loud  cries,  but  were  stopped  half-way  by 
a  water  course  which  they  could  not  get  over,  as  the  ice  was  not  strong 
enough. 

"  We  went  towards  them  within  gunshot,  and,  whether  our  fire-arms 
frightened  them,  or  whether  shey  thought  there  were  more  of  us  than  there 
really  were,  or  whether,  in  fact,  they  meant  us  no  harm,  they  called  out  in 
the  Illinois  language  that  they  had  taken  us  for  Iroquois,  but  now  saw  that 
we  were  brothers,  whereupon  they  went  off  as  they  came,  and  we  kept  on 
our  way  till  the  4th,  when  two  of  my  men  fell  sick  and  could  not  travel." 

This  is  but  one  of  a  hundred  examples  that  might  be  cited — examples 
which  show  the  daring  energy  and  heroic  nature  of  La  Salle.  But  his  mettle 
was  tried  to  the  utmost.  In  about  seventy  days  he  reached  Fort  Frontenac 
and  the  most  distressing  intelligence  filled  his  ears  from  every  side. 

The  loss  of  the  Griffin  was  confirmed.  The  news  of  disaster  after  dis- 
aster fell  upon  him  like  an  avalanche.  His  agents  had  plundered  him,  his 
creditors  had  seized  his  property,  a  band  of  laborers  on  the  way  to  join  him 
had  been  persuaded  to  desert,  some  of  his  canoes  richly  laden  with  furs  had 
been  lost  in  the  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  a  ship  from  France,  freighted 
with  goods  to  the  value  of  22,000  livres,  had  been  totally  wrecked. 

Yet  every  difficulty  had  given  way  before  the  indomitable  La  Salle. 
He  had  succeeded  in  collecting  men,  canoes,  and  supplies,  and  was  on  the 
point  of  hastening  back  as  he  had  come,  for  the  relief  of  Tonti  and  the  men 
left  with  him  at  Fort  Crevecoeur,  on  the  Illinois,  when  two  Canadians,  dis- 
patched by  that  officer,  brought  him  worse  tidings  than  all  the  rest.  Tonti 
wrote  that  nearly  all  his  men  had  deserted,  after  destroying  the  fort,  plunder- 
ing the  magazine  and  throwing  into  the  river  all  the  arms,  goods,  and  stores 
that  they  could  not  carry  off. 

La  Salle  lost  no  time  in  lamentation.  He  soon  learned  that  the  desert- 
ers had  passed  Niagara  and  were  on  the  way  to  Fort  Frontenac,  where  he 
then  was,  intending  to  kill  him  wherever  they  might  find  him,  as  the  surest 
way  to  escape  punishment.  He  did  not  await  their  approach,  but  went  to 
meet  them  with  such  men  as  he  had,  discovered  them  on  Lake  Ontario,  and 
captured  all  but  two,  who  made  fight  and  were  shot  by  his  followers.  This 
was  one  point  gained. 

Like  a  brave  commander  he  next  bent  all  his  thoughts  to  succoring 
Tonti  and  the  three  or  four  faithful  men  who  remained  with  him  at  the  Illi- 


CAREER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE.  367 

nois.  A  deep  anxiety  possessed  him.  For  some  time  past  a  rumor  had 
spread  that  the  Iroquois,  encouraged,  as  he  believed,  by  his  eneinii>,  were 
preparing  a  grand  inroad  into  the  valley  of  the  Illinois,  which  threatened  to 
involve  in  a  common  destruction  the  tribes  of  that  quarter  and  the  infant  col- 
ony of  La  Salle.  The  danger  was  but  too  real. 

He  was  but  half-way  to  his  destination  when  a  host  of  Iroquois  war- 
riors fell  upon  Tonti  and  his  Indian  allies,  and  filled  the  valley  of  the  Illinois 
with  carnage  and  devastation.  When,  after  a  long  and  weary  journey, 
the  dauntless  La  Salle  and  his  followers  reached  the  great  town  of  the  Illi- 
nois, where  he  hoped  to  find  his  lieutenant,  he  beheld  a  most  ghastly  scene. 

"  On  the  ist  of  December,"  he  says,  "we  arrived  near  evening  at  the 
town,  and  found  nothing  but  ashes  and  the  relics  of  Iroquois  fury.  Every- 
thing was  destroyed,  and  nothing  remained  but  the  stumps  of  burned  lodge- 
poles,  which  showed  what  had  been  the  extent  of  the  village,  and  on  most  of 
which  were  stuck  dead  men's  heads,  half-eaten  by  the  crows.  The  fields  were 
strewn  with  carcasses  gnawed  by  wolves.  The  scaffolds  on  which  the  dead 
had  been  placed  in  the  cemetery  were  all  torn  down,  and  such  of  the  bodies 
as  had  been  buried  were  dug  up  and  scattered  over  the  ground.  The  wolves 
were  tearing  them  before  our  eyes  with  strange  bowlings."  . 

La  Salle  and  his  men  sought  till  night  for  traces  of  Tonti  and  his  few 
companions,  but  in  vain  they  searched.  Tonti  was  not  to  be  found.  They 
encamped  on  the  spot.  "  I  passed  the  night  full  of  trouble,"  writes  the  great 
explorer.  "  I  could  not  sleep,  but  tried  in  vain  to  make  up  my  mind  as  to 
what  I  ought  to  do." 

But  he  was  no  dreamer.  Ever  "up  and  doing,  with  a  heart  for  any 
fate,"  he  again  set  out  in  search  for  his  lieutenant,  and  passed  down  the  Illi- 
nois till  he  came  to  the  Mississippi.  From  a  rock  on  the  banks  of  the  great 
river  he  saw  a  tree  leaning  toward  the  water.  He  stripped  it  of 
its  bark,  in  order  to  make  it  more  conspicuous,  hung  upon 
it  a  board,  on  which  he  had  drawn  figures  of  himself  and  his  men,  seated  in 
their  canoe,  and  bearing  a  pipe  of  peace.  To  this  he  tied  a  letter  for  Tonti, 
informing  him  that  he  had  returned  up  the  river  to  the  ruined  village. 

La  Salle  now  pushed  up  the  Illinois,  and  arrived  at  the  junction  of  the 
Kankakee  with  that  river  early  in  January,  1681.  Here  he  left  his  canoes, 
and  with  his  four  men  began  an  overland  journey  to  Fort  Miami  on  the  St. 
Joseph  River,  a  post  which  he  had  established  two  years  before. 

Snow  fell  in  profusion,  till  the  earth  was  deeply  buried.     So  light  and 


368  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

dry  was  it,  that  to  walk  on  snow-shoes  was  impossible,  and  La  Salle,  aftei 
nis  custom,  took  the  lead  to  break  the  path  and  cheer  on  his  followers. 
E  espite  his  tall  stature,  he  often  waded  through  drifts  to  the  waist,  while  the 
men  toiled  on  behind — the  snow,  shaken  from  the  burdened  twigs,  showering 
on  them  as  they  passed.  After  excessive  fatigue  they  reached  their  goal, 
and  found  shelter  and  safety  within  the  walls  of  Fort  Miami. 

Here  La  Salle  might  have  brooded  on  the  redoubled  ruin  that  had 
befallen  him — the  desponding  friends,  the  exulting  foes,  the  wasted  energies, 
the  crushing  load  of  debt,  the  stormy  past,  the  black  and  lowering  future. 
But  his  mind  was  of  a  different  temper.  He  had  no  thought  but  to  grapple 
with  adversity,  and  out  of  the  fragments  of  his  ruin  to  rear  the  fabric  of  a 
triumphant  success. 

He  would  not  recoil,  but  he  modified  his  plans  to  meet  the  new  contin- 
gency. His  white  enemies  had  found,  or  rather  perhaps  had  made,  a  savage 
ally  in  the  Iroquois.  Their  incursion  must  be  stopped  or  his  enterprise 
would  come  to  naught,  and  he  thought  he  saw  the  means  by  which  this  new 
danger  could  be  converted  into  a  source  of  strength.  The  tribes  of  the  west, 
threatened  by  the  common  enemy,  might  be  taught  to  forget  their  mutual 
animosities  and  join  in  a  defensive  league  with  La  Salle  at  its  head.  They 
might  be  colonized  around  his  fort  in  the  valley  of  the  Illinois,  where,  in  the 
shadow  of  the  French  flag,  and  with  the  aid  of  French  allies,  they  could 
hold  the  Iroquois  in  check,  and  acquire,  in  some  measure,  the  arts  of  settled 
life,  The  Franciscan  fathers  could  teach  them  the  Faith,  and  La  Salle  and 
his  associates  could  supply  them  with  goods  in  exchange  for  the  vast  harvest 
of  furs  which  their  hunters  could  gather  in  those  boundless  wilds.  Mean- 
while he  would  seek  out  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi;  and  the  furs  gathered 
at  his  colony  in  the  Illinois  would  then  find  a  ready  passage  to  the  markets 
of  the  world.  Thus  might  the  ancient  slaughter-field  of  warring  savages  be 
redeemed  to  civilization  and  Christianity ;  and  a  stable  settlement  might  grow 
up  in  the  heart  of  the  western  wilderness.  The  scheme  was  but  a  new 
feature,  the  result  of  new  circumstances,  added  to  the  original  plan  of  his 
great  enterprise;  and  he  addressed  himself  to  its  execution  with  his  usual 
vigor,  and  with  an  address  which  never  failed  him  in  his  dealings  with 
Indians. 

A  great  council  of  the  Miamis  was  soon  called.  Chiefs  grizzly  with 
age,  and  others  haughty  with  the  strength  of  younger  manhood  came.  La 
Salle  eloquently  harangued  the  dusky  concourse.  His  words,  backed  up  by 


CAREER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE.  369 

gifts,  produced  a  deep  impression.  "We  make  you  the  master  of  our  beaver 
and  our  lands,"  they  exclaimed,  "of  our  minds  and  our  bodies."  Could  La 
Salle  have  wished  for  anything  more? 

But  the  enterprise  so  often  defeated — the  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi — was  yet  to  be  achieved.  To  this  end  he  set  out  to  return  to  Canada. 
It  was  in  May.  On  touching  at  Mackinaw,  to  his  great  joy,  he  found  Tonti 
and  Father  Membre".  Each  had  a  tale  of  disaster  for  the  other,  but  La  Salle 
was  as  calm  and  determined  as  if  the  sun  of  prosperity  shone  brightly  on  his 
adventurous  pathway. 

"Anyone  else,"  writes  Father  Membr£,  "would  have  thrown  up  his 
hands  and  abandoned  the  enterprise;  but,  far  from  this,  with  a  firmness  and 
constancy  that  never  had  its  equal,  I  saw  him  more  resolved  than  ever  to 
continue  his  work  and  push  forward  his  discovery. 

La  Salle  and  his  men  now  turned  the  frail  prows  of  their  canoes  for 
Fort  Frontenac.  It  was  more  than  a  thousand  miles  away,  but  was  soon 
reached.  Here  vigorous  preparations  were  begun  anew,  and  everything  for 
a  fresh  expedition  was,  with  as  little  delay  as  possible,  in  readiness. 

Winter  had  scarcely  relaxed  his  icy  grasp  on  the  great  rivers  of  the 
west,  when  the  indefatigable  explorer,  with  a  few  Franciscan  priests,  twenty- 
three  Frenchmen,  and  eighteen  Indians — all  inured  to  war — directed  their 
course  towards  the  Mississippi.  Floating  down  the  Illinois  River,  they 
reached  the  "  Father  of  Waters"  in  February,  1682.  Without  delay,  they 
began  the  descent  of  the  mighty  stream.  As  they  pressed  on,  they  frequently 
came  in  contact  with  the  Indians,  whom  La  Salle  won  by  his  eloquence  and 
engaging  manners.  We  are  told  that,  after  the  Indian  mode,  he  was  "  the 
greatest  orator  in  North  America." 

The  missionaries  also  announced  the  words  of  truth  to  the  savages.  "As 
the  great  explorer  pursued  his  course  down  the  Mississippi,"  writes  Bancroft, 
"  his  sagacious  eye  discerned  the  magnificent  resources  of  the  country."  At 
every  point  where  they  landed,  La  Salle  planted  a  cross.  He  was  most  zeal- 
ous for  the  Faith.  Finally,  after  many  adventures,  too  numerous  to  recount 
here,  the  mouth  of  the  great  river  was  reached,  and  they  beheld — 

"The  sea!  the  sea!  the  open  sea, 
The  blue,  the  fresh,  the  ever  free." 

On  the  9th  of  April,  La  Salle  took  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name 
of  Louis  XIV.  For  this  purpose  he  had  a  cross  erected,  while  the  whole 
party  chanted  the  Vexilla  Regis: 


THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"  The  Banners  of  Heaven's  King  advance, 
The  mystery  of  the  cross  shines  forth," 

The  ceremony  was  finished  with  the  Te  Deum,  and  the  raising  of  a  column 
with  the  following  inscription:  "Louis  the  Great,  King  of  France  and 
Navarre,  reigns;  the  pth  of  April,  1682."  Then,  "amid  a  volley  from  all 
our  muskets,"  writes  Father  Membre",  "  a  leaden  plate,  inscribed  with  the 
arms  of  France  and  the  names  of  those  who  had  just  made  the  discovery* 
was  deposited  in  the  earth." 

By  his  energy  and  enterprise,  La  Salle  had  now  explored  from  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  honor  of  his  sovereign  he  named 
all  the  territory  along  the  majestic  river,  Louisiana — a  name,  at  present, 
restricted  to  one  state. 

Turning,  he  ascended  the  Mississippi,  and  sailed  for  France,  in  order  to 
secure  the  assistance  of  Louis  XIV,  and  the  co-operation  of  his  countrymen 
in  colonizing  the  great  valley,  and  in  developing  its  immense  natural  resour- 
ces. Success  seemed  to  smile  on  his  plans.  The  government  provided  him 
with  four  ships,  and  a  large  number  of  persons  was  soon  enlisted  in  his 
scheme.  In  July,  1684,  he  bade  adieu  for  the  last  time  to  the  shores  of  sunny 
France;  and  with  his  ships  and  two  hundred  and  eighty  persons,  including 
three  Franciscan  fathers  and  three  secular  priests,  well  supplied  with  all  the 
necessaries  to  plant  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  he  directed  his 
course  across  the  Atlantic. 

But  the  entrance  of  the  "  Father  of  Waters "  was  hard  to  find.  La 
Salle  missed  it,  went  westward,  and  early  in  1685  landed  his  colony  at 
Matagorda  Bay,  in  Texas,  where  he  built  Fort  St.  Louis.  In  the  choice  of 
his  men,  he  soon  found  that  he  had  made  an  unhappy  mistake.  They  were 
largely  composed  of  vagabonds  picked  up  on  the  streets  of  Rochelle,  and  their 
conduct  was  in  keeping  with  their  character,  as  events  unfortunately  proved. 

After  several  vain  attempts  to  reach  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  by  sea. 
La  Salle  resolved  to  strike  out  for  it  by  land.  Father  Douay,  O.  S.  F.,  his 
chaplain,  has  left  us  a  minute  account  of  their  adventurous  course  over  plains, 
forests,  rocks,  and  rivers.  But  aster  six  months'  fruitless  wanderings  they 
were  obliged  to  return  to  Fort  St.  Louis.  Here  La  Salle  heard  that  his  last 
vessel  was  wrecked.  Any  other  man  would  have  thrown  up  his  hands  in 
despair.  But  with  the  giant  energy  of  an  indomitable  wil),  having  lost  his 
hopes  of  fame  and  fortune,  he  now  resolved  to  travel  on  foot  to  his  country- 
men at  the  north,  and  return  from  Canada  to  renew  his  colony  in  Texas. 


CAREER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE.  371 

Accompanied  by  a  few  priests  and  twenty  men,  he  set  out  on  this 
immense  journey  early  in  1687.  For  nearly  two  months  and  a  half  the  travel- 
ers boldly  forced  their  way,  despite  the  hardships  to  be  endured  from  a  wintry 
climate,  despite  the  countless  obstacles  offered  by  a  savage  country. 

In  this  brief  sketch  it  would  be  as  needless  as  impossible  to  follow  the 
detail  of  their  daily  march.  It  was  such  a  one,  though  with  unwonted  hard- 
ships, as  is  familiar  to  the  memory  of  many  a  prairie  traveler  of  our  own 
time.  They .  suffered  greatly  for  the  want  of  shoes,  and  found  for  awhile 
no  better  substitute  than  a  casing  of  raw  buffalo-hide,  which  they  were  forced 
to  keep  always  wet,  as  when  dry  it  hardened  about  the  foot  like  iron.  At 
length  they  bought  dressed  deer-skins  from  the  Indians,  of  which  they  made 
tolerable  moccasins.  The  rivers,  streams,  and  gulleys  filled  with  water  were 
without  number;  and,  to  cross  them,  they  made  a  boat  of  bull-hide,  like  the 
"  bull  boat "  still  used  on  the  Upper  Missouri.  This  did  good  service,  as, 
with  the  help  of  their  horses,  they  could  carry  it  with  them.  Two  or  three 
men  could  cross  in  it  at  once,  and  the  horses  swam  after  them  like  dogs. 

Sometimes  they  traversed  the  sunny  prairie,  sometimes  dived  into 
the  dark  recesses  of  the  forest,  where  the  buffalo,  descending  daily  from  their 
pastures  in  long  files  to  drink  at  the  river,  often  made  a  broad  and  easy  path 
for  the  travelers.  When  foul  weather  arrested  them  they  built  huts  of  bark 
and  long  meadow  grass,  and,  safely  sheltered,  lounged  away  the  day,  while 
their  horses,  picketed  near  by,  stood  steaming  in  the  rain.  At  night,  they 
usually  set  a  rude  stockade  about  their  camp,  and  here,  by  the  grassy  border 
of  a  brook,  or  at  the  edge  of  a  grove  where  a  spring  bubbled  up  through  the 
sands,  they  lay  asleep  around  the  embers  of  their  fire,  while  the  man  on  guard 
listened  to  the  deep  breathing  of  the  slumbering  horses,  and  the  howling  of 
the  wolves  that  saluted  the  rising  moon  as  it  flooded  the  waste  of  prairie  with 
pale,  mystic  radiance. 

On  the  1 5th  of  March  the  bold  travelers  arrived  near  a  place  where  La 
Salle,  on  his  preceding  journey,  had  caused  a  quantity  of  Indian  corn  and 
beans  to  be  buried.  The  commander  sent  seven  men  to  hunt  up  this  under- 
ground stock  of  provisions.  They  killed  two  buffaloes  on  reaching  the  place 
and  one  of  their  number  returned  to  La  Salle,  requesting  the  use  of  the 
horses  to  bring  the  meat  to  the  camp.  He  complied,  sending  his  nephew, 
Morganet,  with  two  companions  and  two  horses. 

On  the  arrival  of  Morganet  at  the  spot  where  the  dead  buffaloes  lay,  a 
dispute  arose  between  him  and  several  of  the  party — men  who  hated  La  Salle 


3y2  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  nursed  dark  designs.  Angry  words  passed  around.  Night  came.  The 
woods  grew  dark,  and  before  morning  dawned  Morganet  and  two  others, 
devoted  followers  of  their  commander,  were  murdered.  It  was  a  bloody 
deed.  The  flood-gate  of  assassination  was  now  open,  and  those  desperate 
men  took  evil  counsel  of  vengeance  for  their  own  safety.  One  black  crime 
led  to  another,  still  blacker. 

La  Salle  soon  became  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  Morganet,  and,  as  if  an- 
ticipating what  had  occurred,  he  asked  in  the  encampment  if  .  some  of  the 
party  had  not  shown  signs  of  disaffection.  He  resolved  at  once  to  go  in 
search  of  his  nephew.  We  shall  give  the  remainder  of  the  tragic  narrative  in 
the  language  of  an  eye-witness. 

"Asking  me  to  accompany  him,"  writes  Father  Douay,  "  he  took  two 
Indians  and  set  out.  All  the  way  he  conversed  with  me  in  relation  to  mat- 
ters of  piety,  grace,  and  predestination,  expatiating  on  all  his  obligations  to 
God  for  having  saved  him  from  so  many  dangers  during  the  last  twenty  years 
that  he  had  traversed  America.  He  seemed  to  me  particularly  penetrated 
with  a  sense  of  God's  benefits  to  him. 

"  Suddenly  I  saw  him  plunged  into  a  deep  melancholy,  for  which  he 
himself  could  not  account.  He  was  so  troubled  that  I  did  not  know  him  any 
longer.  As  this  was  far  from  his  usual  state,  I  roused  him  from  his  lethargy. 

"  Two  leagues  after,  we  found  the  bloody  cravat  of  his  lackey.  He  per- 
ceived two  eagles  flying  over  his  head,  and  at  the  same  time  saw  some  of  his 
people  on  the  edge  of  the  river,  which  he  approached,  asking  them  what  had 
become  of  his  nephew. 

"  They  answered  us  in  broken  words,  showing  us  where  we  should  find 
him.  We  proceeded  some  steps  along  the  bank  to  the  fatal  spot,  where  two 
of  these  murderers  were  hidden  in  the  grass,  one  on  each  side,  with  guns 
cocked.  One  missed  M.  de  La  Salle;  the  other  at  the  same  moment  shot  him 
in  the  head.  He  died  an  hour  after,  on  the  i9th  of  March,  1687. 

"  I  expected  the  same  fate,"  continues  Father  Douay,  "  but  this  danger 
did  not  occupy  my  thoughts,  penetrated  with  grief  at  so  cruel  a  spectacle.  I 
saw  him  fall  a  step  from  me  with  his  face  all  full  of  blood.  I  watered  it  with 
my  tears,  exhorting  him,  with  all  my  power,  to  die  well.  He  had  confessed 
and  fulfilled  his  devotions  just  before  we  started.  He  had  still  time  to  recapit- 
ulate a  part  of  his  life,  and  I  gave  him  absolution. 

"  During  his  last  moments,  he  elicited  all  the  acts  of  a  good 
Christian,  grasping  my  hand  at  every  word  I  suggested,  and  especially  at 


CAREER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE.  37  3 

that  of  pardoning  his  enemies.  Meanwhile  his  murderers,  as  much  alarmed 
as  I,  began  to  strike  their  breasts  and  detest  their  blindness.  I  could  not 
leave  the  spot  where  he  had  expired  without  having  buried  him  as  well  as  I 
could,  after  which  I  raised  a  cross  over  his  grave. 

"  Thus  died  our  wise  commander — constant  in  adversity,  intrepid,  gener- 
ous, engaging,  dexterous,  skillful,  capable  of  everything.  He  who  for  twenty 
years  had  softened  the  fierce  temper  of  countless  savage  tribes  was  massacred 
by  the  hands  of  his  own  followers,  whom  he  had  loaded  with  caresses.  He 
died  in  the  prime  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  his  course  and  labors, without  having 
seen  their  success." 

"Robert  Cavelier  de  la  Salle,  the  first  explorer  who  navigated  Ontario, 
Erie,  Michigan,  and  Huron,"  writes  T.  D.  McGee,  "deserves  to  be  enumer- 
ated among  the  great  captains.  A  native  of  Rouen,  early  employed  in  the 
colonies,  he  had  been  instigated  by  the  reports  of  missionaries  to  seek, 
through  the  northern  lakes,  a  passage  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Building  a 
schooner  on  the  Cayuga  Creek,  he  ascended  the  lakes  in  1679,  chanting  the 
Te  Deum.  Carrying  his  boats  overland  from  the  Miami  to  a  branch  of  the 
Illinois  River,  he  forced  or  found  his  way  into  the  Upper  Mississippi.  For 
many  years,  with  most  heroic  constancy,  this  soul  of  fire  and  frame  of  iron 
was  devoted  to  the  task  of  opening  routes  between  the  Gulfs  of  St.  Lawrence 
and  of  Mexico,  until  he  perished  in  his  enterprise  by  the  hands  of  two  of  his 
own  unworthy  followers,  on  an  excursion  into  Texas,  in  1687. 

"  The  Catholic  character  of  La  Salle  is  marked  in  every  act  of  his  life. 
He  undertook  nothing  without  fortifying  himself  by  religion;  he  completed 
nothing  without  giving  the  first  fruits  of  the  glory  to  God.  He  planted  the 
Cross  wherever  he  landed,  even  for  an  hour;  he  made  the  western  desert 
vocal  with  songs,  hymns  of  thanksgiving,  and  adoration.  He  is  the  worthy 
compeer  of  De  Soto  and  Marquette;  he  stood,  sword  in  hand,  under  the  ban- 
ner of  the  Cross,  the  tutelary  genius  of  those  great  states  which  stretch  away 
from  Lake  Ontario  to  the  Rio  Grande.  Every  league  of  that  region  he  trod 
on  foot,  and  every  league  of  its  water  he  navigated  in  frail  canoes  or  crazy 
schooners.  Above  his  tomb  the  northern  pine  should  tower ;  around  it  the 
Michigan  rose  and  the  southern  myrtle  should  mingle  their  hues  and  unite 
their  perfumes." 


WITH  THE  FRieNDfcV  IfcMNOIS. 


THE  INDIANS  OF  ILLINOIS. — WHAT  FATHER  MARQUETTE  HAD  DONE  FOR  THEM. — 
HARD  SUBJECTS  FOR  CONVERSION. — A  LOCATION  AMONG  THE  PEORIAS. — 
MICHAEL  AKO  AND  His  SUIT. — AN  ENRAGED  CHIEF. — A  VICTIM  MORE  THAN 
A  BRIDE. — INFLUENCE  OF  A  Pious  NATIVE. — RIDICULING  THE  MISSIONARY.— 
TEACHING  BY  PICTURES.  —  ILLINOIS  FINALLY  CHRISTIANIZED.  —  THE  CHIEF 
CHICAGO. — A  GLANCE  AT  LOUISIANA. — ATTACK  ON  FATHER  DOUTRELEAU. — 
EFFORTS  FURTHER  SOUTH. — AMONG  THE  FIERCE  NATCHEZ. — INDIANS  WHO 
ADORED  THE  SUN.— MARTYRS  IN  THE  SOUTH. — RESOLUTE  FATHER  DAVION. — 
CAPUCHINS  AT  NEW  ORLEANS. — FOLLOWING  THE  INDIANS  WESTWARD — ABOUT 
THE  REMNANTS  OF  THE  TRIBES. — THEIR  LATEST  GREAT  MISSIONARY. 

i 

»N  early  times  the  country  lying  north  of  the  Ohio,  from  the  head- 
waters of  its  northern  branch  to  the  Mississippi  above  its  mouth, 
was  inhabited  by  various  distinct  nations.  Of  these,  the  Eries,who 
lay  south  of  the  lake  which  still  bears  their  name,  the  Wenro,  and 
other  tribes,  of  whose  existence  no  trace  remains,  were  of  the 
Huron-Iroquois  family.  By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
all  these  had  been  conquered,  annihilated,  and  absorbed  by  the  Iroquois,  who 
thus  changed  into  a  desert  the  whole  basin  of  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Huron,  as 
they  depopulated  the  valleys  of  the  Ottawa  and  St.  Lawrence.  The  territory 
now  occupied  by  the  two  states  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  was  a  wilderness,  which 
separated  the  Iroquois  from  the  far-famed  Algonquin  archers  of  the  west. 
Illinois  was  then  occupied  by  two  kindred  nations,  each  composed  of  several 
clans,  Algonquin  in  language,  but  approaching  the  Abnakis  more  than  any 
others  in  manners.  These  were  the  Illinois  and  Miamis,  the  former  made  up 
of  the  Peoria,  Cahokia,  Tamaroa,  Kaskaskias,  Moingwenas,  the  latter  of  the 
Wea,  Piankeshaw,  Pepikokia,  and  Kilatak  clans.  Both  have  left  their  names 
in  the  states,  rivers,  towns,  and  heights  of  the  west. 

374 


WITH  THE  FRIENDLY  ILLINOIS.  375 

When  first  known  they  were  very  powerful  nations,  and  though  in  col- 
lision with  the  whites  only  for  a  short  period,  have  almost  entirely  disap- 
peared. What  we  know  of  them  is  connected  with  the  labors  of  Catholic 
missionaries  to  win  them  from  idolatry  and  gain  them  to  Christ.  By  stub- 
born and  unyielding  toil,  those  devoted  men  succeeded  at  last  in  beholding  all 
embrace  the  faith,  and  then  it  would  seem  the  reprieve  granted  by  Provi- 
dence to  the  tribes  expired,  and  they  disappear.  In  other  lands  the  priest  of 
God  converts  the  expiring  sinner,  in  America  the  expiring  nation.  Some 
tribes  are  entirely  extinct;  none  can  ever  rally  and  regain  their  former  strength, 
most  are  dying  silently  away. 

When  first  known  to  the  envoys  of  Christ,  the  Illinois  lay  on  both  sides 
of  the  Mississippi,  pressed  on  the  west  by  the  Tartar  Dakota,  and  on  the  east 
by  the  fierce  Iroquois,  so  that  some  tribes  descended  to  the  south  and  south- 
west, where,  not  unlikely,  traces  of  them  may  yet  be  found.  The  Mihmis 
lay  around  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  stretching  eastward  to  the 
shores  of  Lake  Erie.  Although  distinct,  and  at  times  at  variance,  the  Illinois 
and  Miami  easily  intermingled,  being  of  the  same  race  and  language. 

The  Illinois  first  met  the  missionary  of  Christ  at  Chegoimegon,  where 
Father  Allouez  planted,  in  1667,  his  first  Ottawa  mission.  Here,  too, 
his  -successor,  the  illustrious  Marquette,  received  visits  from  straggling 
parties,  projected  a  mission,  and  from  one  of  the  tribe  learned  the 
language  of  the  Illinois.  War  defeated  his  design,  and  drove  him  to  Macki- 
naw. At  a  later  period,  as  we  have  seen,  he  visited  the  Kaskaskias  at  their 
village  near  the  present  city  of  Rockford,  Illinois.  He  was  received  as  an 
angel  from  heaven  by  the  kind-hearted  Illinois,  who  had,  during  the  winter, 
shown  their  interest  in  their  missionary  by  even  sending  him  a  deputation, 
and  offering  to  carry  him  to  their  village.  Eager  to  profit  by  the  strength 
which  had  been  miraculously  restored  by  a  novena  in  honor  of  the  Immac- 
ulate Conception,  he  went  from  cabin  to  cabin  instructing  the  inmates.  Then, 
when  all  were  sufficiently  aware  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Cross  to  follow  his 
discourse,  he  convoked  a  general  meeting  in  a  beautiful  prairie. 

There,  before  their  wondering  eyes,  he  raised  his  altar,  and,  as  true  a 
knight  to  Mary  as  chivalry  ever  produced,  displayed  on  every  side  pictures  of 
that  Mother  of  all  purity,  who  was  to  purify  and  elevate  a  land  sunk  in  all 
horrid  vice.  At  least  two  thousand  men,  with  countless  women  and  chil- 
dren, were  grouped  around,  and  with  the  breathless  attention  of  the  Indian, 
all  listened  to  the  pale  and  wasted  missionary  who  spoke  his  heart  to  them  on 


376  THE   COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  mystery  of  the  cross.  And  still  their  wonder  grew  as  they  beheld  him 
then  offer  up  on  his  sylvan  altar  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  on  the  very 
day  when,  more  than  sixteen  centuries  before,  the  God  he  preached  had  insti- 
tuted it  in  the  upper  room  at  Jerusalem.  Thus,  on  Maundy  Thursday,  was 
possession  taken  of  Illinois,  in  the  name  of  Catholicity,  of  Jesus  and  Mary. 

Marquette  remained  there  instructing  them  till  after  Easter,  which  fell 
that  year  on  the  i4th  of  April.  Then  he  felt  that  the  strength  given  him 
began  to  fail,  and  he  was  warned  to  depart,  if  he  would  die  in  the  arms  of 
his  brethren  at  Mackinaw.  In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  learned  that  this 
journey  was  his  last  on  earth.  But  the  mission  to  the  Illinois  was  not  neg- 
lected. For  a  time  it  continued  in  charge  of  Father  Allouez,  and  on  his 
death  the  superior  assigned  to  it  the  now  celebrated  Father  Sebastian  Rale, 
who  set  out  from  Quebec  in  August,  1691,  but  did  not  reach  the  great  Illi- 
nois village  till  the  next  spring.  On  arriving  at  the  first  village,  then  com- 
posed of  300  cabins,  all  of  four  or  five  fires,  and  twice  as  many  families,  he 
was  invited  by  the  head  chief  to  a  solemn  banquet,  given  in  his  honor.  Yet, 
kindly  as  his  welcome  was,  he  found  that  the  faith  had  yet  made  but  little 
progress.  "  There  would  have  been  less  difficulty  in  converting  the  Illinois," 
says  he,  "  if  the  prayer  had  permitted  polygamy  among  them.  They 
acknowledged  that  the  prayer  was  good,  and  were  delighted  to  have  their 
wives  and  children  instructed;  but  when  we  broached  the  subject  to  the  men, 
we  found  how  difficult  it  was  to  overcome  their  inconstancy,  and  induce  them 
to  adhere  to  a  single  wife."  "  There  are  none,"  he  adds,  "  even  of  the  medi- 
cine-men, of  course  the  worst  enemies  of  religion,  who  do  not  send  their 
children  to  be  instructed  and  baptized." 

The  account  given  by  this  missionary  was  written  thirty  years  after,  and 
is  necessarily  vague.  As  in  most  rising  missions,  the  best  and  most  certain 
fruit  was  the  baptism  of  the  infants,  many  of  whom  died  before  attaining  the 
age  of  reason ;  yet  adult  converts  were  not  wanting.  A  considerable  number 
had  been  won,  and  such  was  their  fervor  and  attachment  to  the  faith  that 
they  would  have  suffered  any  torture  sooner  than  forsake  it. 

The  services  of  religion  were  regularly  maintained;  and  besides  the  daily 
Mass  all  assembled  in  the  chapel  for  morning  and  evening  prayer. 

After  two  years'  stay  among  the  Illinois,  Father  Rale  was  recalled  to  the 
Abnakis,  his  original  charge,  and  Father  Gravier  again  resumed  the  mission. 
This  was  located  near  the  French  fort  within  which  his  first  chapel  was;  but 
after  wintering  with  the  Miamis  Father  Gravier  erected  a  new  chapel  outside 


WITH  THE  FRIENDLY  ILLINOIS.  377 

of  the  fort  in  a  very  convenient  place  for  the  Indians,  and,  opening  it  in  April, 
planted  before  it  a  towering  cross  amid  the  shouts  and  musketry  of  the 
French. 

The  Peorias,  among  whom  he  labored,  already  numbered  some  fervent 
Christians.  Even  in  the  absence  of  their  pastor  the  men  assembled  in  the 
chapel  for  morning  and  evening  prayer,  and  after  they  had  left,  an  old  chief 
went  through  the  village  to  call  the  women  and  children  to  perform  the  same 
duty.  The  head  chief,  however,  who  was  a  medicine-man,  with  many  of  his 
associates,  did  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  the  people  from  listening  to  the 
missionary,  and  eagerly  endeavored  to  draw  a  discontented  neophyte  to  their 
party,  hoping  to  prove  by  him  that  Gravier  poisoned  the  dying;  for  here,  too, 
that  old  calumny  was  spread.  Even  the  French  at  the  post,  whose  dissolute 
life  could  not  brook  the  censorship  of  a  priest,  aided  these  slanders.  During 
the  year,  however,  Ako,  apparently  the  companion  of  Father  Hennepin  in 
his  voyage  on  the  Mississippi,  married  Mary,  the  daughter  of  the  chief  of 
the  Kaskaskias;  and  this,  although  at  first  a  source  of  great  persecution  to 
Father  Gravier,  became,  in  the  end  a  great  help  to  the  mission. 

When  Ako  sought  her  in  marriage,  far  from  being  flattered  with  the 
prospect  of  a  union  with  a  Frenchman,  she  told  her  parents  that  she  did  not 
wish  to  marry ;  that  she  had  already  given  all  her  heart  to  God,  and  could 
not  share  it  with  another.  This  she  repeated  when  they  all  proceeded  to  the 
chapel,  and  there  Father  Gravier  told  her  that  she  was  free  to  marry  or  not  as 
she  chose.  Deeming  Gravier  her  adviser,  Ako  and  the  chief  resolved  to  drive 
him  to  perform  the  ceremony  or  leave  the  place.  The  chief  stripped  his  daughter 
and  drove  her  from  his  cabin ;  then  convening  a  council  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
four  nearest  villages,  he  declaimed  against  the  missionary,  and  easily  induced 
them  to  issue  an  order  forbidding  the  women  and  children  to  go  to  the  chapel. 
Regardless  of  the  order,  fifty  Peorias  and  some  Kaskaskias  came  to  prayers, 
and  the  intrepid  missionary,  as  usual,  traversed  the  villages  to  summon  them 
at  the  accustomed  hour.  Finding  this  first  step  useless,  the  chiefs  next  blocked 
up  the  paths  to  prevent  all  from  going;  but  as  even  then  some,  by  a  circuitous 
path,  reached  the  chapel,  a  chief,  tomahawk  in  hand,  rushed  into  the  cabin 
during  prayers,  and,  in  a  menacing  tone,  ordered  all  to  leave.  Gravier  ordered 
him,  in  turn,  to  retire;  and,  as  the  faithful  Christians  remained  firm,  the  in- 
truder was  compelled  to  retire  baffled. 

Such  an  outrage  in  the  house  of  God  was,  the  missionary  deemed,  too 
grave  to  let  pass;  he  applied  to  the  commandant  of  the  French  fort,  but  was 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

himself  overwhelmed  with  reproaches  and  accusations  in  the  very  presence 
of  the  Indians.  Thus  left  exposed  to  every  violence,  the  missionary  could 
but  mourn  in  secret  over  the  blindness  which  had  aroused  such  a  storm. 
Meanwhile  the  poor  Illinois  maiden,  rinding  that  her  father  threatened  to  use 
all  his  efforts  against  religion  if  she  persisted,  repaired  to  Gravier.  Earnest 
as  was  her  desire  to  lead  a  life  of  virginity,  she  trembled  to  see  herself  and 
her  tribe  deprived  of  a  pastor. 

"  Father!"  she  exclaimed,  "  I  have  a  thought,  and  I  know  not  whether 
it  is  good.  I  believe  that  if  I  consent  to  the  marriage  my  father  will  listen  to 
you,  and  induce  all  to  do  so.  I  desire  to  please  God  and  would  wish  to  re- 
main as  I  am  to  be  agreeable  to  Christ;  but  I  have  thought  of  consenting 
against  my  inclination  for  love  of  Him.  Will  this  be  right?"  The  mission- 
ary, moved  at  her  piety,  approved  her  thought;  but  bade  her  tell  her  parents 
distinctly  that  she  did  not  yield  to  their  menaces,  but  simply  because  she 
hoped  that  by  marrying  a  Christian  she  could  more  easily  gain  them  to 
Christ. 

This  she  did,  and  consented  to  become  the  wife  of  Michael  Ako,  more  a 
victim  than  a  bride.  On  this  her  father  submitted,  and  publicly  disavowed 
all  that  he  had  said  against  the  black-gown.  After  her  marriage  her  life  was 
of  the  greatest  purity  and  virtue.  By  her  example  and  exhortations  she  soon 
converted  her  husband,  whose  profligacy  had  been  notorious.  Reverses  over- 
took him,  and  his  only  consolation  in  the  general  odium  raised  against  him 
was  the  practice  of  his  religion,  and  the  society  of  his  pious  and  devoted  wife. 

This  elect  soul  was  the  great  comfort  of  the  missionary.  Her  love  for 
Jesus,  her  devotion  to  Mary,  her  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  her  countrymen, 
were  truly  remarkable.  When  asked  whether  she  loved  the  Mother  of  the 
Redeemer,  she  replied:  "  I  do  nothing  but  call  her  my  mother,  and  beg  her, 
by  every  expression  of  endearment,  to  adopt  me  as  her  daughter;  for  if  she  is 
not  my  mother,  and  will  not  regard  me  as  a  child,  how  can  I  conduct  myself? 
I  am  but  a  child  and  know  not  how  to  pray :  I  beg  her  to  teach  me  what  to 
say  to  defend  myself  against  the  evil  one,  who  attacks  me  incessantly,  and 
will  make  me  fall,  if  I  have  not  recourse  to  her,  and  if  she  does  not  shield  me 
in  her  arms  as  a  good  mother  does  a  frightened  child." 

As  may  be  supposed,  her  virtue  gave  her  a  wonderful  influence  in  the 
tribe,  and  her  father's  position  as  chief  redounding  on  herself  gave  Christian- 
ity a  foothold  it  had  never  yet  acquired.  Her  parents'  conversion  was  now 
her  great  object:  they  were  long  deaf  to  all  her  entreaties — filled  with  bitter- 


WITH  THE  FRIENDLY  ILLINOIS.  370 

ness  against  Gravier  for  his  supposed  opposition  to  the  marriage,  and  givino- 
full  credit  to  all  that  Ako  had  then  said.  Conscious  at  last  this,  the  now 
repentant  Frenchman  disavowed  all  that  he  had  said  against  the  missionaries. 
On  this  the  chief  and  his  wife  called  upon  Gravier  to  instruct  them.  Sum- 
moning the  chiefs  of  the  various  villages  to  a  public  banquet,  the  Kaskaskia 
sachem  openly  renounced  all  their  superstitions,  and  urged  them  no  longer  to 
thwart  their  own  happiness  by  resisting  the  grace  of  Christianity  which  God 
offered  them.  His  wife  made  a  similar  address  to  the  women;  and  when 
Gravier  had  duly  instructed  them,  he  traversed  the  villages,  calling  all  to  the 
chapel  to  witness  the  ceremony  of  their  baptism. 

During  the  summer,  sickness  ravaged  their  villages,  and  many  were 
again  opposed  to  Gravier.  Regarding  him  as  "  the  bird  of  death,"  the  source 
of  the  malady,  they,  in  their  incantations,  mimicked  and  ridiculed  his  cere- 
monies; but  he  fearlessly  remained,  undeterred  by  their  threats  of  personal 
violence.  Strong  in  the  support  of  the  chief,  who  soon,  amid  the  ingratitude 
of  the  French,  showed  the  power  of  religion  in  checking  his  vengeance,  the 
missionary  struggled  on  with  the  medicine-men,  even  holding  his  meetings 
of  Christians  in  their  cabins  to  prevent  their  being  used  for  superstition,  and 
throwing  down  the  heathenish  poles  to  which  dogs  and  other  offerings  were 
attached. 

During  the  absence  of  the  tribe  on  the  winter  hunts,  Madame  Ako  regu- 
larly assembled  the  children  who  remained  at  her  house  for  catechism,  and 
herself,  fully  instructed,  rendered  great  service  to  the  mission.  Gravier  him- 
self at  other  seasons  catechized  all,  and  especially  adults,  using  copperplate 
engravings  of  the  scenes  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  texts  for  oral  dis- 
courses. Madame  Ako  soon  learned  the  narrative  connected  with  each  cut, 
and  borrowing  them,  gathered  not  only  her  class  around  hei,  but  the  oldest 
of  the  village,  explaining  more  intelligibly  than  the  missionary  what  scene  in 
Holy  Writ  was  there  portrayed.  So  great  was  the  impulse  given  by  these 
means  to  Christianity,  that  in  the  catechetical  instructions  which  he  gave 
every  evening  for  two  hours,  Gravier  had  three-fourths  of  the  Kaskaskia  vil- 
lage crowded  into  his  cabin,  old  and  young,  chiefs  and  matrons,  all  ready  to 
answer  the  questions  of  the  catechism,  and  eager  to  receive  a  token  of  the 
missionary's  approval;  while  their  children,  day  and  night, sang  in  the  village 
streets  the  hymns  which  Gravier  had  composed,  embodying  the  truths  of 
Christianity. 

Such  is  the  brief  gleam  of  the  Illinois   mission  in   1693,  during  eight 


380  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

months  of  which  Father  Gravier  baptized  206  souls,  many  of  them  infants, 
who  soon  after  died,  and  whom  he  was  enabled  to  bathe  in  the  sacramental 
waters  only  by  stratagem.  In  time  this  good  priest  was  recalled  to  Mackinaw, 
and  the  mission  was  continued  in  succession  by  Fathers  Marest,  Mermet, 
Boulanger,  and  others,  most  of  the  Illinois  tribes  becoming  christianized  by 
their  labors. 

Louisiana  was  now  rising  in  importance,  and  on  its  organization  as  a 
colony,  Illinois  became  subject  to  its  government.  The  Jesuits,  after  failing 
at  first,  were  at  last  established  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  their 
superior  at  New  Orleans  had  the  superintendence  of  the  Illinois  mission. 
Missionaries  for  the  Illinois  country  now  came  by  way  of  the  Mississippi. 
Thus,  in  1725,  we  find  Fathers  De  Beaubois  and  De  Ville  ascending  the 
river,  followed  in  1727  by  Fathers  Dumas,  Tartarin,  and  Doutreleau. 

The  Illinois  Christians  frequently  descended  to  New  Orleans,  and  Le 
Petit  describes  the  edifying  conduct  of  a  party  led  by  their  excellent  chieftain, 
Chicago.  "  They  charmed  us,"  says  he,  "  by  their  piety  and  edifying  life. 
Every  evening  they  recited  the  beads  in  alternate  choirs,  and  every  morning 
heard  my  Mass,  chanting  at  it,  especially  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  prayers 
and  hymns  suited  to  the  day.  They  are  well  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  Their  manner  of  hearing  Mass  and  approach- 
ing the  sacraments  is  excellent.  The  missionaries  do  not  suffer  them  to  grow 
up  in  ignorance  of  any  of  the  mysteries  of  religion  or  of  their  duties,  but 
ground  them  in  what  is  fundamental  and  essential,  which  they  inculcate  in  a 
manner  equally  sound  and  instructive." 

Chicago  had  been  in  France  and  had  learned  the  advantages  of  civ- 
ilized life.  Mamantouensa,  another  chief,  was  not  inferior  to  him.  See- 
ing the  Ursulines  with  their  pupils,  he  exclaimed  to  one:  "I  see  you 
are  not  nuns  without  an  object.  You  are  like  our  fathers,  the  black-gowns, 
you  labor  foa  others.  Ah!  if  we  had  three  or  four  of  you,  our  wives  and 
daughters  would  have  more  sense  and  be  better  Christians."  "Well,"  said 
the  Mother  Superior,  "choose  any  that  you  like."  "It  is  not  for  me  to 
choose,"  replied  the  truly  Christian  chief;  "it  is  for  you,  who  know  them; 
for  the  choice  should  fall  on  those  who  are  most  attached  to  God,  and  who 
love  Him  most." 

While  the  Illinois  mission,  under  the  wise  guidance  of  Le  Boulanger, 
was  rapidly  gaining  in  numbers,  an  officer  of  the  French  marine  in  Louis- 
iana writes:  "Nothing  is  more  edifying  for  religion  than  the  conduct  and 


WITH  THE  FRIENDLY  ILLINOIS.  381 

unwearied  zeal  with  which  the  Jesuits  labor  for  the  conversion  of  these  tribes. 
There  are  now  Illinois,  Apalache,  even  Choctaw  Christians.  Picture  to  your- 
self a  Jesuit  missionary  as  a  hero.  Four  hundred  leagues  away  in  the  depths 
of  the  forests,  without  comforts  or  supplies,  often  with  no  resource  but  the 
liberality  of  men  who  know  not  God,  obliged  to  live  like  them,  to  pass  whole 
years  with  no  tidings  of  their  country,  with  men  human  only  in  figure,  with 
out  relief  or  society  in  the  hour  of  sickness,  constantly  exposed  to  perish 
alone,  or  fall  by  the  hand  of  violence.  Yet  this  is  the  daily  life  of  these 
fathers  in  Louisiana  and  Canada,  where  many  have  shed  their  blood  for  the 
Faith." 

Louisiana  was  soon  to  see  her  missionaries  tread  the  path  of  those  of 
Canada.  Before  the  descent  of  Chicago,  which  we  have  mentioned  (for  he 
and  his  pious  followers  were  a  war-party)  Fathers  Poisson  and  Souel  had 
been  killed  by  the  Indians  in  the  rising  of  the  Natchez.  An  Illinois  mission- 
ary, Father  Doutreleau,  was  well-nigh  involved  in  the  massacre.  He  had 
set  out  on  the  first  day  of  the  year  1730,  and  deeming  it  impossible  to  reach 
Father  Souel's  chapel  in  time  to  say  Mass,  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo 
to  offer  up  the  holy  sacrifice.  A  rustic  altar  was  soon  raised,  and  the  mission- 
ary began  to  vest,  while  his  boatmen  loitered  along  the  shore,  firing  at 
the  wild-fowl.  Some  Indians  came  up,  and  to  their  hail  responded,  "Yazoos, 
friends  of  the  French;"  so,  without  delay,  all  knelt  down,  French  and  Indian 
alike,  before  the  altar.  Just  as  the  priest  was  about  to  begin  the  glorious 
chant  of  the  angels  of  Bethlehem,  the  Indians,  who  knelt  behind,  fired,  killing 
one  of  the  boatmen  and  wounding  the  missionary  in  the  arm.  His  com- 
panions fled  to  their  boat,  but  Doutreleau  knelt  to  receive  his  death-blow. 
When,  however,  they  had  twice  fired,  and  twice  missed  him,  he  sprang  to 
his  feet,  and  enveloping  the  sacred  vessels  in  the  altar-cloth,  fled,  vested  as 
he  was,  to  the  shore.  The  boat  had  put  off,  but  the  missionary,  though 
wounded  again,  reached  it,  and  seizing  the  rudder,  urged  his  comrades  to  ply 
their  oars  vigorously.  The  hope  of  escape  was  almost  too  slight  to  nerve  an 
arm  with  vigor,  for  two  were  wounded,  all  unarmed,  and  almost  destitute  of 
provisions,  for  they  had  nothing  but  one  bit  of  pork.  Death  from  exhaustion 
or  famine  seemed  their  only  prospect,  could  they  even  distance  the  enemy ; 
but  their  trust  was  in  God.  For  an  hour  the  Yazoos  pressed  on  in  hot  pur- 
suit, pouring  in  volley  after  volley  on  the  unarmed  French,  till  at  last  the  latter 
by  adroitlv  showing  an  old  rusty  musket  when  the  pursuers  came  too  near,  dis- 
tanced them,  and  the  Yazoos  returned  to  boast  of  having  killed  them  all. 


382  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

After  many  other  dangers  on  the  river,  Father  Doutreleau  and  his  companions 
at  last  reached  the  French  camp  at  Tonicas. 

More  terrible  was  the  trial  of  another  Illinois  missionary,  Father  Senat. 
As  the  Natchez  war  proceeded,  the  French  resolved  to  attack  the  Chickasaws 
from  Louisiana  and  Illinois.  The  latter  expedition  was  led  by  Dartaguettes 
and  Vincennes.  Senat  accompanied  it  as  chaplain.  Success  attended  the 
first  efforts  of  the  French  and  Illinois;  but  at  a  third  fort,  meeting  a  deter- 
mined resistance,  the  Illinois  gave  way,  and  the  Feench  were  surrounded. 
A  few  cut  their  way  through ;  the  rest  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Chickasaws. 
Bienville,  who  led  the  expedition  from  Louisiana,  still  pressed  them  on  the 
south,  and  the  prisoners  were  spared  for  a  time.  Among  them  was  the 
'•  generous  Senat,  who  might  have  fled ;  but  regardless  of  danger,  mindful 
only  of  duty,  had  remained  on  the  field  of  battle  to  receive  the  last  sigh  of  the 
wounded."  While  their  fate  was  undecided  they  received  no  ill  treat- 
ment; but  when  Bienville  retired,  the  prisoners  were  brought  out,  tied  by 
fours  to  stakes,  and  put  to  death  with  all  the  refinement  of  Indian  cruelty. 
One  alone  was  spared  to  record  the  story,  but  he  has  left  no  narrative  of  their 
last  scene.  We  only  know  that  to  the  last  the  devoted  Jesuit  exhorted  his 
companions  to  suffer  with  patience  and  courage — to  honor  their  religion  and 
country. 

The  Illinois  mission  was  now  to  decline,  the  mismanagement  of  Louis- 
iana affected  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  fort  in  Illinois, 
garrisoned  by  dissolute  soldiers,  where  liquor  was  freely  sold  to  the  Indians, 
added  to  unsuccessful  wars,  thinned  down  the  tribe,  so  that  in  1 750  there 
were  but  two  Indian  Missions,  both  conducted  by  Jesuit  fathers. 

The  priests  of  the  seminary  of  foreign  missions  had  no  longer  any 
charge  over  the  Illinois,  but  continued  at  Cahokia  as  pastors  for  the  French. 
A  third  Illinois  village  completed  the  nation,  now  so  reduced  that  it  could  not 
raise  three  hundred  fighting-men. 

We  may  here  take  occasion  to  look  farther  south,  where  the  daring  of 
Father  Marquette  had  thrown  open  the  gateway  of  a  new  empire.  At  that 
time  the  Jesuits  were  unable  to  evangelize  this  mighty  region.  In  1698, 
Fathers  Montigony  and  Davion  were  sent  down  the  great  river  by  Bishop 
St.  Valier,  of  Quebec.  After  wintering  at  Mackinaw  they  visited  the  Illinois, 
the  last  Jesuit  field  and  entered  the  Mississippi.  Descending  to  the  Taenzas, 
Montigny  was  charmed  with  the  dispositions  of  the  tribe.  The  Taenzas 
were  half  civilized,  and  occupied  eight  towns  or  villages  composed  of  houses 


WITH  THE  FRIENDLY  ILLINOIS.  383 

built  of  earth  and  straw,  with  many  articles  of  furniture  not  found  among  the 
northern  tribes.  The  people  were  subject  to  an  absolute  chief,  who  was 
treated  with  great  honor.  In  dress,  too,  they  were  somewhat  advanced, 
being  clad  in  a  cloth  woven  of  the  fibers  of  a  tree.  Selecting  this  as  his  own 
station,  the  vicar-general  proceeded  to  the  Tonicas  on  the  Yazoo  River,  and 
raising  a  mission-house,  established  Davion  as  a  laborer  there. 

At  the  Red  River  they  heard  of  a  French  settlement  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  resolved  to  visit  it.  After  ten  days'  sail  in  their  bark 
canoes,  suffering  greatly  for  want  of  water,  they  reached  Biloxi  on  the  ist 
of  July.  As  it  was  too  poor  10  offer  them  hospitality  without  danger,  they 
remained  but  ten  days,  and  again  set  out  for  their  posts  with  presents  for  the 
'  Great  Sun  of  the  Natchez,  wine  for  Mass,  flour,  and  some  necessary  tools.  It 
is  probable  that  Mr.  de  Montigny  went  at  once  to  the  villages  of  the  Natchez, 
among  whom  he  proposed  founding  a  new  mission,  for  which  another  priest 
had  arrived;  this  was  the  Canadian,  John  Francis  Buisson,  commonly  called 
de  St.  C6me,  who  was  at  his  post  before  Iberville's  coming  in  1700. 

This  nation  was  by  far  the  most  civilized  to  be  found  in  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  as  their  country  was  the  finest.  Adorers  of  the  sun,  they  had  a 
temple  in  its  honor,  built,  like  their  houses,  of  earth  and  straw,  where  a  fire 
was  kept  constantly  burning  in  honor  of  their  god.  The  great  chief  bore  the 
name  of  Sun,  and  he  was  the  high  priest  of  the  nation,  daily  offering  an  obla- 
tion of  incense  from  his  calumet  to  his  pretended  sire.  Succession  was  in  the 
female  line,  and  the  mother  of  the  Sun,  or  female  chief,  was  treated  with  the 
greatest  honor,  although  she  took  no  part  in  the  government. 

Among  these,  then,  St.  Come  took  up  his  residence.  He  soon  gained 
the  favor  of  the  female  chief,  who  was  indeed  so  attached  to  the  black-gown 
that  she  conferred  his  name  on  one  of  her  sons.  But  his  labors  were  not 
blessed  with  fruit;  his  instructions  were  seed  which  fell  on  the  rock.  No 
converts  to  the  faith  enabled  him  to  begin  a  church  of  Natchez  Christians; 
yet  he  struggled  on  for  some  years  undeterred  by  his  ill-success. 

About  the  same  time  Davion  visited  the  villages  of  the  Chickasaws,  but 
no  mission  could  be  attempted  in  a  tribe  already  devoted  to  the  English. 

Thus  almost  coeval  with  tne  settlement  of  Louisiana,  when  the  civil 
power  had  but  a  single  petty  fort,  the  church  had  begun  missions  among  the 
Tonicas,  Natchez,  Arkansas,  and  Oumas,  and  probably  among  the  Choctaws 
and  Cenis,  and  was  laboring  to  elevate  them  to  civilization  and  truth  by  the 
light  and  practice  of  the  gospei. 


384  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

Zeal  did  not,  however,  command  success.  Like  every  other  mission, 
that  of  Louisiana  was  baptized  in  blood,  and  illustrated  by  the  deaths  of  its 
pioneers.  In  1702  Nicholas  Foucault,  who  had  arrived  the  previous  year,  and 
was  laboring  among  the  Yazoos  and  Tonicas,  set  out  with  three  Frenchmen 
for  the  fort,  attended  by  two  young  Koroas  as  guides.  Led  by  hopes  of 
plunder,  or  instigated  by  hatred,  these  treacherous  savages  effected  the  murder 
of  the  whole  party  near  the  Tonica  villages;  thus  giving  the  zealous  Foucault 
the  glory  of  first  shedding  his  blood  in  the  dangerous  mission. 

On  learning  his  death,  Davion,  the  missionary  among  the  Tonicas,  and 
Father  De  Limoges,  from  the  Oumas,  deemed  it  no  longer  prudent  to  remain 
in  so  exposed  a  situation,  and  descended  to  the  French  fort,  which  they 
reached  on  the  ist  of  October. 

Thus  closed  the  Jesuit  mission.  Not  a  missionary  remained  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois,  except  St.  Come,  to  realize  the  schemes  which  the 
zealous  Montigny  had  formed. 

At  last,  however,  in  December,  1704,  the  Tonicas  sent  their  deputies  to 
Mobile  to  beg  Davion  to  return  and  instruct  them.  Although  they  had 
hitherto  shown  little  regard  to  his  teaching,  he  finally  yielded  to  their  solici- 
tations and  returned,  but  resolved  to  adopt  a  different  course  from  that  which 
he  had  hitherto  pursued.  He  spoke  freely  and  boldly,  denouncing  their  vices 
and  idolatry,  and  urging  them  to  embrace  Christianity.  Finding  them  deaf 
to  his  exhortations,  he  destroyed  their  temple  and  quenched  their  sacred  fire. 
Incensed  at  this,  they  drove  him  from  their  village,  but  were  so  indifferent  in 
reality  that  they  took  no  steps  to  rebuild  their  sacred  edifice,  and  soon  after 
invited  Davion  to  return. 

St.  Come,  meanwhile,  was  laboring  among  the  friendly  Natchez;  but  he, 
too,  was  destined  to  be  cut  off  by  plundering  Indians.  Descending  the 
Mississippi  in  1707,  with  three  Frenchmen  and  a  little  slave,  he  was  attacked 
and  murdered  while  asleep  by  the  Sitimachas,  who  to  the  number  of  eighty 
surprised  the  little  party.  Bergier,  the  Cahokia  missionary,  was  on  the  river 
at  the  time,  and  announced  the  sad  tidings  at  Biloxi.  On  hearing  it,  the 
governor  called  on  his  Indian  allies  to  avenge  St.  Come;  and  the  Sitimachas 
were  almost  exterminated  by  the  Natchez,  Biloxis,  and  Bayagoulas. 

Davion  was  now  alone,  but  he,  too,  soon  after  finally  left  the  Tonicas, 
who,  though  so  attached  to  him  as  to  offer  him  the  rank  of  chief,  showed  no 
desire  to  adopt  the  dogmas  and  morals  of  the  gospel.  A  change,  however, 
came  over  them.  He  once  more  became  their  missionary,  and  such  we  find 


WITH  THE  FRIENDLY  ILLINOIS.  385 

him  till  1716.  By  this  time  the  chief  and  several  others  had  been  baptized. 
The  former  had  even  adopted  European  costume,  and  acquired  some  know- 
ledge of  French. 

The  visit  of  Father  Charlevoix  in  1721  revealed  to  France  the  spiritual 
destitution  of  both  French  and  Indians  on  the  Lower  Mississippi,  where  not 
a  priest  was  to  be  found,  except  at  Yazoo  and  New  Orleans.  To  supply  its 
various  posts  the  company  naturally  turned  to  the  religious  orders,  and  finally 
entered  into  an  agreement  with  the  Capuchins  and  Jesuits,  by  which  the 
former  were  to  supply  priests  for  the  French  posts,  and  the  latter  for  the 
Indian  missions.  The  Capuchins  accordingly  entered  New  Orleans  in  1722, 
and  became  the  parish  priests  of  that  city  and  colony,  their  superior  being 
vicar-general  of  Quebec.  The  Jesuits,  who  were  allowed  a  house  in  New 
Orleans,  entered  in  1725.  The  first  colony  consisted  of  Father  Vitre,  superior, 
Fathers  le  Petit,  de  Beaubois,  and  de  Ville;  the  two  last-named  being  old 
Illinois  missionaries,  who  in  all  probability  returned  to  their  former  posts. 
The  others  established  themselves  outside  the  city,  in  a  house  purchased  of 
M.  de  Bienville,  the  commandant. 

As  time  went  on,  the  Louisiana  missions  were  revived  in  Missouri  and 
the  Indian  territory,  even  down  to  the  present  in  far-away  Oregon  and 
Washington.  We  shall  get  a  glimpse  of  the  remnants  of  these  tribes  in 
recounting  the  apostolic  labors  of  Rev.  Father  P.  J.  de  Smet. 


A 


YOUTH  OF  PETER  JOHN  DE  SMET.  —  THE  CALL  OF  GOD.  -DISAPPOINTED  FANCIES.— 
SENT  TO  SUGAR  CREEK.— HOME  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. — RAGS  AND  PENURY. — 
THE  WRECK  OF  THE  SUPPLY  BOAT. — DRUNKEN  SAVAGES. — AMONG  THE  FLAT- 
HEADS. — RULE  OF  THE  GREAT  BLACK-GOWN.  —  DANGERS  OF  THE  MISSIONS. — 
STUDYING  STRANGE  TONGUES.  —  FIVE  TIMES  THE  GIRTH  OF  THE  GLOBE. — 
STORY  OF  THE  MORMON  EXPEDITION.  —  CHAPLAIN  OF  THE  ARMY  IN  UTAH. — 
WITH  THE  WILD  OGALLALLAS. — SCENES  OF  PERIL  AND  DEATH. — THE  VALLEY 
OF  THE  PLATTE.  —  GRAVES  OF  THE  GOLD-SEEKERS.  —  ON  A  CALIFORNIA 
STEAMER.  —  LIFE  ON  THE  SLOPE.  —  IN  FAR  VANCOUVER'S  ISLAND. — A  CHECK- 
ERED AND  TOILSOME  CAREER.  —  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  CONVERTS. —  CHARACTER- 
ISTICS OF  FATHER  DE  SMET. — His  LAMENTED  DEATH. 

r 

t  HE  mission  work  among  the  Indians,  which  has  been  recounted  at 

such  length,  was  best  exemplified  in  these  latter  days  by  the  labors 
of  Father  Peter  John  De  Smet,  S.  J.,  with  the  history  of  whose 
devoted  life  we  may  accordingly  round  out  the  subject.  His  name 
is,  indeed,  famous  throughout  the  world.  If  it  were  possible  to 
record  all  the  incidents  and  adventures  of  his  wonderful  career,  a 
volume  would  be  produced,  the  interest  of  which  could  be  surpassed  by  no 
work  of  fiction  or  romance. 

He  was  born  at  Termonde,  Belgium,  on  December  3ist,  1801,  of  a  pious 
and  noble  family.  When  of  the  proper  age,  he  entered  the  episcopal  semin- 
ary at  Mechlin.  While  there,  he  and  a  few  others  felt  called  to  devote  them- 
selves to  the  American  missions.  One  day  there  appeared  amongst  them  a 
venerable  priest,  a  fellow-countryman,  worn  with  the  labors  and  exposure  of 
a  difficult  mission  in  Kentucky.  It  was  the  saintly  Charles  Nerinckx.  As 
the  veteran  missionary  depicted  the  rich  field  for  labor,  the  young  men  gathered 
around  him,  and  six  offered  to  accompany  him  to  America  to  enter  the  Society 

of  Jesus.     Of   these,   Peter  John  De   Smet  was  the  youngest.     But  great 

386 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  387 

caution  was  necessary,  as  the  government  gave  orders  to  stop  them.  They 
eluded  the  officers — De  Smet  very  narrowly — and  met  at  Amsterdam,  whence 
they  sailed  in  the  summer  of  1821. 

The  apostolic  travelers  reached  Philadelphia  after  a  forty  days'  voyage; 
but  young  De  Smet  was  sadly  disappointed.  He  expected  to  see  wigwams 
— not  houses  like  those  in  Europe.  The  Indians  were  already  the  object  of 
his  zeal.  Rev.  Mr.  Nerinckx  took  his  young  candidates  to  the  Jesuit  noviti- 
ate at  Whitemarsh,  Maryland,  where  they  at  once  assumed  the  habit.  Before 
the  close  of  the  two  years'  probation,  however,  difficulties  in  the  diocese 
made  it  necessary  to  break  up  the  novitiate.  The  young  Belgian  novices 
were  on  the  point  of  returning  to  Europe,  when  Bishop  Dubourg  heard  of  it, 
and  gladly  bore  them  all  to  Missouri,  and  there,  at  Florissant,  De  Smet  took 
his  vows.  At  this  time  he  made  himself  conspicuous  by  his  manly  energy  in 
chopping  down  trees  and  building  log-houses,  some  of  which  monuments  of 
his  strength  and  zeal  were  still  standing  not  many  years  ago.  It  is  related 
that  he  could  do  more  in  a  day  than  any  one  of  his  comrades. 

In  1828  Father  De  Smet  came  to  St.  Louis,  and  aided  in  founding  the 
St.  Louis  University,  on  Washington  avenue,  assisting  with  his  own  hands  in 
quarrying  the  stones  for  the  foundation.  He  afterwards  became  professor  in 
this  seat  of  learning,  and  won  the  love  of  the  students  by  the  unremitting 
kindness  and  patience  with  which  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office.  At 
this  early  date  St.  Louis  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  an  almost  pathless 
wilderness,  and  had  a  population  not  exceeding  3,000  or  4,000  souls.  The 
means  of  travel  were  truly  primitive.  The  party,  of  which  young  De  Smet 
was  one,  crossed  the  Alleghany  Mountains  with  a  train  of  two  or  three  huge 
wagons,  and  on  reaching  Pittsburgh,  bought  a  couple  of  flat-boats,  in  which 
they  descended  the  Ohio  as  far  as  Shawneetown.  There  they  sold  their  boats 
and  took  the  usual  overland  route  to  St.  Louis. 

The  bishops  of  the  United  States,  assembled  at  the  Council  of  Baltimore 
in  1833,  confided  the  Indian  missions  of  the  Uuited  States  to  the  fathers  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  Father  De  Smet,  to  his  great  joy,  was  sent,  in  1836, 
to  found  a  mission  among  the  Pottawatomies  on  Sugar  Creek.  He  began 
his  labors  with  two  companions.  A  little  chapel  soon  arose  in  the  wilderness, 
and  beside  it  stood  the  log  huts  of  the  missionaries.  It  was  a  field  of  toil, 
crosses,  and  privations.  A  school  was  opened,  and  it  was  soon  crowded. 
Many  were  baptized,  and  even  the  sick  were  carried  for  miles  to  be  enrolled 
in  the  flock  of  the  great  black-gown. 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

In  a  letter  written  in  the  summer  of  1838  to  the  lady  superioress  of  a 
religious  institution  at  his  native  place,  Father  De  Smet  says:  "  I  received 
your  letter  of  March  I3th.  All  your  communications  give  me  great  pleasure 
and  much  consolation.  I  do  not  forget  my  native  place.  Continue,  therefore,  to 
send  me  very  frequently  the  most  minute  details.  .  .  .  You,  no  doubt, 
expect  a  little  recital  from  the  depths  of  our  wilderness.  Well,  I  will  exhibit 
you  the  light  and  the  shade. 

"  First,  I  must  tell  you  the  great  loss  that  we  experienced  towards  the 
end  of  April.  Our  superior  sent  us,  from  St.  Louis,  goods  to  the  amount  of 
$500,  in  ornaments  for  the  church — a  tabernacle,  a  bell,  and  provisions  and 
clothes  for  a  year.  For  a  long  time  I  had  been  without  shoes,  and  fronft 
Easter  we  were  destitute  of  supplies.  All  the  Pottawatomie  nation  were  suf- 
fering from  scarcity,  having  only  acorns  and  a  few  wild  roots  for  their  whole 
stock  of  food. 

"At  last,  about  the  2Oth  of  April,  they  announced  to  us  that  the  much- 
desired  boat  was  approaching.  Already  we  saw  it  from  the  highest  of  our 
hills.  I  procured,  without  delay,  two  carts  to  go  in  search  of  our  baggage. 
I  reached  there  in  time  to  witness  a  very  sad  sight.  The  vessel  had  struck  on  a 
sawyer,  was  pierced,  and  rapidly  sinking  in  the  waves.  No  lives  were  lost. 
Of  our  effects,  four  articles  were  saved — a  plow,  a  saw,  a  pair  of  boots,  and 
some  wine. 

"  Providence  was  still  favorable  to  us.  With  the  help  of  the  plow  we 
were  enabled  to  plant  a  large  field  of  corn.  It  was  the  season  for  furrowing. 
We  are  using  the  saw  to  build  a  better  house  and  to  enlarge  our  church, 
already  too  small.  With  my  boots,  I  can  walk  in  the  woods  and  prairies  without 
fear  of  being  bitten  by  the  serpents  that  throng  there.  And  the  wine  per- 
mits us  to  offer  to  God  every  day  the  most  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass — a  priv- 
ilege that  had  been  denied  us  during  a  long  time.  We,  therefore,  returned 
with  courage  and  resignation  to  the  acorns  and  roots  until  the  3oth  of  May. 
That  day  another  boat  arrived.  By  that  same  steamer  I  received  news  from 
you,  as  well  as  a  letter  from  my  family,  and  from  the  good  Carmelite 
Superior. 

"Our  congregation  already  amounts  to  about  three  hundred.  At  Easter 
we  had  fifty  candidates  for  first  communion.  I  recommend  to  your  prayers, 
in  a  very  special  manner,  these  poor  Indians,  that  they  may  maintain  their 
fervor.  The  dangers  and  scandals  which  surround  them  are  very  great.  I 
remarked,  in  a  preceding  letter,  that  one  of  the  principle  obstacles  to  the  con- 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  389 

version  of  the  savages  is  drinking.  The  last  boat  brought  them  a  quantity  of 
liquors. 

"Already  fourteen  among  them  are  cut  to  pieces  in  this  barbarous  man- 
ner, and  are  dead.  A  father  seized  his  own  child  by  the  legs  and  crushed  it, 
in  the  presence  of  its  mother,  by  dashing  it  against  the  post  of  his  lodge. 
Two  others  most  cr.uelly  murdered  an  Indian  woman,  a  neighbor  of  ours,  and 
the  mother  of  four  children. 

"  We  live  in  the  midst  of  the  most  disgusting  scenes.  The  passion 
of  the  savages  for  strong  drink  is  inconceivable.  They  give  horses,  blankets, 
all,  in  a  word,  to  have  a  little  of  this  brutalizing  liquid.  Their  drunkenness 
only  ceases  when  they  have  nothing  more  to  drink.  Some  of  our  neophytes 
have  not  been  able  to  resist  this  terrible  torrent,  and  have  allowed  themselves 
to  be  drawn  into  it.  I  wrote  an  energetic  letter  to  the  government  against 
these  abominable  traffickers.  Join  your  prayers  to  our  efforts  to  obtain  from 
heaven  the  cessation  of  this  frightful  commerce,  which  is  in  every  way  the 
curse  of  the  savages. 

"  I  visit  the  Indians  in  their  wigwams,  either  as  missionary,  if  they  are 
disposed  to  listen  to  me,  or  as  a  physician,  to  see  their  sick.  When  I  find  a 
little  child  in  great  danger,  and  I  perceive  that  the  parents  have  no  desire  to 
hear  the  word  of  God,  I  spread  out  my  vials.  I  recommend  my  medicines 
strongly.  I  first  bathe  the  child  with  a  little  camphor;  then,  taking  some 
baptismal  water,  I  baptize  it,  without  their  suspecting  it — and  thus  I  have 
opened  the  gate  of  heaven  to  a  great  number,  notwithstanding  the  wiles  of 
hell  to  hinder  them  from  entering." 

Two  years  after  this  a  still  wider  field  was  opened.  The  Flatheads  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  gaining  a  knowledge  of  the  faith  from  some  Catholic 
Iroquois,  who  had  wandered  to  the  country,  sent  three  successive  embassies 
to  the  bishop  of  St.  Louis  to  beg  for  a  black-gown.  The  bishop  referred 
them  to  the  provincial  of  the  Jesuits  at  the  University ;  but  so  unexpected 
was  the  visit  that  the  father  provincial  felt  embarrassed. 

Father  De  Smet,  however,  begged  to  be  permitted  to  labor  for  the  salva- 
tion of  these  poor  creatures.  When  the  expenses  were  mentioned  as  some- 
what of  an  obstacle,  the  great-hearted  missionary  destroyed  the  objection  by 
exclaiming:  "  I  will  get  means  from  my  home — my  friends.  Only  let  me  go 
to  the  rescue  of  these  poor  Indians,  and  assuredly  sufficient  means  will  soon 
come  from  Europe!" 

His  wish  was  granted,  and  on  the  3oth  of  April,  1840,  De  Smet  started 


390  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

on  his  sublime  mission,  in  company  with  the  annual  caravan  of  the  American 
Fur  Company.  He  reached  his  destination,  and  at  the  close  of  the  first  day 
2,000  Indians  assembled  before  his  tent  to  recite  their  prayers  in  common. 
The  Lord's  prayer,  the  Creed,  and  the  Commandments,  were  translated  with 
the  aid  of  an  interpreter.  Two  weeks  passed,  and  the  Flatheads  knew  their 
prayers. 

In  August,  Father  De  Smet  set  out  for  St.  Louis  to  report  the  state  of 
affairs.  While  journeying  along  the  trackless  route,  himself  and  his  com- 
panions were  surrounded  by  a  war-party  of  Blackfeet.  "Who  are  you?" 
demanded  the  chief  of  the  band,  as  he  eyed  De  Smet's  cassock  and  glittering 
crucifix.  "He  is  a  black-gown,"  said  one  of  the  travelers;  "  he  is  a  man  who 
speaks  to  the  Great  Spirit."  And  those  savages,  the  terror  of  the  wilderness, 
showed  him  every  kindness.  The  great  missionary  pursued  his  way  in  peace, 
and  a  warm  welcome  greeted  his  arrival  at  St.  Louis. 

In  the  spring  of  1841  Father  De  Smet,  accompanied  by  a  band  of  Jesuit 
fathers,  again  set  out  for  his  Rocky  Mountain  Flatheads.  His  arrival  made 
evfeiy  heart  wild  with  joy.  The  tribe  was  now  to  select  a  permanent  resi- 
dence, and  Bitter-root  River  was  the  site  chosen.  Here  a  Christian  village- 
was  founded,  the  cross  planted,  and  the  mission  of  St.  Mary's  begun  on 
Rosary  Sunday.  Never  was  there  a  more  willing  people. 

Father  De  Smet  had  now  fairly  established  that  personal  ascendancy 
over  the  dusky  reamers  of  the  west,  which,  as  the  Great  Black-gown,  he 
retained  throughout  his  long  life. 

And  yet,  let  no  one  imagine  that  his  pathway  was  so  smooth  and  suc- 
cessful that  he  met  with  no  difficulties.  It  was  all  hard,  up-hill  work.  There 
were  superstitions  to  eradicate,  medicine-men  to  encounter,  barbarous  lan- 
guages to  learn,  thousands  of  miles  to  travel,  unheard-of  fatigues  to  undergo, 
dangers  from  wild  beasts  and  from  wandering  savages  scarcely  less  wild. 

The  task  of  learning  even  one  rude  dialect  was  in  itself  a  work  that  re- 
quired amazing  patience  and  no  common  talent.  On  this  point,  Father  Joset, 
S.J.,  an  experienced  missionary  in  the  same  field,  wrote,  in  1859:  "  The 
language  is  the  greatest  difficulty.  One  must  learn  it  as  best  he  can.  There 
is  no  written  language,  there  are  no  interpreters,  there  is  very  little  analogy 
with  other  tongues.  The  prononciation  is  very  harsh,  the  turn  of  thought 
is  entirely  different  from  ours.  They  have  no  abstract  ideas,  everything  is 
concrete.  And  with  these  elements  it  is  necessary  to  create  a  religious,  and 
even  spiritual,  phraseology ;  for  the  savages  know  nothing  that  is  not  material. 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  391 

"  I  have  been  here  nearly  fifteen  years.  I  am  not  yet  master  of  the 
language,  and  am  far  from  flattering  myself  with  the  hope  of  becoming  so. 
My  catechist  remarked  to  me  the  other  day,  *  You  pronounce  like  a  child 
learning  to  talk.  When  you  speak  of  religion,  we  understand  you  well ;  but 
when  you  change  the  subject  it  is  another  thing.'  That  is  all  I  want.  I 
have,  at  last,  succeeded  in  translating  the  catechism.  I  think  it  is  nearly 
correct.  You  can  hardly  imagine  what  it  cost  me  to  do  it.  I  have  been  con- 
stantly at  work  at  it  since  my  arrival  here." 

But  tHe  noble  De  Smet  always  rose  superior  to  the  perils  and  difficulties 
of  his  position.  On  again  reaching  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  he,  in  council  with 
his  superiors,  planned  a  system  of  missions,  and  devoted  his  life  to  the  work 
of  carrying  it  out.  To  effect  this  grand  object  he  was  in  continual  move- 
ment. One  year  he  would  set  out  for  the  Rocky  Mountains,  visit  new  tribes, 
prepare  the  way  for  a  mission;  and  when  the  Jesuit  fathers  began  permanent 
labors,  he  would  pass  to  others,  already  established,  where  he  would  see  many 
a  familiar  face,  and  receive  many  a  warm  greeting.  Then  he  would  plod  his 
way  back  to  St.  Louis,  over  trackless  wilds,  rough  rocks,  rushing  rivers,  arid 
often  through  tribes  of  hostile  savages  with  brandished  tomahawks,  whom 
he  would  disarm  by  the  majesty  of  his  presence,  and  by  words  of  peace  and 
gentleness. 

At  St.  Louis  there  would  be  little  rest.  Resources  were  needed  for  the 
missions.  But,  unfortunately,  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  have 
shown  but  slight  interest  in  the  Indian  missions,  and  done  little  to  cheer  and 
support  the  devoted  priests  laboring  on  them.  To  Europe,  and  especially 
to  his  native  Belgium,  Father  De  Smet  was  obliged  to  look  for  the  neces- 
sary means.  He  even  visited  Ireland,  where  his  fame  had  preceded  him,  and 
took  part  in  one  of  the  Repeal  meetings,  riding  in  the  same  carriage  with 
Daniel  O'Connell  and  Bishop  Hughes.  Thus,  by  his  own  personal  exertions, 
he  raised  thousands  of  dollars  to  carry  on  his  great  work.  In  1853,  his  united 
journeys  represented  an  extent  of  land  and  water  surpassing  Jive  times  the 
circumference  of  the  globe! 

Did  space  permit,  how  many  pleasing  incidents  might  be  related !  His 
beaut'.ful  letters  are  full  of  them.  At  one  time  it  is  a  vivid  description  of 
a  mosquito  attack  against  the  combined  force  of  branches,  handkerchiefs,  and 
smoke  of  his  party.  On  another,  it  is  the  roaring  of  bears  and  wild  beasts 
at  the  sight  of  the  camp  fires  at  night.  Then,  it  is  a  learned  disquisition  on 
the  geological  peculiarities  of  a  country — on  its  flowers,  birds,  or  min- 


392 


THE  COLUMBIA^  JUBILEE. 


erals     Or,  still  again,   it    is  some  Indian  scenes  of  horror,  novelty,  or    edi- 
fication. 

On  one  occasion  he  was  giving  instruction  on  the  Ten  Commandments 
in  the  camp  of  a  Sioux  trihe.  "  When  I  arrived,"  he  writes,  "  at  the  Sixth 
and  Seventh  Commandments,  a  general  whispering  and  embarrassed  laugh 
took  place  among  my  barbarous-  auditory.  I  inquired  the  reason  of  this  con- 

duct, and  explained  to  them 
that  the  law  I  came  to  an- 
nounce was  not  mine,  but 
God's,  and  that  it  was  obliga- 
tory on  all  the  children  of 
men,  .  .  .  The  great  chief 
at  once  arose,  and  replied  : 
4  Father,  we  hear  thee.  We 
know  not  the  words  of  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  we  acknowl- 
edge our  ignorance.  We  are 
great  liars  and  thieves;  we 
have  killed  ;  we  have  done 
evil  that  the  GreatSpirit  for- 
bids us  to  do.  But  we  did 
not  know  those  beautiful 
words.  In  future,  we  will  try 
to  live  better,  if  thou  wilt  but 
stay  with  us  and  teach  us.'  " 


FATHER    DE    SMET,  S.  J.,    INSTRUCTING    THE    INDIANS.  The    government     of     the 

United  States,  which  in  its  Indian  policy  has  never  favored  Catholic  mis- 
sions, recognized  the  great  ability  and  influence  of  Father  De  Smet,  and 
often  called  for  his  aid,  conscious  that,  where  Indian  agents  had  only  made 
matters  worse,  the  illustrious  black-gown  could  restore  peace  and  inspire  con- 
fidence. Thus  he  was  called  to  put  an  end  to  the  Sioux  war,  and  in  Oregon 
to  bring  the  Yakamas  and  other  tribes  to  cease  hostilities.  He  was  also  chap- 
lain in  the  expedition  to  Utah,  ancl  opened  a  new  field  of  missions  among 
the  tribes  in  that  section. 

The  following  letter  of  Father  de  Smet,  recounting  the  scenes  and  inci- 
dents of  the  expedition  against  the  Mormons,  is  full  of  deep  interest. 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN. 


393 


ST.  Louis,  Xov.   i,    1859. 

"REVEREND  AND  DEAR  FATHER: — In  accordance  with  your  request, 
I  proceed  with  great  pleasure  to  give  you  some  details  of  my  recent  journey : 

"  On  the  2Oth  of  May,  1858,  I  set  out  from  St.  Louis  for  the  western 
portion  of  North  America,  and  after  an  absence  of  about  sixteen  months,  I 
returned  to  the  point  from  whence  I  set  out.  During  this  interval,  I  had 
accompanied,  as  chaplain,  an  army  sent  out  by  the  United  States  against  the 
Mormons  and  the  savages.  I  propose  to  give  you  some  details  of  this  double 
expedition. 

"  Not  to  fatigue  you,  I  will  endeavor  to  be  brief.  At  best',  however,  my 
narrative  will  fill  some  pages,  as  my  recent  voyage  has  been  very  long.  It 
exceeded  fifteen  thousand  English  miles,  or  five  thousand  leagues.  I  propose, 
then,  to  give  you  some  details  in  regard  to  the  different  countries  I  have 
traversed,  and  the  seas  I  have  crossed,  and  of  my  visit  to  the  savage  tribes, 
my  dear  spiritual  children  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  Cceur-d'  Ak-nes, 
Kalispels,  Pends-d'  Oreilles,  Flatheads,  and  Koetenays;  of  my  stay  among 
the  different  tribes  of  the  great  plains  of  the  Upper  Missouri,  and  of  the 
manner  in  which  my  time  was  spent  in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  in 
quality  of  chaplain  and  envoy  extraordinary  of  that  government.  These 
details,  I  venture  to  hope,  will  not  be  without  interest  for  you,  and  they  will 
form  the  subject  of  my  little  sketch. 

"  Several  years  have  passed,  since  the  Mormons,  that  terrible  sect  of 
modern  fanatics,  flying  from  civilization,  settled  in  the  midst  of  an  uninhabited 
wilderness.  With  hearts  full  of  hate  and  bitterness,  they  never  ceased,  on 
every  occasion  which  presented  itself,  to  agitate  the  country,  provoke  the 
inhabitants,  and  commit  acts  of  robbery  and  murder  against  many  travelers 
and  adventurers  from  the  United  States. 

"  In  September,  1857,  one  hundred  and  twenty  emigrants  from  Arkan- 
sas, men,  women,  and  children,  are  said  to  have  been  horribly  massacred  by 
the  Mormons,  in  a  place  called  the  Mountain  Meadows.  These  fanatics 
never  ceased  to  defy  the  government,  and  announced  that  the  day  had  arrived 
to  avenge  the  death  of  their  prophet,  Joseph,  and  his  brother,  and  to  retaliate 
the  wrongs  and  acts  of  injustice  and  cruelty  of  which  they  pretended  to  have 
been  the  victims  in  the  states  of  Missouri  and  Illinois,  whence  they  had  been 
forcibly  expelled  by  the  inhabitants. 

"  On  two  different  occasions,  the  governor  and  subaltern  officers  sent  by 
the  president  of  the  United  States,  had  met  with  such  strong  opposition  from 


394  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  Mormons  in  the  attempt  to  accomplish  their  respective  duties,  that  they 
were  forced  to  quit  the  territory  of  Utah  and  to  return  to  lay  their  complaints 
before  the  president.  Congress  resolved  to  send  a  third  governor,  accompanied, 
this  time,  by  two  thousand  soldiers,  who  were  to  be  followed  by  from  two  to 
four  thousand  others  in  the  following  spring  of  1858.  I  accompanied  the 
last-named  expedition.  On  the  I5th  of  May,  1858,  the  minister  of  war  wrote 
to  me  as  follows: 

"  'The  president  is  desirous  to  engage  you  to  attend  the  army  for  Utah, 
to  officiate  as  chaplain.  In  his  opinion  your  services  would  be  important,  in 
many  respects,  to  the  public  interest,  particularly  in  the  present  condition  of 
our  affairs  in  Utah.  Having  sought  information  as  to  the  proper  person  to 
be  thus  employed,  his  attention  has  been  directed  to  vou,  and  he  has  instructed 
me  to  address  you  on  the  subject,  in  the  hope  that  you  may  consider  it  not 
incompatible  with  your  clerical  duties  or  your  personal  feelings  to  yield  to  his 
request,'  etc. 

"  The  reverend  father  provincial,  and  all  the  other  consultors,  consid- 
ering the  circumstances,  expressed  themselves  in  favor  of  my  accepting.  I 
immediately  set  out  for  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas  Territory,  to  join  the 
army  at  that  point.  On  the  very  day  of  my  arrival,  I  took  my  place  in  the 
Seventh  Regiment,  composed  of  eight  hundred  men,  under  the  command  of 
the  excellent  Colonel  Morrison,  whose  staff  was  composed  of  a  numerous 
body  of  superior  officers  of  the  line  and  engineers.  General  Harney,  the 
commander-in-chief,  and  one  of  the  most  distingiushed  and  most  valiant  gen- 
erals of  the  United  States,  with  great  courtesy  installed  me  himself  in  my 
post. 

"The  brave  colonel,  though  a  Protestant,  thanked  him  very  heartily. 
'  General,'  said  he,  *  I  thought  myself  highly  honored  when  intrusted  with 
the  command  of  the  engineers;  to  have  attached  to  my  command  a  rep- 
resentative of  the  ancient  and  venerable  Church,  I  hold  as  an  additional 
favor.' 

"  General  Harney  then  shook  hands  with  me,  with  great  kindness  bade 
me  welcome  to  the  army,  and  assured  me  that  I  should  be  left  perfectly  free 
in  the  exercise  of  my  holy  ministry  among  the  soldiers.  He  kept  his  word 
most  loyally,  and  in  this  he  was  seconded  by  all  the  officers.  During  the 
whole  time  that  I  was  among  them,  I  never  met  with  the  slightest  obstacle  in 
the  discharge  of  my  duties.  The  soldiers  had  always  free  access  to  my  tent  for 
confession  and  instruction.  I  had  frequently  the  consolation  of  celebrating 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  395 

the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  early  in  the  morning,  and  on  each  occasion  a 
large  number  of  soldiers  devoutly  approached  the  holy  table. 

"A  word  or  two  in  regard  to  the  character  of  the  countries  through 
which  we  passed  will,  perhaps,  be  agreeable  to  you.  I  left  Fort  Leavenworth 
on  the  first  of  June,  1858,  in  the  Seventh  Regiment,  commanded  by  the 
worthy  Colonel  Morrison.  I  had  an  opportunity  of  observing,  with  admira- 
tion, the  extraordinary  rapidity  of  the  progress  of  civilization  in  Kansas.  A 
space  of  276  miles  was  already  in  great  part  occupied  by  white  settlers.  No 
farther  back  than  1851,  at  the  time  of  my  return  from  the  great  council,  held 
on  the  border  of  the  Platte  or  Nebraska  River,  the  plains  of  Kansas  were 
almost  entirely  without  inhabitants,  containing  only  a  few  scattered  villages 
of  Indians,  living,  for  the  most  part,  by  the  chase,  by  fishing,  and  on  wild 
fruits  and  roots. 

"  But  eight  years  have  made  an  entire  change.  Many  towns  and  villages 
have  sprung  up,  as  it  were,  by  enchantment;  forges  and  mills  of  every  kind 
are  already  very  numerous;  extensive  and  beautiful  farms  have  been  estab- 
lished in  all  directions,  with  extraordinary  rapidity  and  industry.  The  face 
of  the  country  is  entirely  changed.  In  1851,  the  antelope,  the  wild  deer,  and 
the  wild  goat  bounded  at  liberty  over  these  extensive  plains,  nor  is  it  much 
longer  ago  that  these  fields  were  the  pasture  of  enormous  herds  of  buffaloes ; 
to-day  they  are  in  the  possession  of  numerous  droves  of  horned  cattle,  sheep 
and  hogs,  horses  and  mules.  The  fertile  soil  rewards  a  hundred  fold  the 
labors  of  the  husbandman.  Wheat,  corn,  barley,  oats,  flax,  hemp,  all  sorts 
of  garden  stuff,  and  all  the  fruits  of  the  temperate  zone,  are  produced  there 
in  abundance.  Emigration  tends  thither,  and  commerce  follows  in  its  tracks, 
and  acquires  new  importance  every  day. 

"  Leavenworth  is  the  principal  town  of  Kansas  Territory.  It  contains 
already  about  ten  thousand  souls,  though  it  has  sprung  into  existence  within 
the  last  six  years.  It  is  beautifully  and  advantageously  situated  on  the  Mis- 
souri River.  It  has  a  bishop,  two  Catholic  churches,  a  convent  with  a  board- 
ing-school and  a  day-school.  There  are  already  fifteen  churches,  twenty- 
three  stations,  sixteen  priests,  five  religious  communities  and  four  manual- 
labor  schools  for  the  Osage  and  Pottawatomie  Indians,  which  are  under  the 
care  of  our  fathers  and  religious  ladies  of  different  orders. 

"  The  greater  portion  of  the- Territory  is  not  thickly  wooded.  The  sur- 
face of  the  country,  as  a  general  thing,  is  rolling  and  well  adapted  to  agricult- 
ure; it  is  not  unlike  the  billows  of  a  vast  ocean,  suddenly  arrested  in  its  flow 


396  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

and  converted  into  solid  land.  The  air  is  fresh  and  wholesome.  As  one 
rises  with  the  elevations  of  the  soil,  the  graceful  undulation  of  the  alternating 
vale  and  hill  contrast  admirably  with  the  waving  lines  of  walnut  trees,  oaks, 
and  poplars  which  mark  the  course  of  each  little  river.  The  banks  of  each 
stream  are  generally  more  or  less  thickly  wooded.  We  ascended  the  valley 
of  the  Little  Blue  for  three  days,  making  a  distance  of  fifty-three  miles. 

"  The  names  of  the  principal  plants  which  attract  the  attention  of  the 
botanist  in  the  plains  of  Kansas  are  the  anothera,  with  its  brilliant  yellow 
flowers,  amorpha  and  artemisia,  the  commelina,  the  blue  and  purple  lupin, 
different  forms  and  species  of  cactus,  the  pradescantia,  the  mimosa,  and  the 
white  mimulus. 

"  The  waters  of  the  Little  Blue  are  left  at  a  distance  of  275  miles  from 
Fort  Leavenworth.  Continuing  the  route  from  that  point  you  cross  elevated 
prairies  of  a  distance  of  twenty-six  miles,  and  enter  the  great  valley  of  the 
Nebraska  or  Platte  River,  at  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles  from  Fort  Kear- 
ney. This  river,  up  to  its  two  forks,  is  about  two  thousand  yards  wide ;  its 
waters  are  yellowish  and  muddy  in  the  spring  freshets,  and  resemble  those  of 
the  Missouri  and  the  Mississippi ;  it  is  not  so  deep  as  those  streams ;  its  cur- 
rent is  very  rapid. 

"  Fort  Kearney  is  rather  insignificant.  It  consists  of  three  or  four  frame 
houses  and  several  made  of  adobes,  a  kind  of  coarse  brick  baked  in  the  sun. 
The  government  has  a  military  post  there  for  the  tranquillity  of  the  country, 
and  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  travelers  crossing  the  desert  to  go  to  Califor- 
nia, Oregon,  and  the  territories  of  Utah  and  Washington. 

"A  great  number  of  Pawnee  Indians  were  encamped  at  a  little  distance 
from  the  fort.  I  came  near  witnessing  a  battle  between  them  and  a  war- 
party  of  Arapahoes,  who,  favored  by  the  night,  had  succeeded  in  approach- 
ing the  camp  unseen,  almost  forty  strong.  The  Pawnees  had  just  let  their 
horses  loose  at  the  break  of  day,  when  the  enemy,  with  loud  cries,  rushed 
into  the  drove,  and  carried  away  many  hundreds  with  them  at  full  gallop. 
The  alarm  immediately  spread  throughout  the  camp.  The  Pawnees,  indiffer- 
ently armed  and  almost  naked,  rushed  to  the  pursuit  of  the  Arapahoes,  caught 
up  with  them,  and  a  combat  more  noisy  than  bloody  took  place.  A  young 
Pawnee  chief,  the  most  impetuous  of  his  band,  was  killed,  and  three  of  his 
companions  wounded.  The  Arapahoes  lost  one  killed  and  many  wounded. 

"  Desirous  to  stop  the  combat,  I  hastened  to  the  scene  with  an  aide-de- 
camp of  the  general,  but  all  was  over  when  we  arrived ;  the  Pawnees  were 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  397 

returning  with  their  dead  and  wounded  and  all  the  stolen  horses.  On  their 
return  to  camp  nothing  was  heard  but  cries  of  sorrow,  rage,  and  despair,  with 
threats  and  vociferations  against  their  enemies.  It  was  a  harrowing  scene. 
The  deceased  warrior  was  decorated  and  painted  with  all  the  marks  of  dis- 
tinction of  a  great  brave,  and  loaded  with  his  finest  ornaments.  They  placed 
him  in  the  grave  amid  the  acclamations  and  lamentations  of  the  whole  tribe. 

"  The  next  day  the  Pawnee-Loups  invited  me  to  their  camp.  I  found 
there  two  French  Creoles,  old  acquaintances  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  They 
received  me  with  the  greatest  kindness,  and  desired  to  act  as  my  interpreters. 
I  had  a  long  conference  on  religion  with  these  poor,  unhappy  savages.  They 
listened  with  the  most  earnest  attention.  After  the  instruction  they  presented 
to  me  208  little  children,  and  very  earnestly  begged  me  to  regenerate  them 
in  the  holy  waters  of  baptism.  These  savages  have  been  the  terror  of  travelers 
obliged  to  pass  through  their  territory.  For  many  years  their  character  has 
been  that  of  thieves,  drunkards  and  ruffians,  and  they  are  brutalized  by  drink, 
which  they  readily  obtain,  owing  to  their  proximity  to  the  frontiers  of  civil- 
ization. This  accursed  traffic  has  always  and  everywhere  been  the  ruin  of 
the  Indian  tribes,  and  it  leads  to  their  rapid  extinction. 

"  Two  days'  march  above  Fort  Kearney,  at  a  place  called  Cottonwood 
Springs,  I  found  thirty  lodges  of  Ogallallas,  a  Sioux  or  Dakota  tribe.  At 
their  request  I  baptized  all  their  children.  In  1851,  at  the  great  council  on 
the  Platte,  I  had  brought  them  the  same  blessing.  They  told  me  that  a  great 
number  of  their  children  had  died  since,  carried  off  by  epidemics  which  had 
raged  among  the  nomadic  tribes  of  the  plains.  They  are  much  consoled  at 
the  thought  of  the  happiness  which  children  obtain  by  holy  baptism.  They 
know  its  high  importance  and  appreciate  it  as  the  greatest  favor  which  they 
can  receive. 

"General  Harney  had  many  friendly  conferences  with  the  Pawnees,  the 
Ogallallas,  and  the  Sheyennes,  in  which  he  strongly  advised  them  to  cease 
molesting  the  whites  who  might  pass  through  their  borders,  adding  that  on 
this  condition  alone  could  they  remain  at  peace  with  the  United  States. 

"  I  have  so  often  spoken  of  the  buffalo  in  my  letters  that  this  time  I  might 
pass  him  by  in  silence.  However,  I  will  mention  it  for  the  purpose  of  saying 
that  the  race  is  not  extinct  in  these  parts,  though  it  is  becoming  more  rare  to 
find  buffaloes  on  the  highways  across  the  plains,  which  its  instinct  must  have 
taught  it  to  avoid.  We  met  our  first  herds  of  this  noble  animal  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Fort  Kearney.  The  sight  created  great  excitement  among  those 


398  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

soldiers  who  had  not  visited  the  olains  before,  and  they  burned  to  bring  down 
one  or  two. 

"Armed,  as  they  were,  with  the  famous  Minie  rifles,  they  might  have 
made  a  good  hunt  had  they  not  been  on  foot,  while  the  buffaloes  were  at 
full  gallop;  it  was,  therefore,  impossible  to  get  near  them.  They  fired,  how- 
ever, at  a  distance  of  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  yards.  A  single  buffalo 
was  wounded  in  the  leg.  Its  wound  compelled  it  to  lag  behind  and  he 
became  the  target  of  all  our  men.  A  confused  sound  of  cries  and  rifle-shots 
arose,  as  if  the  last  hour  had  come  for  the  last  buffalo.  Riddled  with  balls, 
his  tongue  lolling  out,  the  blood  streaming  from  his  throat  and  nostrils,  the 
poor  brute  fell  at  last.  To  cut  him  up  and  distribute  the  meat  was  the  work 
of  a  moment.  Never  was  buffalo  more  rapidly  transformed  into  steak  and 
soup — every  one  would  have  his  piece. 

"  While  these  things  were  going  on,  Captain  P ,  mounted  on  a  fine 

horse,  approached  a  bull  already  terrified  by  the  rifle-shots  and  the  terrible 
noise  of  our  soldiers,  who  were  novices  to  the  chase,  and  fired  at  him  twice 
almost  point-blank.  The  buffalo  and  the  horse  stopped  at  the  same  instant. 
In  spite  of  all  his  efforts  Captain  P could  not  make  his  horse,  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  hunt,  advance  a  single  step,  and  the  furious  buffalo  plunged 
both  horns  in  his  flank  and  threw  him  down,  dead. 

"  In  this  critical  moment  the  courageous  rider  did  not  lose  his  presence  of 
mind.  He  leaped  from  his  horse  over  the  buffalo's  back,  gave  him  two  more 
bullets  from  his  six-shooter  and  completely  baffled  him.  The  captain  then 
fled  to  a  gully,  which  was  luckily  both  deep  and  near  at  hand.  The  buffalo, 
unable  to  follow  him,  abandoned  his  persecutor,  who  returned  to  camp  with 
his  horse's  saddle  on  his  back.  A  horse  must  be  well  trained  to  hunt  the  buf- 
falo, and  must  be  trained  specially  for  buffalo-hunting;  otherwise  the  danger 
is  very  great,  and  the  consequence  may  be  fatal. 

"  During  the  months  of  June  and  July,  tempests  and  falls  of  rain  and  hail 
are  very  frequent,  and  almost  of  daily  occurrence,  toward  evening,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Platte,  which  is  the  country  of  storms  and  whirlwinds,  par  excel- 
lence. The  gathering  of  these  storms  can  be  noticed  at  a  great  dis- 
tance, as  a  sea.  At  first,  light  spots  of  clouds  are  observed  on  the  horizon, 
which  are  followed  by  dark  masses  of  cloud,  which  move  along  in  succession, 
crowding  one  upon  another,  and  spreading  over  the  sky  with  extraordinary 
rapidity,  they  approach  and  cross  each  other;  they  burst  and  pour  forth 
torrents  of  water  which  drench  the  valleys,  or  volleys  of  hail  which  crush 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN. 


399 


the  herbs  and  flowers;  the  storm  clouds  then  disappear  as  rapidly  as  they 
have  come. 

"  '  Every  evil  has  its  remedy,'  says  the  proverb,  and  these  hurricanes, 
storms,  and  heavy  rains  serve  the  purpose  of  cooling  and  purifying  the 
atmosphere,  which,  at  this  season,  would  become  insupportable  but  for  this 
circumstance.  The  mercury  often  rises  to  one  hundred  degrees  of  Fahrenheit 
in  the  shade.  The  water  does  not  rest  long  on  the  surface  of  the  soil.  It  is 
absorbed  almost  as  it  falls,  on  account  of  the  very  porous  character  of  the 
earth  of  the  valley  and  its  sandy  bottom.  Travelers,  in  camps  a  little  removed 
from  the  river,  always  dig  wells;  the  water  is  everywhere  found  at  a  depth 
of  two  or  three  feet.  This  water,  though  cold  and  clear,  must  be  unwhole- 
some, and  frequently  causes  severe  sickness. 

"  Graves  abound  in  these  regions,  and  the  mortal  remains  of  a  vast  number 
of  emigrants  repose  there.  With  these  emigrants  have  also  sunk  beneath  the 
valley  of  the  Platte  that  ardent  thirst  for  gold,  those  desires  and  ambitious 
projects  for  wealth,  greatness,  and  pleasures  which  devour  them,  and  drove 
them  towards  the  distant  regions  of  California,  Pike's  Peak,  and  Frazer. 
Death  met  them  far  from  their  Penates,  and  they  are  buried  in  these  desert 
strands.  How  uncertain  are  the  affairs  of  this  world!  Man  makes  his  plans; 
he  builds  his  castles  in  the  air;  he  counts  upon  a  future  which  does  not  belong 
to  him;  he  proposes,  but  God  disposes,  and  cuts  the  thread  of  life  in  the 
midst  of  these  vain  hopes. 

"  The  most  remarkable  thing  that  I  met  on  this  occasion  on  the  highway 
of  the  prairies,  ordinarily  so  lonely,  were  the  long  wagon  trains  engaged  in 
transporting  to  Utah  provisions  and  stores  of  war.  If  the  journals  of  the  day 
may  be  believed,  these  cost  the  government  fifteen  millions.  Each  tram  con- 
sisted of  twenty-six  wagons,  each  wagon  drawn  by  six  yoke  of  oxen  and 
containing  near  five  thousand  pounds.  The  quarter-master-general  made  the 
calculation,  and  told  me  that  the  whole  train  would  make  a  line  of  about  fifty- 
miles.  We  passed  every  day  some  wagons  of  this  immense  train,  each  wagon 
marked  with  a  name  as  in  the  case  of  ships,  and  these  names  served  to  furnish 
amusement  to  the  passer-by;  the  caprices  of  the  captains  in  this  respect  hav- 
ing imposed  upon  the  wagons  such  names  as  the  Constitution,  the  President, 
the  Great  Republic,  the  King  of  Bavaria,  Lola  Montes,  Louis  Napoleon,  Dan 
O'Connell,  Old  Kentuck,  etc.  These  were  daubed  in  great  letters  on 
each  side  of  the  carriage.  On  the  plains,  the  wagoner  assumes  the  style  of 
captain,  being  placed  in  command  of  his  wagon  and  twelve  oxen.  The 


400 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


master-wagoner  is  admiral  of  this  little  land-fleet.  He  has  control  of  26  cap- 
tains and  312  oxen.  At  a  distance,  the  white  awnings  of  the  wagons  have 
the  effect  of  a  fleet  of  vessels  with  all  canvas  spread. 

"  On  leaving  Leavenworth  the  drivers  look  well  enough,  being  all  in  new 
clothes,  but  as  they  advance  into  the  plains,  their  good  clothes  become  travel- 
stained  and  torn,  and  at  last  are  converted  into  rags.  The  captains  have  hardly 
proceeded  two  hundred  miles  before  their  trail  is  marked  with  rags,  scattered 
and  flying  along  the  route.  You  may  often  remark  also  on  the  various  camp- 
ing-grounds, even  as  far  as  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  beyond,  the  wrecks  of 
wagons  and  the  skeletons  of  oxen,  but  especially  the  remains  of  the  wardrobe 
of  the  traveler — legs  of  pantaloons  and  drawers,  a  shirt-bosom,  the  back  or 
the  arm  of  a  flannel  vest,  stockings  out  at  toe  and  heel,  crownless  hats,  and 
shoes  worn  through  soles  or  uppers,  are  strewed  along  the  route. 

"  These  deserted  camps  are  also  marked  by  packs  of  cards  strewn  around 
among  broken  jars  and  bottles ;  here  you  see  a  gridiron,  a  coffee-pot,  or  a  tin  bowl ; 
there  a  cooking-stove  and  the  fragments  of  a  shaving-dish,  all  worn  out  and 
cast  aside.  The  poor  Indians  regard  these  signs  of  encroaching  civilization 
with  an  unquiet  eye,  as  they  pass  them  on  their  way.  These  rags  and  refuse 
are  to  them  the  harbingers  of  the  approach  of  a  dismal  future  for  themselves; 
they  announce  to  them  that  the  plains  and  forests  over  which  they  roam  in 
the  chase,  their  beautiful  lakes  and  rivers  swarming  with  fish,  and  the  repair 
of  numerous  aquatic  birds,  the  hearth  which  witnessed  their  birth,  and  the 
soil  which  covers  the  ashes  of  their  fathers — all,  in  fine,  that  is  most  dear  to 
them — are  about  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  rapacious  white  man.  And 
they,  poor  mortals,  accustomed  to  roam  at  large  and  over  a  vast  space,  free, 
like  the  birds  of  the  air,  will  be  enclosed  in  narrow  reserves,  far  from  their 
cherished  hunting-grounds  and  fine  fisheries,  far  from  their  fields  of  roots  and 
fruits;  or  driven  back  into  the  mountains  or  to  unknown  shores.  It  is  not 
surprising,  then,  that  the  savage  seeks  sometimes  to  revenge  himself  on  the 
white  man;  it  is  rarely,  however,  that  he  is  the  aggressor;  surely,  not  once 
out  of  ten  provoking  cases. 

"  The  wagons  are  formed  every  evening  into  a  corral.  That  is,  the 
whole  twenty-six  are  ranged  in  a  circle  and  chained  one  to  the  other,  so  as 
to  leave  only  one  opening,  to  give  passage  to  the  beasts  which  passed  the 
night  in  the  center,  and  are  guarded  there  by  several  sentinals  under  arms. 
Under  the  protection  of  a  small  number  of  determined  men,  the  wagons  and 
animals  are  secure  from  any  attack  of  undisciplined  Indians,  in  however  great 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  401 

numbers.  When  the  travelers  neglect  this  precaution  and  camp  at  random, 
not  unfrequently  a  hostile  band  of  Indians  will  provoke  what  is  called  a  stam- 
pede or  panic  among  the  cattle,  and  carry  them  all  off  at  once.  The  travel- 
ers go  into  camp  early,  and  at  break  of  day  the  beasts  are  let  loose  in  the 
prairie,  that  they  may  have  plenty  of  time  to  graze.  Grass  is  very  abundant 
in  the  valley  of  the  Platte  and  on  the  neighboring  acclivities. 

"  Between  Fort  Kearney  and  the  crossing  of  the  south  fork  of  the  Platte, 
we  met  over  a  hundred  families  of  Mormons  on  their  way  to  Kansas  and 
Missouri,  with  the  intention  of  settling  there.  They  appeared  delighted  at 
being  fortunate  enough  to  leave,  safe  and  sound,  the  famous  promised  land 
of  Utah;  thanks  to  the  influence  of  the  new  governor  and  the  presence  of 
the  United  States  troops.  They  told  us  that  a  great  number  of  other  families 
would  follow  them,  so  soon  as  they  should  be  capable  of  doing  so,  and  of  pro- 
curing the  necessary  means  for  the  journey. 

"  They  confessed  that  they  would  have  escaped  long  before,  had  they 
not  been  afraid  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Danites,  or  Destroying  Angels. 
These  compose  the  body-guard  of  the  prophet;  they  are  said  to  be  entirely 
and  blindly  at  his  disposal,  to  carry  out  all  his  plans,  meet  all  his  wishes,  and 
execute  all  his  measures,  which  often  involve  robbery  and  murder.  Before 
the  arrival  of  the  United  States  soldiers,  woe  to  any  one  who  manifested  a 
desire  to  leave  Utah,  oi»  abandon  the  sect;  woe  to  him  who  dared  to  raise  a 
voice  against  the  actions  of  the  prophet — he  rarely  escaped  the  poniards  of 
these  destroying  angels,  or  rather  incarnate  demons. 

"The  highway  of  the  plains,  during  the  beautiful  season  of  1858, 
appeared,  as  it  were,  invaded  by  an  unusual  and  joyous  animation.  To  complete 
the  idea  which  I  have  just  given,  I  will  add  that  couriers  and  express  messen- 
gers, coming  and  returning,  constantly  crossed  each  other  on  the  road.  The 
different  companies  of  the  army  left  a  space  of  two  or  three  days'  journey 
between  them. 

"  Each  company  was  followed  by  ambulances  for  the  use  of  the  superior 
officers,  a  body  of  artillery  and  engineers,  and  a  train  of  wagons,  with  six 
mules  each,  transporting  provisions  and  baggage.  Each  company  was  fol- 
lowed also  by  an  immense  drove  of  six  or  seven  hundred  horned  cattle  to 
furnish  their  daily  food.  Uncle  Sam,  as  the  government  of  the  United 
States  is  called,  has  a  truly  paternal  heart;  he  provides  abundantly  for  the 
wants  of  the  defenders  of  the  country,  and  will  not  suffer  them  to  want  their 
comforts. 


402  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"  Everything  was  going  on  admirably  and  in  good  order.  The  com- 
manding general  and  staff  were  already  at  the  crossing  of  the  south  branch  of 
the  Platte,  480  miles  from  Fort  Leavenworth,  when  he  received  the  news 
that  the  Mormons  had  submitted  or  laid  down  their  arms,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  an  order  to  distribute  his  troops  to  other  points  and  return  to  the  United 
States.  This  also  changed  my  destination;  the  conclusion  of  peace  put  an 
end  to  my  little  diplomatic  mission  to  the  Indian  tribes  of  Utah.  I  consulted 
with  the  general,  and  accompanied  him  on  his  return  to  Leavenworth. 

"  The  south  fork  of  the  Platte,  at  the  crossing,  is  2,045  ^ee*  wide.  In 
the  month  of  July  its  depth  is  generally  about  three  feet;  after  the  junction 
of  the  two  forks,  the  width  is  about  3,000  yards.  The  bottom,  throughout 
the  whole  length,  is  sandy. 

"  I  could  say  much,  dear  father,  about  the  country  between  Leavenworth 
and  the  south  pass  of  the  Platte,  its  botanical  and  other  properties  and  pro- 
ductions, but  I  have  spoken  of  these  on  many  occasions  in  my  letters  describ- 
ing other  journeys  across  this  region.  The  little  incidents  mentioned  in  this 
letter  are  all  connected  with  my  last  trip. 

"  Before  leaving  Fort  Leavenworth  for  St.  Louis  I  made  a  little  excur- 
sion of  seventy  miles  to  visit  our  dear  fathers  and  brothers  of  the  Mission  of 
St.  Mary  among  the  Pottawatomies.  I  at  last  reached  St.  Louis  in  the 
beginning  of  September,  after  a  first  absence  of  about  three  months,  and  after 
a  journey,  to  and  fro,  of  1,976  miles.  My  stay  in  St.  Louis  was  short.  1 
will ,  in  my  next  letter,  give  you  details,  which  will  inform  you  as  to  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  long  expedition  of  which  I  speak  in  the  first  part  of  this  letter. 

"  Receive,  reverend  and  dear  father,  the  expression  of  those  sentiments 
of  respect  and  affection  which  you  know  I  entertain  for  you,  and  let  me  rec- 
ommend myself  very  especially  to  your  holy  sacrifices  and  good  prayers. 

"  Your  reverence's  servant  in  Christ, 

"P.J.  DE  SMET,  S.J." 

We  now  give  another  letter  from  the  gifted  pen  of  the  great  black-gown 
which  is  a  continuation  of  the  foregoing  narrative: 

"  ST.  Louis,  Nov.  10,  1859. 

"REVEREND  AND  DEAR  FATHER: — In  accordance  with  my  promise, 
I  resume  the  little  story  of  my  long  voyage.  On  my  return  to  St.  Louis,  I 
tendered  to  the  Minister  of  War  my  resignation  of  the  post  of  chaplain.  It 
was  not  accepted,  because  a  new  war  had  just  broken  out  against  the  govern- 
ment, among  the  tribes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  I  was  notified  by  tele- 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  403 

graph  to  proceed  to  New  York,  and  to  embark  there  with  General  Harney 
and  his  staff. 

"On  the  2Oth  of  September,  1858,  we  left  the  port  of  New  York  for 
Aspinwall ;  it  was  the  season  of  the  equinox,  so  that  we  experienced  some 
rough  weather  on  the  voyage,  and  a  heavy  wind  among  the  Bahamas.  We 
coasted  for  some  time  along  the  eastern  shore  of  Cuba,  in  sight  of  the  prom- 
ontories of  St.  Domingo  and  Jamaica.  On  the  29th  I  crossed  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  on  a  good  railroad,  forty -seven  miles  long. 

"  The  next  day  I  had  the  happiness  to  offer  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the 
Mass  in  the  Cathedral  of  Panama.  The  bishop  very  earnestly  entreated  me 
to  use  my  influence  with  the  Very  Rev.  Father  General  at  Rome  to 
obtain  for  him  a  colony  of  Jesuits.  His  Lordship  especially  expressed  his 
earnest  desire  to  intrust  his  ecclesiastical  seminary  to  the  care  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  New  Granada,  as  well  as  many  other  regions  of  Spanish  South 
America,  offers,  doubtless,  a  vast  field  to  the  zeal  of  a  large  number  of  our 
fathers. 

"  The  distance  from  Panama  to  San  Francisco  is  more  than  three  thou- 
sand miles.  The  steamer  brought  to  in  the  superb  bay  of  Acapulco  to  receive 
the  mails,  and  to  coal  and  water.  This  is  a  little  port  of  Mexico.  On  the 
evening  of  the  i6th  of  October  I  arrived  at  San  Francisco,  happy  to  find 
myself  in  a  house  of  the  society,  and  in  the  company  of  many  of  my  breth- 
ren in  Jesus  Christ,  who  loaded  me  with  kindness  and  all  the  attention  of  the 
most  cordial  chanty. 

"  The  lquam  bonum  et  jocundum  habitarefratrcs  in  ununt1  is  especially 
appreciated  when  one  leaves  a  California  steamer  in  which  one  has  been 
imprisoned,  sometimes  with  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred  individuals,  all  labor- 
ing under  the  gold  fever,  and  who  think  and  speak  of  nothing  but  mines  of 
gold  and  all  the  terrestrial  delights  which  this  gold  is  shortly  to  procure  them. 
However,  the  'shortly'  is  long  enough  to  allow  of  the  destruction  or  disappear- 
ance of  many  an  illusion.  'All  that  glitters  is  not  gold.' 

"  We  left  San  Francisco  on  the  2oth,  and  in  a  few  days  made  more  than 
one  thousand  miles  to  Fort  Vancouver,  on  the  Columbia  River.  The  news 
of  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  and  of  the  submission  of  the  tribes,  had  been 
received  at  Vancouver.  The  task  remained  of  removing  the  Indian  preju- 
dices, soothing  their  inquietude  and  alarm,  and  correcting,  or  rather  refuting, 
the  false  rumors  which  are  generally  spread  after  a  war,  and  which,  other- 
wise, might  be  the  cause  of  its  renewal. 


404 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


"  Under  the  orders  of  the  general  commanding  in  chief,  I  left  Fort  Van- 
couver on  the  29th  of  October  to  go  among  the  tribes  of  the  mountains,  at  a 
distance  of  about  eight  hundred  miles.  I  visited  the  Catholic  soldiers  of 
Forts  Dalle  City  and  Walla- Walla  on  my  way.  At  the  last-named  fort  I  had 
the  consolation  of  meeting  Rev.  Father  Congiato,  on  his  return  from  his  visit 
to  the  missions,  and  of  receiving  very  cheering  news  from  him  as  to  the  dis- 
position of  the  Indians. 

"At  my  request  the  excellent  commandant  of  the  fort  had  the  very  great 
kindness  to  set  at  liberty  all  the  prisoners  and  hostages,  both  Coeur-d'Alenes 
and  Spokans,  and  he  intrusted  to  my  charge  to  bring  them  on  their  way  and 
return  them  to  their  respective  nations.  These  good  Indians,  particularly  the 
Coeur-d'Alenes,  had  given  the  greatest  edification  to  the  soldiers  during  their 
captivity.  These  men  often  approached  them  with  admiration  in  witnessing 
the  performance  of  their  pious  exercises,  morning  and  evening,  and  in  listen- 
ing to  their  prayers  and  hymns.  During  the  whole  journey  these  good 
Indians  testified  the  utmost  gratitude  to  me,  and  their  punctual  performance  of 
their  religious  duties  was  a  source  of  great  consolation  and  happiness  to  me. 

"On  the  2 ist  of  November  I  arrived  at  the  mission  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
among  the  Coeur-d'Alenes.  I  was  detained  at  the  mission  by  the  snow  until 
the  iSth  of  February,  1859.  During  this  interval  snow  fell  with  more  or  less 
abundance  for  forty-three  days  and  nights,  on  seven  days  it  rained,  we  had 
twenty-one  cloudy  days,  and  sixteen  days  of  clear  and  cold  weather.  I  left 
the  mission  on  the  iSth  of  February  with  the  Rev.  Father  Joset,  who 
accompanied  me  until  we  met  Father  Hoecken,  who  had  promised  to  meet 
us  on  Clarke's  River. 

"  The  ice,  snow,  rain,  and  winds  impeded  very  much  our  course,  in  our 
frail  canoes  of  bark,  on  the  rivers  and  great  lakes.  We  often  ran  consider- 
able risk  in  crossing  rapids  and  falls,  of  which  Clarke's  River  is  full.  I 
counted  thirty-four  of  these  in  seventy-five  miles.  We  met  with  several 
camps  of  Indians  in  winter-quarters  on  every  side.  On  the  approach  of  the 
winter  season  they  are  obliged  to  scatter  in  the  forests  and  along  the  lakes 
and  rivers,  where  they  live  by  the  chase  and  fishing.  They  received  us  every- 
where with  the  greatest  kindness,  and,  notwithstanding  their  extreme  pov- 
erty, willingly  shared  with  us  their  small  rations  and  meager  provisions. 
They  eagerly  embraced  the  occasion  to  attend  to  their  religious  duties  and 
other  exercises  of  piety;  attending  at  the  instructions  with  great  attention, 
and  with  much  zeal  and  fervor  at  Mass,  and  at  morning  and  evening  prayers. 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  405 

On  the  nth  of  March,  we  arrived  at  the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius,  among  the 
Pends-d'Oreilles  of  the  mountains. 

"The  Koetenays,  a  neighboring  tribe  to  the  Pends-d'Oreilles,  having 
heard  of  my  arrival,  had  traveled  many  days'  journey  through  the  snow  to 
shake  hands  with  me,  to  bid  me  welcome  and  manifest  their  filial  affection. 
In  1845  I  had  made  some  stay  with  them.  I  was  the  first  priest  who  had 
announced  to  them  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  and  I  had  baptized  all  their 
little  children  and  a  large  number  of  adults.  They  came  on  this  occasion 
with  a  primitive  simplicity,  to  assure  me  that  they  had  remained  faithful  to 
the  prayer;  that  is,  to  religion,  and  all  the  good  advice  that  they  had  recived. 

"All  the  fathers  spoke  to  me  of  these  good  Koetenays  in  the  highest 
terms.  Fraternal  union,  evangelic  simplicity,  innocence,  and  peace  still 
reign  among  them  in  full  vigor.  Their  honesty  is  so  great  and  so  well-known, 
that  the  trader  leaves  his  store-house  entirely,  the  door  remaining  unlocked 
often  during  his  absence  for  weeks.  The  Indians  go  in  and  out  and  help  them- 
selves to  what  they  need,  and  settle  with  the  trader  on  his  return.  He 
assured  me  himself  that  in  doing  business  with  them  in  this  style  he  never 
lost  the  value  of  a  pin. 

"On  the  1 8th  of  March  I  crossed  deep  snow  a  distance  of  seventy  miles 
to  St.  Mary's  valley,  to  revisit  my  first  and  ancient  spiritual  children  of  the 
mountains,  the  poor  and  abandoned  Flatheads.  They  were  greatly  con- 
soled on  learning  that  Very  Rev.  Father  General  had  the  intention  of  caus- 
ing the  mission  to  be  undertaken  again.  The  principal  chiefs  assured  me 
that  since  the  departure  of  the  father?,  they  had  continued  to  assemble  morn- 
ing and  evening  for  prayers,  to  ring  the  angelus  at  the  accustomed  hour,  and 
to  rest  on  Sunday  to  glorify  the  holy  day  of  our  Lord.  I  will  not  enter  into 
long  details  here  as  to  the  present  disposition  of  this  little  tribe,  for  fear  of 
being  too  long. 

"  Doubtless,  in  the  absence  of  the  missionaries,  the  enemy  of  souls  has 
committed  some  ravages  among  them,  but,  by  the  grace  of  God,  the  evil  is 
not  irreparable.  Their  daily  practices  of  piety,  and  the  conferences  I  held 
with  them  during  several  days,  have  given  me  the  consoling  conviction  that 
the  Faith  is  still  maintained  among  the  Flatheads,  and  still  brings  forth  fruits 
of  salvation  among  them  —  their  greatest  chieftains,  Michael,  Adolphe, 
Ambrose,  Moses,  and  others,  are  true  and  zealous  Christians,  and  real  piety  in 
religion  and  true  valor  at  war  are  united  in  them. 

"In  my  several  visits  to  stations  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  I  was  received 


406  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

by  the  Indians  with  every  demonstration  of  sincere  and  filial  joy.  I  think  I 
may  say,  that  my  presence  among  them  has  been  of  some  advantage  to  them, 
both  in  a  religious  and  secular  point  of  view.  I  did  my  best  to  encourage 
them  to  persevere  in  piety  and  maintain  the  conditions  of  the  treaty  of  peace 
with  the  government.  In  these  visits  I  had  the  happiness  to  baptize  over  a 
hundred  infants  and  a  large  number  of  adults. 

"On  the  1 6th  of  April,  in  accordance  with  the  orders  of  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army,  I  went  to  Fort  Vancouver  and  left  the  mission  of  St. 
Ignatius.  At  my  request,  all  the  chiefs  of  the  different  mountain  tribes 
accompanied  me,  to  renew  the  treaty  of  peace  with  the  general  and  with 
superintendent  of  Indian  affairs.  I  give  their  names  and  the  nations  to  which 
they  belong:  Alexander  Temglagketzin,  or  the  Man-without-a-horse,  great 
chief  of  the  Pends-d'Oreilles;  Victor  Alamiken,  or  the  Happy-man  (he 
deserves  his  name,  for  he  is  a  saintly  man),  great  chief  of  the  Kalispels; 
Adolphus  Kwilkweschape,  or  Red-feather,  chief  of  the  Flatheads;  Francis 
Saya,  or  the  Iroquois,  another  Flathead  chief;  Dennis  Zenemtietze,  or  the 
Thunders-robe,  chief  of  the  Schuyelpi  or  Chaudieres;  Andrew  and  Bona- 
venture,  chiefs  and  braves  among  the  Coeur-d'Alenes,  or  Skizoumish; 
Kamiakin,  great  chief  of  the  Yacomans,  and  Gerry,  great  chief  of  the  Spo- 
kans.  The  last  two  are  still  pagans,  though  their  children  have  been  bap- 
tized. 

"  We  suffered  much  and  ran  many  dangers  on  the  route  on  account  of 
the  high  state  of  the  rivers  and  the  heavy  snow.  For  three  days  we  had  to 
clear  a  way  through  thick  forests,  where  thousands  of  trees,  thrown  down  by 
storms,  lay  across  one  another,  and  were  covered,  four,  six,  and  eight  feet, 
with  snow;  several  horses  perished  in  this  dangerous  passage.  My  horse 
stumbled  many  a  time  and  procured  me  many  a  fall;  but  aside  from  some  ser- 
ious bruises  and  scratches,  a  hat  battered  to  pieces,  a  torn  pair  of  trousers,  and  a 
«  soutane  "  or  black-gown  in  rags,  I  came  out  of  it  safe  and  sound.  I  meas- 
ured white  cedars  in  the  wood  which  were  as  much  as  six  or  seven  persons 
could  clasp  at  the  base,  and  of  proportionate  height.  After  a  month's  journey 
we  arrived  at  Fort  Vancouver. 

"  On  the  1 8th  of  May  the  interview  took  place  with  the  general,  the 
superintendent,  and  the  Indian  chiefs.  It  produced  most  happy  results  on 
both  sides.  About  three  weeks'  time  was  accorded  to  the  chiefs  to  visit,  at 
the  cost  of  the  government,  the  principal  cities  and  towns  of  the  State  of 
Oregon  and  Washington  Territorv.  with  everything  remarkable  in  the  way 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  407 

of  industrial  establishments,  steam  engines,  forges,  manufactories,  and  print- 
ing establishments — of  all  which  the  poor  Indians  can  make  nothing  or  very 
little.  The  JTisit  which  appeared  the  most  to  interest  the  chiefs  was  that 
which  they  made  to  the  prison  at  Portland  and  its  wretched  inmates,  whom 
they  found  chained  within  its  cells.  They  were  particularly  interested  in  the 
causes,  motives,  and  duration  of  their  imprisonment;  Chief  Alexander  kept  it 
in  his  mind.  Immediately  on  his  return  to  his  camp  at  St.  Ignatius  mission, 
he  assembled  his  people  and  related  to  them  all  the  wonders  of  the  whites, 
and  especially  the  history  of  the  prison.  *  We,'  said  he,  '  have  neither  chains 
nor  prisons;  and  for  want  of  them,  no  doubt,  a  great  number  of  us  are  wicked 
and  have  deaf  ears.  As  chief  I  am  determined  to  do  my  duty.  I  shall  take 
a  whip  to  punish  the  wicked;  let  all  those  who  have  been  guilty  of  any  mis- 
demeanor present  themselves,  I  am  ready.'  The  known  guilty  parties  were 
called  upon  by  name,  many  presented  themselves  of  their  own  accord  and  all 
received  a  proportionate  correction ! 

"  Before  leaving  the  parts  of  civilization,  all  the  chiefs  received  presents 
from  the  general  and  superintendent,  and  returned  to  their  own  country  con- 
tented and  happy,  and  well  determined  to  keep  at  peace  with  the  whites.  As 
for  me,  I  had  accomplished  among  the  Indians  the  task  which  the  govern- 
ment had  imposed  upon  me.  I  explained  to  the  general  my  motives  for  desir- 
ing to  return  to  St.  Louis  by  way  of  the  interior.  He  acceded  to  my  desire 
with  the  greatest  affability,  and  in  the  answer  which  he  addressed  to  me  on 
this  matter,  he  bore  most  honorable  testimony  to  my  services. 

"  About  the  1 5th  of  June  I  again  left  Vancouver  with  the  chiefs  to 
return  to  the  mountains.  I  passed  the  yth,  8th,  and  gth  of  July  at  the  Mis- 
sion of  the  Sacred  Heart  among  the  Coeur-d'Alenes.  Thence  I  continued 
my  route  for  St.  Ignatius  with  Father  Congiato,  and  completed  the  trip  in  a 
week ;  not,  however,  without  many  privations,  which  deserve  a  short  men- 
tion here. 

"  Imagine  thick,  untrodden  forests,  strewn  with  thousands  of  trees  thrown 
down  by  age  and  storms,  in  every  direction;  where  the  path  is  scarcely  visi- 
ble and  is  obstructed  by  barricades,  which  the  horses  are  constantly  compelled 
to  leap,  and  which  always  endanger  the  riders.  Two  fine  rivers,  or  rather 
great  torrents — the  Coeur-d'Alene  and  St.  Francis  Borgia — traverse  these 
forests  in  a  most  winding  course;  their  beds  are  formed  of  enormous  detached 
masses  of  rock,  and  large,  slippery  stones,  rounded  by  the  action  of  the  water. 
The  first  of  these  torrents  is  crossed  thirty-nine  times,  and  the  second  thirty- 


4oS  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

two  times;  by  the  only  path,  the  water  often  comes  to  the  horse's  belly,  and 
sometimes  above  the  saddle.  It  is  considered  good  luck  to  escape  with  only 
the  legs  wet. 

"  The  two  rivers  are  separated  by  a  high  mountain,  or  rather  a  chain  of 
mountains,  called  the  Bitter-root  chain.  The  sides  of  these  mountains,  cov- 
ered with  thick  cedar  forests  and  an  immense  variety  of  firs  and  pines,  pre- 
sent great  difficulties  to  the  traveler,  on  account  of  the  great  number  of  trees 
which  lie  broken  and  fallen  across  the  path,  and  completely  cover  the  soil. 
To  these  obstacles  must  be  added  immense  fields  of  snow  which  have  to  be 
crossed,  and  which  are  at  times  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  deep.  After  eight 
hours'  painful  march,  we  arrived  at  a  beautiful  plain,  enameled  with  flowers, 
which  formed  the  summit  of  Mount  Calvary,  where  a  cross  was  raised  on  my 
first  passage,  sixteen  years  ago. 

"  In  this  beautiful  situation,  after  so  long  and  rude  a  course,  I  desired  to 
encamp;  but  Father  Congiato,  persuaded  that  in  two  hours  more  we  should 
reach  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  induced  us  to  continue  the  march.  When 
we  made  the  six  miles  which  we  supposed  we  had  before  us,  and  twelve 
miles  more,  darkness  overtook  us  in  the  midst  of  difficulties.  On  the  eastern 
side  of  the  mountain  we  found  other  hills  of  snow  to  cross,  other  barricades 
of  fallen  trees  to  scramble  over  ;  sometimes  we  were  on  the  edge  of  sheer 
precipices  of  rock,  sometimes  on  a  slope  almost  perpendicular.  The  least 
false  step  might  precipitate  us  into  the  abyss.  Without  guide,  without  path, 
in  the  most  profound  darkness,  separated  one  from  the  other,  each  calling 
for  help  without  being  able  either  to  give  or  to  obtain  the  least  assistance,  we 
fell  again  and  again,  we  walked,  feeling  our  way  with  our  hands,  or  crawled" 
on  all-fours,  slipping  or  sliding  down  as  best  we  could. 

"At  last  a  gleam  of  hope  arose;  we  heard  the  hoarse  murmur  of  water 
in  the  distance.  It  was  the  sound  of  the  waterfalls  of  the  great  stream  which 
we  were  seeking.  Each  one  then  directed  his  course  towards  that  point. 
We  all  had  the  good  fortune  to  arrive  at  the  stream  at  last,  but  one  after 
another,  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  in  the  night,  after  a  march  of  sixteen 
hours,  fatigued  and  exhausted,  our  dresses  torn  to  rags,  and  covered  with 
scratches  and  bruises,  but  without  serious  injuries.  While  eating  our  supper, 
each  one  amused  his  companions  with  the  history  of  his  mishaps.  Good 
Father  Congiato  admitted  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  his  calculation,  and 
was  the  first  to  laugh  heartily  at  his  blunder.  Our  poor  horses  found  nothing 
to  eat  all  night  in  this  miserable  mountain  gap. 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  409 

"  I  cannot,  omit  here  testifying  my  indebtedness  to  all  the  fathers  and 
brothers  of  the  missions  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and  of  St.  Ignatius,  for  their 
truly  fraternal  charity  towards  me,  and  the  efficacious  aid  which  they  rendered 
me  towards  fulfilling  the  special  mission  which  had  been  entrusted  to  me. 

"  As  Father  Congiato  keeps  the  Very  Rev.  Father  General  informed  of 
the  actual  state  of  the  missions  of  the  mountains,  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to 
enter  into  all  its  details.  I  recommend,  especially,  these  poor  children  of 
the  desert  to  his  paternal  attention  and  charity,  and  to  our  immediate  supe- 
riors in  this  country. 

"  Divine  Providence  will  not,  I  hope,  abandon  them.  They  have  already 
a  great  number  of  intercessors  in  heaven,  in  the  thousands  of  their  children, 
dead  shortly  after  baptism,  in  the  number  of  good  Christian  adults  among 
them,  who,  having  led  good  lives,  have  quitted  this  world  in  the  most  pious 
dispositions;  they  can  especially  count  upon  the  protection  of  Louise,  of  the 
tribe  of  Coeur-d'  Alines,  and  of  Loyola,  chief  of  the  Kalispels,  whose  lives 
were  an  uninterrupted  series  of  acts  of  heroic  virtue,  and  who  died  almost  in 
the  odor  of  sanctity. 

"  On  the  22d  of  July,  I  left  the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius,  accompanied  by 
Father  Congiato,  with  some  guides  and  Indian  hunters.  The  distance  to 
Fort  Benton  is  about  two  hundred  miles.  The  country,  for  the  first  four 
days,  is  picturesque,  and  presents  no  obstacle  to  traveling.  It  is  a  succession 
of  forests  easily  traversed,  of  beautiful  prairies,  impetuous  torrents,  pretty 
rivulets;  here  and  there  are  lakes,  from  three  to  six  miles  in  circumference, 
whose  waters  are  clear  as  crystal,  well  stored  with  fish  of  various  kinds ; 
nothing  can  be  more  charming  than  the  prospect.  We  called  one  of  the 
largest  of  these  lakes,  St.  Mary. 

"  On  the  26th  of  July  we  crossed  the  mountain  which  separates  the 
sources  of  the  Clarke  River  from  those  of  the  Missouri,  at  the  4Sth  degree  of 
north  latitude  and  the  n5th  of  longitude.  The  crossing  does  not  take  more 
than  a  half  an  hour,  and  is  very  easy,  even  for  wagons  and  carts.  At  the 
eastern  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  the  plains  are  mountainous,  and  almost 
destitute  of  timber;  we  crossed  several  small  streams  before  we  reached  the 
Sun  River,  and  followed  down  its  valley  almost  to  its  mouth.  We  visited  the 
great  falls  of  the  Missouri  on  our  way.  The  principal  fall  is  ninety-three 
feet  high. 

"  Father  Hoecken  and  Brother  Magri  met  us  in  this  vicinity.  On  the 
2gth  we  arrived  at  Fort  Benton,  a  post  of  the  St.  Louis  Fur  Company,  where 


4IO  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

we  received  the  greatest  attention  from  all  its  inmates;  we  feel  particularly 
obliged  to  Mr.  Dorson,  the  superintendent  of  the  fort,  for  his  continued  kind- 
ness and  charity  to  all  our  missionaries.  May  the  Lord  protect  and  reward 
him!  The  Blackfeet  occupy  an  immense  territory  in  this  neighborhood;  they 
reckon  from  ten  to  twelve  thousand  souls  in  the  six  tribes  which  compose  this 
nation.  They  have  been  asking  for  black-gowns  (priests)  for  many  years, 
and  their  desire  appears  universal.  In  my  visit  to  them  in  1846,  they  begged 
me  to  send  a  father  to  instruct  them. 

"  Father  Hoecken  is  now  in  these  parts,  and  I  have  just  read  with  the 
greatest  pleasure,  in  the  'Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,'  that  the 
work  of  the  conversion  of  the  Blackfeet  has  been  commenced,  with  the  entire 
approbation  of  the  Very  Rev.  Father  General. 

"On  our  arrival  in  the  neighborhood,  we  found  a  large  number  of 
Indians  encamped  around  and  near  the  fort.  It  was  the  period  for  the  annual 
distribution  of  presents.  They  manifested  their  joy  at  the  presence  of  a  mis- 
sionary in  their  country,  and  hoped  that  'all  would  open  to  him  their  ears 
and  heart.'  The  chief  of  a  large  camp,  in  one  of  our  visits,  related  to  us  a 
remarkable  circumstance,  which  I  think  worthy  of  mention. 

"When  Father  Point  was  among  the  Blackfeet,  he  presented  some 
crosses  to  many  chiefs  as  marks  of  distinction,  and  explained  to  them  their 
signification,  exhorting  them,  when  in  danger,  to  invoke  the  Son  of  God, 
whose  image  they  bore,  and  to  place  all  their  confidence  in  him.  The  chief 
who  related  these  details  was  one  of  a  band  of  thirty  Indians  who  went  to 
war  against  the  Crows. 

"  The  Crows  having  got  upon  their  trail,  gathered  together  in  haste  and 
in  great  multitudes  to  fight  and  destroy  them.  They  soon  came  up  with  them 
in  a  position  of  the  forest,  where  they  had  made  a  barricade  of  fallen  trees 
and  branches,  and  surrounded  them,  shouting  ferociously  the  dreaded  war- 
cry.  The  Blackfeet,  considering  the  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy  who 
thus  surprised  them,  were  firmly  persuaded  that  they  should  perish  at  their 
hands.  One  of  them  bore  on  his  breast  the  sign  of  salvation.  He  remem- 
bered the  words  of  the  black-gown  (Father  Point),  and  reminded  his  com- 
panions of  them ;  all  shouted, '  It  is  our  only  chance  of  safety.'  They  then 
invoked  the  Son  of  God,  and  rushed  from  the  barricade. 

"  The  bearer  of  the  cross,  holding  it  up  in  his  hand,  led  the  way,  fol- 
lowed by  all  the  rest.  The  Crows  discharged  a  shower  of  arrows  and  bullets 
at  them,  but  no  one  was  seriously  injured ;  they  all  happily  escaped.  On  con- 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN. 


411 


eluding  his  statement,  the  chief  added,  with  energy  and  feeling:  <  Yes,  the 
prayer  (religion)  of  the  Son  of  God  is  the  only  good  and  powerful  one;  we 
all  desire  to  become  worthy  of  it,  and  to  adopt  it.' 

"My  intention,  when  I  left  General  Harney,  was,  with  his  consent,  to  go 
all  the  way  to  St.  Louis  on  horseback,  in  the  hope  of  meeting  a  large  number 
of  Indian  tribes,  especially  the  large  and  powerful  tribe  of  Comanches.  I 
was  obliged  to  renounce  this  project,  for  my  six  horses  were  entirely  worn 
out,  and  unfit  for  making  so  long  a  journey;  they  were  all  more  or  less  sad- 
dle-galled, and,  not  being  shod,  their  hoofs  were  worn  in  crossing  the  rocky 
bottoms  of  the  rivers,  and  the  rough,  rocky,  mountain  roads. 

"  In  this  difficulty,  I  ordered  a  little  skiff  to  be  made  at  Fort  Benton; 
worthy  Mr.  Dorson,  superintendent  of  the  fur  company,  had  the  very  great 
kindness  to  procure  me  three  oarsmen  and  a  pilot.  On  the  5th  of  August  I 
bade  adieu  to  Fathers  Congiato  and  Hoecken,  and  dear  Brother  Magri,  and 
embarked  on  the  Missouri,  which  is  celebrated  for  dangers  of  navigation — 
snags  and  rapids  being  numerous  in  the  upper  river. 

"  We  descended  the  stream  about  2,400  miles  in  our  cockle-shell,  making 
fifty,  sixty,  and  sometimes,  when  the  wind  favored  us,  eighty  miles  a  day. 
We  took  the  first  steamboat  we  met  at  Omaha  City.  The  steamer  made 
about  700  miles  in  six  days,  and  on  the  23d  of  September,  vigil  of  Our  Lady 
of  Mercy,  we  entered  the  port  of  St.  Louis. 

"  During  this  long  trip  on  the  river  we  passed  the  nights  in  the  open  air 
or  under  a  little  tent,  often  on  sandbanks,  to  avoid  the  troublesome  mosquitoes, 
or  on  the  skirts  of  a  plain,  or  in  an  untrodden,  thick  forest.  We  often  heard 
the  bowlings  of  the  wolves;  and  the  grunting  of  the  grizzly  bear,  the  king  of 
animals  in  these  parts,  disturbed  our  sleep,  but  without  alarming  us.  In  the 
desert  one  perceives  that  God  has  implanted  in  the  breast  of  the  wild  beasts 
the  fear  of  man.  In  the  desert,  also,  we  are  enabled,  in  a  particular  way,  to 
admire  and  to  thank  that  Divine  Providence  which  watches  with  so  much 
solicitude  over  his  children. 

"  There  is  admirably  verified  the  text  of  St.  Matthew:  'Consider  the 
birds  of  the  air,  they  sow  not,  but  your  Heavenly  Father  feeds  them ;  are  ye 
not  of  much  more  value  than  they?'  During  the  whole  route,  our  wants 
were  constantly  supplied ;  yes,  we  lived  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  abundance. 
The  rivers  furnished  us  excellent  fish,  water-fowl,  ducks,  geese,  and  swans; 
the  forests  and  plains  gave  us  fruits  and  roots.  We  never  wanted  for 
game.  We  found  everywhere  either  immense  herds  of  buffaloes,  or 


412 


THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 


deer,  antelope,  mountain  sheep,  or  big-horns,  pheasants,  wild   turkeys,  and 
partridges. 

"  On  the  way,  along  the  Missouri,  I  met  thousands  of  Indians  of  different 
tribes — Crows,  Assiniboins,  Minataries,  Mandans,  Rickaries,  Sioux,  etc.  I 
always  stopped  a  day  or  two  with  them.  I  received  the  greatest  marks  of 
respect  and  affection  from  these  hitherto  untutored  children  of  the  plains  and 
mountains,  and  they  listened  to  my  words  with  the  utmost  attention.  For  many 
years  these  poor  tribes  have  desired  to  have  missionaries,  and  to  be  instructed. 

"  My  greatest,  I  may  say,  almost  my  only  consolation,  is  to  have  been 
the  instrument,  in  the  hand  of  Divine  Providence,  of  the  eternal  salvation  of 
a  great  number  of  little  children;  of  about  nine  hundred  I  baptized,  many 
were  sickly,  and  seemed  only  to  wait  for  this  happiness  to  fly  to  God  to 
praise  Him  for  all  eternity. 

"To  God  alone  be  all  the  glory;  and  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  our 
most  humble  and  most  profound  thanks  for  the  protection  and  benefits 
received  during  this  long  journey.  After  having  traveled,  by  land  and  river, 
over  8,3 1 4.  miles,  and  6,950  on  sea,  without  any  serious  accident,  I  arrived 
safe  and  sound  at  St.  Louis,  among  my  dear  brethren  in  Jesus  Christ.  I  am, 
with  the  most  sincere  respect,  "  Your  servant  in  Christ, 

«  P.  J.  DE  SMET,  S.J." 

The  magic  influence  of  the  Catholic  religion  in  transforming  the  Indian 
is  as  remarkable  in  our  own  time  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Brebeuf  and  Mar- 
quette.  Many  of  the  tribes  converted  by  Father  De  Smet  and  his  apostolic 
companions  became  model  Christians.  We  have  room  to  recount  but  one 
instance — the  Skalzi  Indians. 

Speaking  of  this  tribe,  the  illustrious  black-gown  writes,  in  1861:  "I 
visited  these  good  savages  for  the  first  time  in  the  summer  of  1845,  on  which 
occasion  I  had  the  happiness  to  regenerate  all  their  little  children  in  the  holy 
waters  of  baptism,  as  well  as  a  large  number  of  adults.  I  saw  these  clear 
children  again  in  1859;  an<^  ^he  visit  filled  me  with  inexpressible  joy,  because 
they  had  remained  faithful,  true  to  the  Faith, 'and  fervent  and  zealous 
Christians. 

"  They  were  the  consolation  of  the  missionaries,  and  shone  conspicuous 
by  their  virtues  among  the  tribes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  They  were 
especially  distinguished  by  an  admirable  simplicity,  a  great  charity,  and  a 
rare  honesty  in  all  their  dealings  with  their  neighbors,  and  an  innocence  of 
manner  worthy  of  the  primitive  Christians." 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  413 

Father  De  Smet  follows  this  by  a  short  account  of  the  tribe  and  country. 
«'  The  two  tribes  of  the  Koetenays  and  Flatbows,"  he  says,  "  number  over  a 
thousand  souls.  They  are  principally  divided  into  two  camps,  and  are  known 
in  their  country  under  the  name  of  Skalzi.  One  of  these  camps,  numbering 
about  three  hundred,  inhabits  sometimes  the  neighborhood  of  the  great  Flat- 
head  Lake,  and  sometimes  the  great  Tobacco  Plain,  which  is  watered  by  the 
Koetenay  River — the  distance  is  about  seventy  miles. 

"  The  Tobacco  Plain  is  a  remarkable  spot,  situated  between  the  forty- 
ninth  and  fiftieth  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and  is  the  only  great  plain  pos- 
sessed by  this  camp.  It  is  about  fifty  or  sixty  miles  long,  by  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  in  width.  It  resembles  a  large  basin,  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains, 
which  form  a  vast  and  beautiful  amphitheatre,  and  presents  a  picturesque 
sight.  The  plain  has  all  the  appearance  of  the  dry  bed  of  a  vast  lake. 
Towards  the  south  the  valley  is  gravelly,  undulating,  and  covered  with  little 
hillocks,  and  patches  here  and  there  are  susceptible  of  cultivation;  the  north- 
ern portion,  on  the  contrary,  has  a  uniform  surface  and  a  considerable  extent 
of  excellent  arable  land. 

"  Though  the  land  is  very  elevated,  and  far  towards  the  north  the  tem- 
perature is  remarkably  mild,  severe  cold  being  a  rare  occurrence,  and  the 
snow  is  seldom  deep;  it  falls  frequently  during  the  season,  but  disappears 
almost  as  it  falls,  absorbed,  perhaps,  by  the  rarefaction  of  the  atmosphere  at 
this  elevation,  or,  perhaps,  driven  off  by  the  southern  breeze,  which  blows 
almost  uninterruptedly  in  the  valley,  and  drives  the  snow  off  as  it  falls. 
Horses  and  horned  cattle  find  abundant  pasture  during  the  whole  year. 

"  The  large  river,  called  indifferently  the  Koetenay,  the  McGilvray,  and 
the  Flatbow  River,  flows  through  the  entire  valley.  It  rises  to  the  north- 
west of  this  region,  and  its  course  is  towards  the  southeast  for  a  considerable 
distance.  The  waters  of  this  great  river  are  increased  by  a  large  number  of 
brooks  and  beautiful  rivulets,  which  have  their  source,  for  the  most  part,  in 
the  lovely  lakes  or  numerous  basins  of  these  beautiful  mountains.  Many  of 
these  streams  present  to  the  eye  the  most  charming  scenes  in  their  course. 
The  noise  of  their  waters  and  the  sweet  murmur  of  their  falls  are  heard  at 
some  distance,  and  the  eye  is  charmed  by  their  descent  from  height  after 
height,  and  their  succession  of  cascades,  from  which  they  escape  to  the  plain, 
covered  with  foam,  and,  as  it  were,  exhausted  by  the  struggles  of  the  way. 
These  mountain  torrents  will  some  day  -  be  the  sites  of  mills  of  every 
description. 


414  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

"  Coal  exists  in  many  portions  of  the  country,  lead  is  found  in  abundance, 
and  I  venture  to  say  that  more  precious  minerals  repose  in  the  bosom  of  the 
mountains,  and  will  one  day  be  brought  to  light  there. 

"  The  Indians  have  devoted  themselves  to  agriculture  for  some  years 
past.  They  cultivate  little  fields  of  maize,  barley,  oats,  and  potatoes,  all  of 
which  ripen.  It  is  rare  that  the  frost  injures  the  crops  before  the  season  of 
harvest.  Their  small  fields  cannot  be  extended,  owing  to  the  want  of  in- 
struments of  agriculture.  They  are  compelled  to  turn  the  earth  with 
instruments  of  the  most  primitive  construction,  such  as  Adam  may  have  used 
in  his  day.  The  pointed  stick,  made  of  a  very  hard  wood,  is  what  they  have 
used  from  ages  immemorial  to  dig  up  the  camash,  the  bitter-root,  the  wappa- 
too  {sagitta  folia),  the  caious,  or  biscuit-root,  and  other  vegetables  of  the 
same  description. 

"  These  Indians  are  very  industrious.  They  are  rarely  unemployed. 
Their  time  is  fully  occupied  in  making  bows  and  arrows,  lines  or  hooks,  or 
in  hunting  and  fishing,  or  seeking  roots  or  wild  fruits  for  their  numerous 
families.  They  extend  their  hunt  often  to  the  great  plains  of  the  Blackfeet 
and  the  Crows,  to  the  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  on  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Missouri  and  the  Saskatchawan.  Deprived  as  they  are  of  agricultural 
implements  and  fire-arms,  they  are  always  in  want,  and  they  may  be  said  to 
keep  a  perpetual  Lent. 

"  The  missionaries  furnished  them  with  a  few  plows  and  spades.  Last 
year  I  forwarded  to  them,  by  the  steamer  of  the  Missouri  Fur  Company  at 
St.  Louis,  some  necessary  agricultural  implements,  such  as  plows,  etc. ;  but 
the  boat  was  burned  with  all  her  cargo,  above  the  Yellowstone  River. 

"  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  no  more  can  be  done  for  these  good 
Indians,  for,  of  all  the  mountain  tribes,  they  are  at  once  the  best  disposed  and 
the  most  necessitous.  The  beau-ideal  of  the  Indian  character,  uncontaminated 
by  contact  with  the  whites,  is  found  among  them.  What  is  most  pleasing  to 
the  stranger,  is  to  see  their  simplicity,  united  with  sweetness  and  innocence, 
keep  step  with  the  most  perfect  dignity  and  modesty  of  deportment.  The 
gross  vices  which  dishonor  the  red  man  on  the  frontiers  are  utterly  unknown 
among  them.  They  are  honest  to  scrupulosity. 

"  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  during  the  forty  years  that  it  has  been 
trading  in  furs  with  them,  has  never  been  able  to  perceive  that  the  smallest 
object  had  been  stolen  from  them.  The  agent  of  the  company  takes  his  furs 
down  to  Colville  every  spring,  and  does  not  return  before  autumn.  During 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN.  415 

his  absence  the  store  is  confided  to  the  care  of  an  Indian,  who  trades  in  the 
name  of  the  company,  and  on  the  return  of  the  agent,  renders  him  a  most 
exact  account  of  his  trust.  I  repeat  here,  what  I  stated  in  a  preceding  letter, 
that  the  store  often  remains  without  anyone  to  watch  it,  the  door  unlocked 
and  unbolted,  and  the  goods  are  never  stolen.  The  Indians  go  in  and  out, 
help  themselves  to  what  they  want,  and  always  scrupulously  leave  in  place 
of  whatever  article  they  take  its  exact  value. 

"  The  following  anecdote  will  serve  to  give  an  idea  of  the  delicacy  of 
conscience  of  these  good  Indians. 

"  An  old  chief,  poor  and  blind,  came  from  a  great  distance,  guided  by  his 
son,  to  consult  the  priest;  his  only  object  being  to  receive  baptism,  if  he  should 
be  considered  worthy  of  the  privilege.  He  stated  to  the  missionary,  that,  in 
spite  of  his  ardent  desire  to  be  baptized,  he  had  not  dared  to  approach  the 
priest  for  that  purpose,  owing  to  a  small  debt  of  two  beaver  skins  (say  ten 
dollars)  which  he  had  contracted. 

"'  My  poverty,'  said  he,  '  has  always  prevented  me  from  fulfilling  this 
obligation ;  and  until  I  had  done  so,  I  dared  not  gratify  the  dearest  wish  of  my 
heart.  At  last  I  had  a  thought.  I  begged  my  friends  to  be  charitable  to  me. 
I  am  now  in  possession  of  a  fine  buffalo-robe;  I  wish  to  make  myself  worthy 
of  baptism.'  The  missionary,  accompanied  by  the  old  man,  went  to  the 
clerk  of  the  company  to  learn  the  particulars  of  the  debt.  The  clerk 
examined  the  books,  but  said  that  no  such  debt  existed. 

"  The  chief  still  insisted  on  paying,  but  the  clerk  refused  to  take  the  robe. 
'  Have  pity  on  me,'  at  last  exclaimed  the  worthy  old  man ;  '  this  debt  has  ren- 
dered me  wretched  long  enough;  for  years  it  has  weighed  on  my  conscience. 
I  wish  to  belong  to  the  blameless  and  pure  prayer  (religion),  and  to  make 
myself  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  child  of  God.  This  buffalo-robe  covers  my 
debt,'  and  he  spread  it  on  the  ground  at  the  feet  of  the  clerk.  He  received 
baptism  and  returned  home  contented  and  happy. 

"A  young  Koetenay,  who  had  been  baptized  in  infancy,  during  my  first 
visit  in  1845,  had  emigrated,  with  his  parents,  to  the  Soushwaps,  in  the  moun- 
tainous regions  near  Fraser  River.  His  parents  desired  to  marry  him  to  a 
young  woman  who  was  as  yet  unbaptized;  he  had  a  sister  in  the  same  condi- 
tion. It  was  resolved  that  the  three  should  make  the  long  journey  of  many 
weeks'  travel  to  reach  the  mission,  in  order  that  both  sacraments  might  be 
received. 

"On  their  arrival,  their  ardent  faith  and  praiseworthy  earnestness  were 


4i 6  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  admiration  of  the  whole  village.  The  fervent  missionary,  Father 
Menetry,  instructed  these  zealous  neophytes  and  prepared  them  for  holy  bap- 
tism. The  young  man,  who  had  not  seen  a  priest  since  1845,  had  prepared 
•himself  to  approach  the  tribunal  of  penance  for  the  first  time,  in  order  to 
make  his  first  communion,  and  to  receive  the  nuptial  benediction  with  the 
proper  dispositions. 

"On  the  day  appointed  for  the  administration  of  all  these  sacraments,  the 
young  Koetenay  presented  himself,  with  an  humble  and  modest  air,  at  the 
confessional.  He  held  in  his  hands  some  bundles  of  cedar  chips,  about  the 
size  of  ordinary  matches,  and  divided  into  small  bunches  of  different  sizes. 
After  kneeling  in  the  confessional  and  saying  the  Confiteor,  he  handed  the 
little  bundles  to  the  priest.  '  These,  my  father,'  said  he,  'are  the  result  of  my 
examination  of  conscience.  This  bundle  is  such  a  sin.  Count  the  chips,  and 
you  will  know  how  many  times  I  have  committed  it.  The  second  bundle  is 
such  a  sin,'  and  so  he  continued  his  confession. 

"  His  confession  was  accompanied  with  such  sincere  signs  of  grief  that 
his  confessor  was  affected  to  tears.  It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with 
admiration  for  the  simplicity  of  heart  which  led  our  young  savage  in  his 
desire  to  perform  this  duty  with  the  utmost  exactitude,  to  this  new  method  of 
making  a  confession ;  but  still  more  admirable  is  the  adorable  grace  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  thus  sheds  His  gifts  upon  these,  His  poor  children  of  the 
desert,  and,  if  I  may  dare  to  say  so,  adapts  Himself  to  their  capacity. 

"  In  their  zeal  and  fervor,  the  Koetenays  have  built  a  little  church  of 
round  logs  on  the  great  Tobacco  Prairie.  They  carried  the  logs,  which  aver- 
aged from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  in  length,  in  their  arms,  a  distance  of 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  raised  the  walls  of  the  new  church,  as  it 
were,  by  main  force.  The  exterior  is  covered  with  straw  and  sods. 

"  In  this  humble  house  of  the  Lord  they  meet  morning  and  evening  to 
offer  to  the  Great  Spirit  their  fervent  prayers — the  first-fruits  of  the  day. 
How  striking  is  the  contrast  between  this  little  church  of  the  desert  and  the 
magnificent  temples  of  civilization,  especially  in  Europe.  The  majesty  of 
these  churches,  their  fine  pictures,  the  sculpture  which  adorns  their  walls,  and 
their  imposing  proportions,  inspire  the  beholder  with  admiration  and  awe; 
yet,  on  entering  this  little  cabin  consecrated  to  the  Great  Spirit,  in  the  desert, 
erected  by  poor  Indians — on  contemplating  the  profound  recollection,  the 
sincere  piety  depicted  on  their  features — on  hearing  them  recite  their  prayers, 
which  seem  to  rise  from  the  bottom  of  their  hearts,  it  is  difficult  to  refrain 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN. 

from  tears,  and  the  spectator  exclaims:  'Indeed,  this  poor  and  humble 
church  is  the  abode  of  the  Lord,  and  the  house  of  prayer ;  its  whole  beauty 
lies  in  the  piety,  zeal  and  fervor  of  those  who  enter  there !' 

"  In  this  humble  church  are  now  performed  all  the  religious  ceremonies 
of  baptism  and  marriage.  The  Indians  defer  them  until  the  appointed  season 
for  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries;  they  then  come  in  from  all  parts  of  the 
country.  '  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  those  who  announce  the  gospel  of 
peace.'  The  priest  of  this  mission  finds  the  truth  of  the  words,  '•Jiigum 
meum  suave — my  yoke  is  s*veet.'  No  sooner  has  he  arrived  than  all  crowd 
round  him,  as  beloved  children,  to  greet,  after  a  long  absence,  a  father  whom 
they  tenderly  venerate.  Even  the  hands  of  infants  are  placed  in  those  of  the 
missionary  by  their  mothers. 

"  A  long  conference  then  follows.  The  priest  gives  and  receives  all 
news  of  important  events  which  have  happened  since  the  last  meeting,  and 
regulates  with  the  chiefs  the  exercises  to  be  followed  during  his  present  visit. 
He  gives  two  instructions  a  day  to  adults,  and  catechises  the  children;  he 
helps  them  to  examine  well  their  consciences,  and  to  make  a  good  confession; 
he  prepares  them  to  approach  worthily  the  holy  table,  instructs  the  catechu- 
mens and  admits  them  to  baptism,  together  with  the  children  born  during  his 
absence;  he  renews  and  blesses  all  new  marriages;  and,  like  a  father,  settles 
any  difficulties  which  may  have  arisen.  Some  he  encourages  and  strengthens 
in  the  faith,  and  removes  the  doubts  and  soothes  the  inquietudes  of  others.  In 
a  word,  he  encourages  all  these  good  neophytes  to  know  the  Lord,  to  serve 
Him  faithfully,  and  love  Him  with  all  their  hearts. 

"  If  the  days  of  the  missionary  are  thus  filled  with  labor  and  fatigue,  he 
has  his  full  recompense  of  merit  and  consolation.  He  counts  them  among 
the  happiest  days  of  his  life.  The  Rev.  Father  Menetry,  their  missionary, 
during  his  visit  in  1858,  baptized  fifty  children  and  thirty  adults,  blessed  forty 
marriages,  and  heard  over  five  hundred  confessions. 

"  The  great  chief  of  the  Koetenays,  named  Michael,  recalls  in  the  midst 
of  his  tribe  the  life  and  virtues  of  the  ancient  patriarchs.  His  life  is  that  of 
a  good  and  tender  father,  surrounded  by  a  numerous  family  of  docile  and 
affectionate  children.  His  camp  numbers  four  hundred  souls.  They  are  all 
baptized,  and  they  walk  in  the  footsteps  of  their  worthy  chief.  It  is  truly  a 
delightful  spectacle  to  find,  in  the  bosom  of  these  isolated  mountains  of  the 
Columbia  River,  a  tribe  of  poor  Indians  living  in  the  greatest  purity  of  man- 
ners, and  leading  a  life  of  evangelic  simplicity.  They  are  almost  deprived  of 


4IS  THE  COLUMBIAN  JUBILEE. 

the  succors  of  religion,  and  receive  the  visit  of  a  priest  but  once  or  twice  in 
the  course  of  a  year." 

"In  1871  Father  De  Smet  sailed  for  Europe.  While  on  the  voyage  he 
met  with  an  unhappy  accident  that  was  serious  in  its  consequences.  On  one 
occasion,  a  few  days  before  reaching  the  shores  of  the  Old  World,  as  he  was 
descending  the  stairway  to  the  cabin,  a  huge  wave  struck  the  vessel,  and  the 
shock  was  such  that  the  hardy  and  venerable  missionary  was  thrown  to  the 
deck  below,  thus  breaking  one  of  his  ribs. 

Shortly  after  arriving  in  his  native  Belgium,  an  attack  of  kidney  disease 
added  to  the  injuries  from  which  he  was  already  suffering;  and,  at  one  time, 
his  friends  even  despaired  of  his  recovery.  But  he  grew  better.  He  was 
made  a  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Leopold,  an  honor  which  few  attain,  and  one 
which  he  held  in  Common  with  Marshal  MacMahon,  now  the  ex-president  of 
France. 

Father  De  Smet  returned  to  the  United  States,  reaching  St.  Louis  on 
April  25th,  1872.  But  years  of  exposure,  together  with  recent  injuries,  had 
shattered  his  iron  constitution,  and  he  never  regained  his  general  good  health. 
It  was  felt  that  the  days  of  the  great  Jesuit  were  numbered,  when  the  physi- 
cians decided  that  he  was  afflicted  with  Bright's  disease  of  the  kidney.  After 
much  suffering  he  calmly  breathed  his  soul  to  God,  surrounded  by  his  brother 
Jesuits,  in  his  seventy- second  year,  on  the  morning  of  the  23d  of  May,  1873. 
He  died  in  his  own  room  at  the  St.  Louis  University,  where  he  had  often 
been  visited  in  his  last  illness  by  his  countless  friends  of  all  religious  creeds 
and  ranks  of  society.  His  honored  remains  were  borne  to  Florissant,  and 
there,  where  he  first  began  his  religious  career  in  Missouri,  rests  all  that  is 
earthly  of  the  saintly  and  heroic  Father  Peter  John  de  Smet.  A  plain,  free- 
stone slab,  four  feet  by  eighteen  inches,  marks  his  last  resting-place,  having 
on  it  this  brief  inscription :  "Natns  18  Feb.,  1801;  Ingressus  19  Nov.,  1837; 
obiit  23  Mai,  1873." 

Whether  in  health  or  sickness,  this  illustrious  .nan  ^vas  as  simple  as  a 
child  in  his  manners.  To  the  last  he  was  cheerful  in  his  conversations,  and 
was  ever  ready  to  answer  questions  relating  to  his  travels,  missions,  and 
adventures  among  the  Indians.  His  narratives  were  recounted  in  such  clear, 
simple  language,  and  were  so  graphic,  graceful,  and  full  of  striking  incidents, 
that  even  children,  no  less  than  older  persons,  were  charmed  with  his  conver- 
sation. 

"I   never  knew  anyone,"  writes  Rev.  Walter   H.  Hill    S.J.,  now  of 


A  MODERN  BLACK  GOWN. 


419 


Chicago,  "who  could  relate  an  anecdote,  or  a  little  trait,  in  so  pleasing  a 
style  as  Father  De  Smet.  There  was  a  peculiar  charm  in  his  words,  and 
even  in  his  voice  and  countenance,  when  telling  those  little  narratives,  some- 
times humorous,  oftentimes  edifying,  and  always  interesting." 

The  great  missionary  loved  the  company  of  children.  He  would  some- 
times spend  an  hour  or  more  telling  them  stories  about  his  travels  among  the 
Indian  tribes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains;  and  often,  when  walking  the  streets 
of  St.  Louis,  groups  of  little  ones  would  crowd  around  him,  begging  him  to 
appoint  a  time  and  place  for  them  to  hear  him  relating  what  he  saw  when 
journeying  among  the  red  men  in  the  wilderness  of  the  far  west. 

Such  is  but  a  glimpse  of  the  manly  figure,  kind  ways,  and  lofty,  beautiful 
career  of  Father  De  Smet.  Most  of  the  Indian  missions  of  this  century 
would  have  been  nearly  impossible,  were  it  not  for  his  grand  zeal,  great  pru- 
dence, and  hardy  energy.  Boldly  penetrating  the  unknown  solitudes  of  the 
west,  he  conquered  the  almost  insurmountable  obstacles  that  beset  him  at 
every  step.  With  undaunted  heart,  he  faced  hostile  and  savage  tribes,  whose 
language  and  very  name  were  a  mystery  to  the  civilized  earth.  He  came,  he 
saw,  he  conquered ;  but  not  like  the  pagan  Caesar.  He  opened  heaven  to  the 
vanquished.  He  converted, baptized,  Christianized  the  wild  clans  of  the  west; 
and  his  holy  and  tireless  apostolate  was  continued ,  year  after  year,  almost  to 
the  very  day  of  his  departure  from  this  world. 


OSTREV.PA.FEEHAH.D.D 

ARCHBISHOP 

OF 

CHICAGO 
THE  PHOTECTOR 

OF 
OUR  SCHOOLS 


STATUE    OF   ARCHBISHOP    PEEHAN    IN   COEARA    MARBLE,   GIFT   OF    THE   CLERGY 

OF   CHICAGO. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  3 

Catholic  Education  Day. 

WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION, 
CHICAGO,  1893. 

Most  Rev.  P.  A.  FEEHAN,  D.  D.  Archbishop  of  Chicago,  Presiding. 

Rt.  Rev.  J.  L.  SPALDING,  D.  D.,  President  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit, 
Director  of  Ceremonies. 

ORDER  OP  EXERCISES. 

AMERICAN  REPUBLIC  MAECH — (Thiele),     -     -     Brand's  Cincinnati  Band. 
WOBDS  OF  WELCOME,        -  His  Grace.  Archbishop  Feehan. 

THE  CATHOLIC  VIEW  OF  EDUCATION, 

Most  Rev.  John  Hennessy,  D.  D. ,  Archbishop  of  Dubuque. 
ORGAN  SOLO — Tema  Con  Variazioni  (Moszowski),  -  -  Harrison  Wilde. 
VOCATION  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  EDUCATOR, 

Most  Rev.  P.  J.  Ryan,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of  Philadelphia. 
WHAT  CATHOLICS  HAVE  DONE  FOR  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,  New  York  State  Supreme  Court. 
ORGAN  SOLO — OVERTURE — "Guillaume  Tell"  (Rossini),  -  Harrison  Wilde. 
PATRIOTISM — A  Sequence  of  Catholic  Education, 

Hon.  Thomas  J.  Gargan,  Boston,  Mass. 

HYMN,  TE  DEUM  (Holy  God  We  Praise  Thy  Name),  Organ  Accompaniment. 
FINALE — American  Airs  (Catlin),        -  -    Brand's  Cincinnati  Band. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  American  Republic  March  by  Brand's 
Cincinnati  Band,  ARCHBISHOP  FEEHAN,  delivered  the  address  of 
welcome.  He  spoke  as  follows: 

ARCHBISHOP  FEEHAN'S  ADDRESS. 

We  are  assembled  to-day,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  a  very  noble  cause. 
We  are  come  together  as  Catholics,  and  as  good  citizens  also.  We  are 
assembled  as  Catholics,  deeply  and  earnestly  interested  in  that  great 
cause — and  I  may  say  one  of  the  greatest  of  causes, — that  of  the  Catholic 
education  of  youth.  And  because  we  are  interested  in  the  matter  of 
education  in  its  great,  grand,  true  sense,  therefore  are  we  also  assembled 
as  good  citizens  of  the  Republic;  because  we  believe  most  thoroughly 
that  the  more  perfect  education  of  the  young  in  every  true  sense,  the 
more  perfect  will  be  the  order  of  citizenship  in  this  great  country. 

As  we  know  that  the  stream  coming  from  the  mountain  bears  with  it 
its  own  purity  and  freshness,  so  this  great  intellectual  training  and  edu- 
cation of  the  young,  coming  from  the  first  fountain  and  the  purest  of  all 
knowledge — that  fountain  of  Religion — we  believe  must  give  to  the 
young  its  own  f  reshness,  its  own  holiness,  its  own  beauty,  its  own  com- 
pletion and  finish. 

Within  a  few  months  there  has  arisen  here  this  wonderful  exhibition 
of  man's  enterprise  and  genius.  Men  come  from  every  clime  to  see  it, 
not  only  with  pleasure,  but  with  wonder.  And  when  we  look  around 
and  see  these  wonderful  material  things,  indicating  the  material  progress 


4  CA  THOLIC  EDUCATION  DA  Y. 

of  the  world  up  to  the  time  of  our  era,  we  are  pleased,  also,  to  under- 
stand and  to  know  that  there  are  signs  and  proofs  of  a  higher  develop- 
ment and  of  a  nobler  work  than  that  merely  material  one,  and  that  is, 
that  during1  this  great  Exposition  there  are  so  many  proofs  given  of  the 
intellectual,  the  moral  and  the  religious  welfare,  and,  I  may  say,  progress 
of  man.  It  is  a  great  advantage  to  enjoy  these  improvements  of  modern 
times,  and  yet  we  know  that  men  might  be  highly  cultivated  and  highly 
civilized  even  without  these,  as  they  have  been  in  the  past.  We  know 
that  Plato  and  Aristotle  and  St.  Thomas  nevei  saw  a  steamer — they 
knew  nothing  of  the  great  wonders  of  electricity,  and  yet  they  were 
highly  civilized  and  cultivated. 

Amongst  the  wonderful  things  to  be  seen  here  that  tend  to  the  higher 
things  of  man — to  the  higher  development  and  the  higher  cultivation 
and  civilization,  I  may  mention,  with  great  and  supreme  pleasure,  that 
great  exhibition  of  our  Catholic  schools,  of  the  methods  and  the  sys- 
tems employed  throughout  this  broad  land  by  the  Catholic  Church  in  the 
education  of  the  young.  There  could  be  no  higher  or  greater  object 
lesson  than  this.  We,  who  have  witnessed — have  diligently  examined — 
the  Catholic  exhibition  from  every  part  of  the  country,  have  acknowl- 
edged its  excellence.  And  whoever  earnestly  and  impartially  examines 
even  a  little  of  this  proof  of  the  methods  of  the  training  and  education  of 
Catholic  youth;  from  little  children  to  the  highest  finish  of  our  schools 
and  colleges — whoever  does  this  earnestly,  can  never  again  say,  and 
should  not  permit  it  to  be  said  in  our  generation,  that  Catholic  schools 
and  Catholic  education  are  inferior  to  any  other  to  be  found  in  the  whole 
country. 

Those  wonderful  works  of  this  strange  city;  those  great  proofs  of 
talent  and  genius,  that  have  formed  the  delight  and  the  pleasure  of  all 
who  have  visited  this  great  Exposition — this  will  soon  pass  away:  in  a 
few  brief  months  there  will  be  none  of  them  here.  They  will  all  pass 
from  man's  sight,  it  is  probable,  before  the  snows  fall  upon  the  ground 
here.  But  we  know  that  everything  that  this  great  Exposition  has 
brought  forward  and  developed,  and  that  it  represents,  will  not  pass 
away;  that  the  higher  things  concerning  the  welfare  and  the  benefit  of 
man  will  not  be  covered  up  by  the  snows  of  winter,  and  that  they  will 
not  disappear.  There  are  many  things  connected  with  this  wonderful 
Exposition  that  will  live,  not  only  for  our  time,  but  for  the  generations 
that  are  coming  after.  And  amongst  the  things  that  will  not  perish,  that 
will  certainly  live,  not  only  for  our  time  but  for  those  that  come 
after  us,  will  be  the  lessons  and  the  results  of  this  grand  exhi- 
bition of  the  teachings  and  the  methods  of  Catholic  schools. 
They  will  give  a  development  to  Catholic  education.  This  exhibi- 
tion will  give  encouragement  to  those  who  devote  themselves  to 
Catholic  education.  Catholic  education  will  acquire  from  them  new 
springs  of  wealth,  a  new  force  and  new  development,  to  increase  and 
spread  over  the  whole  land;  and  we  look  forward  to  the  time  coming 
when  this  wonderful  system  of  the  education  of  our  schools  will  be  every- 
where, and  we  know  that  the  effects  will  be  holy,  beautiful,  beneficent; 
it  will  make  men  \viser  and  better  than  they  would  be  without  it;  that 
it  will  make  them  good  citizens  and  strong  and  conservative  men;  that 
its  influence  will  be  for  good  and  for  the  highest  order — that  it  will  be 
like  the  beneficent  effects  of  those  dews  that  God  sends  to  make  the  earth 
fruitful. 

It  is  in  order  to  emphasize  this  great  work  of  the  Catholic  exhibit, 
and  to  emphasize,  also,  this  great  system  of  Catholic  teaching  and 
training,  that  those  so  much  interested  thought  well  of  having  what 
they  call  Catholic  Education  Day,  and  then  notified  distinguished  men 
and  orators,  some  of  them  from  distant  parts  of  the  country,  to  come  to 
speak  to  you,  to  say  a  word  of  encouragement  and  advice  to  all  the 
people — to  all  of  us,  and,  in  an  especial  manner,  must  I  not  say,  to  all 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  5 

those  who  have  made  this  a  possibility,  amongst  us,  and  they  who  have 
made  this  a  possibility  amongst  us  are  the  members  of  these  great 
teaching  communities  that  are  doing  this  wonderful  work  throughout 
the  land  everywhere  of  Catholic  education. 

In  connection  with  our  interests  as  regards  this  great  Fair,  it  will 
not,  I  am  sure,  be  considered  out  of  place  for  me,  as  representative  of 
the  Catholic  interests  of  this  great  city,  to  express  our  thanks  to  the 
managers  of  the  Exposition — to  the  gentlemen  connected  with  it  with 
whom  we  have  had  occasion  to  come  directly  in  contact.  All  who  are 
interested  in  the  great  work  of  the  exhibit  of  Catholic  education  have 
experienced,  I  believe — I  am  sure — at  every  time,  the  greatest  kindness 
and  the  greatest  courtesy  from  the  gentlemen  connected  not  only  with 
educational  matters,  but  wJth  all  the  business  of  this  wonderful  Expo- 
sition. And,  therefore,  I  take  the  liberty  to-day,  in  the  name  of  our 
people  of  our  section,  to  say  this  word  of  thanks  and  gratitude  to  all 
these  gentlemen. 

You  will  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  eloquent  voices,  who  will 
speak  to  you  a  good  deal  better  than  I  can,  though  they  cannot  be  more 
interested  than  I  in  the  great  cause  of  Catholic  education. 

Director  General  Davis  by  reason  of  his  many  engagements  was 
unable  to  be  present,  and  Dr.  Selim  H.  Peabody,  Chief  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Liberal  Arts,  responding  to  the  words  of  welcome,  said : 

DR.  SELIM  H.  PEABODY'S  ADDRESS. 

No  one  will  regret  more  than  I  that  the  distinguished  gentleman 
who  stands  at  the  head  of  this  Exposition  as  the  Director-General  cannot 
be  present  this  morning,  to  accept  the  thanks  which  the  Archbishop  has 
so  courtly  presented  to  him  and  to  his  colleagues,  and  to  express  to  you 
his  gratification  at  this  large  audience  on  this  auspicious  day. 

The  Exposition,  which  celebrates  the  coming  of  Columbus  over  the 
water  and  the  discovery  of  this  continent,  would  not  be  complete  in  its 
recognition,  in  its  preparation,  in  any  of  its  results,  if  it  should  forget 
the  auspices  under  which  Columbus  came  to  America.  We  remember 
that,  in  1492,  the  last  of  the  Moors  passed  away  from  Granada,  and 
Spain  became  one  kingdom.  The  last,  the  long,  contest  between  the 
Cross  and  the  Crescent  culminated  in  the  victory  of  the  Cross  in  Spain 
and  the  monarchs,  who  then  were  united  in  one  family,  governing 
one  kingdom,  earned  the  title,  which  they  have  ever  since  worn, 
The  Most  Catholic  Majesty  of  Spain. 

Now,  Queen  Isabella,  when  she  sent  Columbus  across  the  waves  that 
he  might  discover  a  new  continent,  or  a  new  way  to  an  old  one,  remem- 
bered that  this  continent  would  be  peopled  with  men  and  women  having 
&ouls,  and  she  cared  for  what  she  understood  to  be  the  welfare  of  these 
souls,  by  sending  with  Columbus  the  representatives  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  she  so  loved.  I  might  say,  further,  that  no  body  of 
people  counting  themselves  Christians  has  so  fully  responded  to 
that  great  commission,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature,"  as  this  body  represented  before  me  today.  And  so 
we  find  the  paths  of  the  missionaries  who  went  out  without  force 
of  arms  behind  them,  to  open  the  way  before  them  to  other  nations;  we 
see  them  treading  their  course  across  these  prairies  and  teaching  Indians 
the  way  of  life.  So,  while  we  learn  of  LaSalle,  we  remember  also  Father 
Hennepin  and  Pierre  Marquette.  So  I  say  that  this  Exposition  could 
not  do  otherwise  than  recognize  the  force,  the  underlying  po%ver,  the 
great  results  which  have  been  brought  to  America  by  the  Catholic  teach- 
ers, carrying  with  them  the  Cross  and  the  symbols  of  the  Catholic  faith. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  attempt  to  make  any  specific  ecclesiastical 


6  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

exhibit,  other  than  such  grand  exhibits  as  you  bring  on  a  day  like  this, 
when' you  bring  your  own  highest  dignitaries — when  you  bring  those 
who  represent  your  orders  of  men  and  women,  and  when  you  bring 
representatives  of  your  people — bring  all  those  orders  who  reverence 
your  symbols,  who  hold  your  faith — those  are  your  exhibits. 

But  I  should  speak  more  directly  of  the  Catholic  Educational  exhibit. 
It  has  been  my  fortune  to  look  after  that  in  some  directions;  to  see  that  it 
had  a  position  and  a  suitable  one,  and  I  have  observed  the  great  skill, 
the  wisdom,  the  patience,  the  care,  the  consideration,  which  have  been 
exhibited  by  all  of  those  who  have  had  charge  of  gathering  this  exhibit, 
of  putting  it  in  place,  and  of  keeping  it  before  this  great  American 
people.  You  have  done  admirably  in  all  these  respects.  I  think  of  the 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  fingers  which  have  been  employed  all  over 
this  land  in  the  preparatition  of  this  exhibit.  I  think  of  the  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  fingers  and  of  minds  and  teachers  who  have  cared  for 
the  general  educational  exhibit.  My  friends,  I  believe  we  have  the  most 
wonderful,  as  we  have  the  most  extensive,  educational  exhibit  which  this 
world  has  ever  seen.  I  expect  that  its  influence  upon  all  phases  of  edu- 
cation will  be  stimulating,  will  be  encouraging,  will  be  developing, 
and  that  your  portion  of  it,  as  the  other  portions  of  it,  will  receive 
the  rewards  which  naturally  follow  from  the  labors  presented  in  such  an 
exhibit.  We  rejoice  in  all  its  beauty  and  in  all  its  completeness,  in  all 
the  great  excellence  that  it  exhibits.  It  will  not  be  necessary  for  me  to 
enter  into  detail  here.  Most  of  you  have  seen  it;  others,  who  have  not 
seen  it,  will  take  the  opportunity  to-day  to  look  through  it  carefully  and 
see  what  it  presents. 

I  must  then,  Your  Grace,  thank  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Director- 
General,  for  the  kind  expressions  which  you  have  stated  for  him  and  for 
his  colleagues,  and  express  my  belief  that  all  which  you  have  said  in 
regard  to  this  educational  exhibit  will  be  found  to  come  true  in  the 
fruitions  which  are  to  follow. 

Archbishop  Feehan,  in  introducing  the  Most  Rev.  John  Hen- 
uessy,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of  Dubuque,  said: 

I  have  the  honor,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  of  introducing  to  you 
krehbishop  Hennessy,  of  Dubuque,  who  will  now  address  you. 

ARCHBISHOP  HENNESSY'S  ADDBESS. 

The  Catholic  view  of  education  can  be  obtained  from  the  consider- 
ation of  certain  points  of  Catholic  teaching  bearing  upon  the  subject,  as 
tvell  as  from  the  practice  of  the  Church  in  her  schools  for  children. 

To  obtain  a  clear  and  correct  idea  of  education,  it  is  necessary  to 
consider  who  is  to  be  educated,  his  condition,  his  destiny,  the  means  and 
aids  provided  to  attain  it,  and  the  obstacles  in  the  way,  if  any.  God  and 
man  and  their  relations  to  one  another  must  be  considered,  also  the 
dignity  of  man,  his  fall,  and  that  of  the  angels,  and  the  effects  of  both 
on  him,  the  mysteries  of  the  Incarnation  and  Atonement,  the  institution 
of  the  Church  and  its  purpose,  her  mission,  her  prerogatives  and  posses- 
sions, and  the  result  of  her  labors.  All  these  are  so  closely  related  to 
the  question  of  education  that  without  a  thorough  consideration  of  them 
-he  subject  itself  cannot  be  understood,  nor  its  importance  and  difficulty 
duly  appreciated. 

God  made  all  things  for  man  and  man  for  Himself.  He  made  him  in 
flis  own  image  and  likeness.  He  created  him  in  grace,  the  masterpiece 
of  omnipotence.  Everything  else  He  made  by  a  word  in  an  apparently 
careless  manner,  man  by  the  joint  effort  of  the  three  divine  persons  after 
consultation  over  their  work.  In  creation  made  up  of  spirit  and  matter, 
substances  by  their  nature  far  removed  one  from  the  other,  man  is  the 
bond  between  them  and  also  the  link  in  the  chain  of  beings  by  which 


WORLD'S  COL  UMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  7 

GOD  DBAWS  ALL  THINGS  TO   HIMSELF 

and  holds  them  together  in  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation.  In  the 
Church  he  is  a  new  creature.  A  member  of  the  mystic  body  of  Christ, 
the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  sharer  of  the  divine  nature,  an  adopted 
son  of  God,  a  brother  and  co-heir  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  nature  in  the 
persons  of  our  Lord  and  His  blessed  Mother  occupies  the  highest  place 
in  heaven  next  to  God.  The  education  of  such  a  one  should  be,  as  indeed 
it  is,  exceedingly  important.  Man  is  not  as  he  came  from  God's  hands. 
He  is  fallen  by  his  own  fault.  Oh,  what  a  fall !  Who  will  measure  its 
depth  and  the  ruin  it  effected.  The  terrible  sentence  of  two-fold  death, 
death  of  soul  and  death  of  body,  pronounced  by  God  on  man,  such  a 
sentence  as  human  ears  never  heard,  and  the  mode  of  reparation  adopted 
by  Him,  throw  a  lurid  light  on  the  terrible  wreck.  God  might  have  for- 
given the  outrage,  He  might  have  accepted  any  reparation  and  rein- 
stated man.  He  did  not  do  so ;  He  demanded  full  satisfaction  and  that 
of  man,  the  offender.  Hence  the  need  of  a  man  who  could  make  an 
infinite  atonement  and  thus  satisfy  the  most  rigorous  exactions  of  Divine 
justice.  After  God's  Son  had  descended  to  the  depths  of  our  degrada- 
tion and  by  a  sort  of  annihilation  of  self  become  one  of  us,  a  sigh,  a  tear,  a 
prayer,  a  wish  of  His  would  have  satisfied  justice,  yet  was  His  life 
demanded  to  mark  the  anger  of  God  and  the  enormity  of  the  outrage. 
Thus  did  sin  take  the  life  of  God  incarnate,  as  it  had  attempted  to  do 
from  the  beginning,  but  attempted  in  vain  till  he  put  on  a  body.  God 
annihilated  himself,  as  it  were,  to  come  in  contact  with  our  humanity 
that  He  might  seize  it  with  both  His  hands  to  lift  it,  God  dead  in  the 
effort  to  reinstate  it,  serves  to  show,  if  anything  can  show  us,  the  depths 
of  our  degradation  and  misery  in  His  eyes.  Add  to  this  the  wicked  work 
of  the  fallen  angels.  Their  name  is  legion  ;  they  are  of  all  the  choirs  of 
the  hierarchy  ;  they  are  intelligent, 

CUNNING,  DECEPTIVE,  TIRELESS  AND  UBIQUITOUS. 

They  hate  God  with  all  the  intense  malignity  of  their  depraved  con* 
dition,  and  this  hate,  impotent  against  Him,  is  turned  on  man  in  all  its 
fury,  to  thwart  and  defeat,  as  far  as  in  them  lies,  the  reparation  in  him 
of  God's  image  and  likeness.  "  The  devil  goeth  about  like  a  roaring  lion, 
seeking  whom  he  may  devour,  "says  St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul  says  our  wrest- 
ling is  not  with  flesh  and  blood,  but  with  principalities  and  powers. 
Thus  revelation  teaches  us  the  spirit  and  mission  of  the  rebel  angels, 
whilst  the  records  of  history  and  daily  experience  attest  aloud  their  ruin- 
ous success.  By  order  of  the  Holy  Father,  every  morning  after  Mass  the 
priest  prays  to  St.  Michael  to  defend  us  in  the  day  of  battle,  to  be  our 
safeguard  against  the  wickedness  and  snares  of  the  devil,  and  by  the 
power  of  God  to  thrust  down  to  hell  the  wicked  spirits  that  seek  the  ruin 
of  souls.  To  repair  the  ruin  of  our  nature,  to  help  us  defeat  the  machin- 
ations of  the  evil  one,  to  guide  homewards  men  of  good  will,  God  insti- 
tuted His  Church  and  enriched  her  with  His  merits.  The  work  assigned 
her  and  faithfully  performed  by  her  is  eminently  that  of  education. 

To  educate  is  to  draw  out  and  develop  the  latent  or  feeble  powers  of  a 
given  subject  in  relation  to  its  end.  Man  belongs  to  God  and  was  made 
to  enjoy  His  society  forever.  Soul  and  body  he  should  tend  towards  his 
destiny.  In  his  soul  there  are  various  faculties,  namely  memory,  imagi- 
nation, intellect,  free  will,  also  appetites.  The  soul  and  all  these  powers 
should  live  and  work  for  God.  They  have  a  beginning,  a  growth,  a 
development.  To  aid  this  growth,  to  advance  it  and  direct  it  to  its 
proper  end,  this  is  education.  Any  action  on  the  soul  or  on  any  of  its 
powers  or  faculties  that  has  not  this  aim  is  not  education,  but  the  reverse. 

EDUCATION  BUILDS  UP  AND  TENDS  TO  PERFECTION, 

it  never  obstructs  or  pulls  down.  "Education,"  says  Webster  in  his 
dictionarv.  "is  properly  to  draw  forth,  and  implies  not  so  much  the  com- 


8  CATHOLIC  ED UCATION  DA F. 

munication  of  knowledge  as  the  discipline  of  the  intellect,  the  establish- 
ment of  the  principles  and  the  regulation  of  the  heart.  Instruction  is 
that  part  of  education  which  furnishes  the  mind  with  knowledge."  An 
integral  education,"  says  Johnson  in  his  cyclopedia,  "  must  include  at 
least  five  branches, — physical,  moral,  intellectual,  aesthetic  and  religious. 
The  tendency,"  he  says,  "is  to  remove  all  purely  religious  teachings 
from  all  institutions  of  public  instruction,  leaving  it  to  the  f  amily  and 
the  Church.  Hence  the  great  development  of  the  Sunday  School."  Edu- 
cation, according  to  both,  embraces  a  religious  element.  "To  furnish  the 
mind  with  knowledge  is  but  a  part  of  education,"  says  Webster,  who 
seems  to  lay  stress  on  the  principles  that  regulate  the  heart. 

The  education  of  man  made  for  God  must  in  all  its  detail  be  on  the 
line  of  his  destiny;  the  education  of  a  supernatural  being  must  be  in  that 
order,  and  therefore  religious  ;  the  education  of  an  immortal  being  must 
in  all  its  powers  and  faculties  have  an  influence  reaching  away  beyond 
the  limits  of  time  and  must  therefore  be  religious  ;  the  education  of  a  soul 
made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  must  tend  to  draw  out,  define  and 
perfect  that  image,  and  therefore  be  eminently  religious.  To  speak  of  edu- 
cating or  set  about  educating  a  man  in  this  or  that  science,  in  these  or  those 
branches  usually  taught  in  our  schools  with  a  view  only  to  his  comfort 
here  for  a  few — a  very  few — years,  and  make  no  other  provision  for  his 
welfare,  is  to  betray  a  stupid,  a  shameful  ignorance  of  who  he  is  and 
what  he  is  ;  it  is  to  deny  practically  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the 
supernatural  order  ;  and  to  treat  him  as  an  animal.  This  is  sheer  mate- 
rialism. From  the  contagion  of  such  a  view  of  education  and  its  conse- 
quences may  God  preserve  the  country. 

EDUCATION  IS  TWOFOLD,  RELIGIOUS  AXD  SECULAR, 

it  fits  man  at  once  for  this  life  and  for  that  which  is  to  come.  The  religious 
is  the  dominant,  the  essential  element  in  education,  it  is  its  soul.  The 
two  elements,  which,  like  soul  and  body,  are  one,  can  and  should  mutu- 
ally aid  each  other.  The  religious  element  ennobles,  elevates,  purifies, 
inspires,  directs  the  secular  or  scientific  element,  and  the  secular  fur- 
nishes it  in  turn  with  basis  for  greater  growth.  They  should  not  be 
divorced,  and  cannot  be  without  detriment  to  both.  God  and  nature, 
with  whom  they  are  busy,  cannot  be  separated.  As  the  separation  of 
soul  and  body  means  death  and  dissolution,  so  the  separation  or  divorce 
of  religion  and  science  will  inevitably  result  in  the  corruption  of  the 
latter. 

The  nature  of  the  child  to  be  educated  is  fallen.  The  sad  consequen- 
ces of  the  fall  are  traceable  in  body  in  soul,  in  all  the  sources  of  one,  in 
all  the  faculties  of  the  other.  The  intellect  is  dark,  the  wUl  weak,  imag- 
ination defiled,  the  memory  leaky,  treacherous,  the  lower  appetites 
insubordinate.  The  soul  is  a  feeble  government  in  a  state  of  anarchy. 
Human  nature  is  like  the  man  who  fell  among  robbers  on  his  way  to 
Jericho,  stripped,  wounded,  crippled.  It  is  the  theater  of  all  the  woes 
that  lead  up  to  death. 

The  intellect  made  for  truth  is  the  hospitable  home  of  errors  of  all 
kinds  and  the  will  which  should  be  at  one  with  that  of  God  is  the  very 
womb  of  vice.  Errors  of  all  kinds  cover  the  whole  field  of  human  nature, 
ever  active,  ever  spreading,  ever  growing  with  amazing  rapidity.  Vice 
is  behind  and  before  and  all  around  them  eating  its  way  like  a  cancer, 
spreading  contagion  and  corruption  on  all  sides.  These  evils  are 

LIKE   A  DELUGE  WHOSE  FOUNTAINS  CAXXOT  BE  CLOSED. 

Evil  spirits  without  number  foster  and  propagate  these  curses  inces- 
santly with  all  their  might  and  all  their  venom.  Human  nature  is 
like  a  field  overgrown  with  thorns  and  thistles  of  the  rankest  growth, 
and  these  spirits  are  the  enemy  who  never  cease  night  or  day  to  sow  it 
with  cockle. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  9 

There  is  an  alliance  between  the  evil  one  and  men.  There  is  a 
triple  alliance  between  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil.  Xo  such  alli- 
ance has  ever  crushed  the  earth  or  polluted  with  its  abombinations  the 
historic  page.  It  is  an  alliance  strong  as  hell,  everlasting,  aggressive, 
irrepressible;  death,  desolation  and  ruin  track  its  course.  It  is  not,  I 
know,  popular  to  expose  it,  brand  it  and  raise  a  warning  voice  against  it. 
The  world  and  the  flesh  cannot  bear  it,  will  not  bear  it,  and  they  have 
some  influence.  They  regard  it  rude,  retrogressive,  shocking  and  offen- 
sive to  the  refined.  It  is,  I  know,  the  fashion  to  pass  it  over,  keep  it  in 
the  background  and  though  dealing  death  around  like  a  masked  battery, 
to  wink  at  it  and  call  attention  to  more  pleasing  subjects  such  as  history, 
science,  philosophy,  social,  economical  and  political  questions,  but  I  know 
also  that  this  fashion  is  pernicious  and  fatal  and  responsible  for  many 
scandals  that  thwart  the  true  progress  of  our  race,  our  age  and  country. 

Before  making  light  of  this  alliance  pause,  reflect,  look  around  you. 
God's  Son  died  for  the  human  race  to  raise,  sanctify,  deify  it.  He  left 
the  race  of  men  His  merits  for  that  purpose.  He  instituted  the  Church 
to  teach  the  nations  the  whole  Gospel  which  he  has  pledged  himself  to 
ever  preserve  on  her  lips  in  its  purity  and  integrity.  He  has  opened 
fountains  in  her 

FOR  THE  HEALING  OP  THE  NATIONS. 

He  has  perpetuated  the  sacrifice  that  redeemed  the  world.  The  Church 
is  His  body,  she  is  the  dwelling  place  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  is  here 
below,  the  embodiment  of  omnipotence  and  mercy,  to  raise  man,  guide 
him  and  help  him  on  his  way,  and  yet,  though  she  has  worked  in  the 
name  of  God,  with  the  aid  of  God,  and  the  riches  of  His  mercy  throughout 
the  world  for  nearly  1900  years,  she  has  not  succeeded  in  bringing  one- 
sixth  of  the  human  race  under  her  direct  influence,  while  the  other  five- 
sixths  stand  outside  her  pale  with  the  enemy  in  an  attitude  of  independ- 
ence and  unbelief.  And  of  the  one-sixth  who  are  hers  and  bear  her 
name,  how  many  are  there  who  have  their  own  views  and  their  own 
ways,  and  thoush  of  the  fold  pay  little  attention  to  the  voice  of  the 
Shepherd.  Again,  God  has  become  the  teacher  of  mankind  to  unite  all 
intellects  in  faith  in  His  teaching,  he  has  turned  torrents  of  grace  on 
human  wills  and  hearts  to  unite  them  to  the  will  and  heart  of  God.  He 
has  exhausted,  as  it  were,  omnipotence  to  unite  men  in  mind  and  heart. 
All  men  belong  to  Him,  their  bodies  are  His,  their  souls  are  His,  their 
intellects  and  their  wills  are  His.  They  should  be  one  with  Him  and  in 
Him.  He  is  Father  of  all,  His  family  should  be  one  and  wholly  under 
His  authority.  Now  go,  attend  the  congress  of  religions,  see  there  the 
-children  of  God  divided,  distracted  ;  listen  to  the  vagaries  about  God  and 
man,  which  they  call  doctrines,  the  babel  of  tongues  and  the  conflict  of 
thoughts.  See  the  temple  not  built  with  hands  in  which  God  should  be 
adored  and  served,  in  ruins,  ruins  which  were  under  the  eyes  of  Christ, 
as  he  wept  and  sobbed  and  stammered  on  the  slope  of  Mount  Olivet,  and 
as  you  turn  away  in  sadness  reflecting  on  what  they  might  and  should 
have  been,  as  you  turn  away  from  ruins  that  may  never  be  repaired,  cer- 
tainly not  by  congresses,  think  lightly  if  you  can  of  the  triple  alliance 
and  keep  it  out  of  the  discussion  of  the  question  of  education.  But  do 
what  you  will  the  triple  alliance  and  education  cannot  be  kept  apart. 
They  are  in  the  field  in  conflict  and  will  so  continue 

TILL  THE  DAY  DIES  OUT  AND  THE  FIGHT  IS  OVER. 

The  work  of  education  is  an  effort  to  make  a  man  under  the  light  and 
by  the  aid  of  Heaven  according  to  the  model  furnished,  but  the  alliance 
is  always  in  the  way,  bent  on  the  work  of  ruin.  The  soul,  like  the  body, 
has  its  infancy  and  manhood,  so  have  it  faculties.  To  nurse  these  facul- 
ties, to  promote  their  growth  and  strength,  to  stimulate  their  activity 


10  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

and  direct  them  on  their  course  homewards,  this  is  to  educate.  All  edu- 
cation must  be  on  that  line.  It  must  build  up,  not  tear  down ;  or 
advance,  not  obstruct.  The  two  leading-  faculties  of  the  soul  are  the  intel- 
lect and  the  will,  both  of  which  suffer  not  a  little  from  concupiscence. 
The  intellect  is  the  basis  of  the  human  edifice  whose  architect  is  God ;  it 
is  the  seat  of  knowledge,  natural  and  supernatural.  It  is  to  it  God  and 
man  and  nature  speak.  The  lamp  of  the  soul,  its  light  must  be  steady ; 
the  guide  of  the  soul,  its  course  must  be  true.  It  must  not  be  in  doubt 
or  hesitancy  about  the  way.  It  needs  certainty,  stablity,  firmness ;  it 
needs  something  solid  to  rest  on,  a  rock  foundation.  It  needs  faith,  it 
needs  a  creed,  it  needs  authority.  The  strength  of  the  intellect  does  not 
consist  in  the  extent  or  variety  of  its  knowledge.  It  is  somewhat  like  a 
tree.  The  strength  of  a  tree  lies  not  in  the  size  of  its  trunk  and  branches, 
the  abundance  and  freshness  of  its  foliage.  All  these  it  may  have,  be 
apparently  strong  and  beautiful  to  behold,  yet  fall  before  the  first  shock 
of  the  storm.  It  consists  rather  in  the  strength  of  its  roots,  in  th& 
depths  to  which  they  have  struck  down  and  out  into  the  soil  that  nour- 
ishes them,  in  their  ability  to  suck  in  and  elaborate  the  juices  that 
become  the  life  blood  of  the  tree  and  distribute  it  all  over  under  the 
light  and  heat  of  heaven.  So  the  vigor  of  the  intellect  is  not  in  its 
knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  the  cramming  of  the  schools 
which,  like  undigested  food  or  excessive  flesh,  is  injurious  and  debili- 
tating, but  in  the  grasp  with  which  it  seizes  and  the  tenacity  with 
which  it  holds 

THE  GREAT  PRINCIPLES  THAT  UNDERLIE  IT, 

that  reveal  to  it  its  origin  and  destiny,  furnish  it  life  and  health  and 
growth,  and  in  its  power  to  assimilate  the  nutriment  received  and  make 
new  drafts  for  every  emergency.  The  intellect  is  the  seat  of  faith, 
and  the  active  recipient  of  its  object,  the  Gospel.  It  needs  faith  and  rev- 
elation for  its  appointed  work.  Baptism  imparts  new  life  to  the  soul,  it 
makes  a  new  creature.  This  life  surging  from  the  heart  of  Christ  fil  !s 
the  whole  soul.  As  the  soul  is  everywhere  in  the  body,  this  new  life  is 
everywhere  in  the  soul.  It  is  in  the  intellect,  where  it  deposits  the  ger  <n 
of  faith  and  preserves  it.  This  germ  has  a  growth,  an  office  and  a 
chequered  history,  somewhat  governed  by  time  and  circumstances.  G«l 
demands  of  man  the  acceptance  of  His  word  under  pain  of  incurring  H  's 
displeasure.  "Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God."  His  woii 
is  the  Gospel  addressed  to  reason.  The  intellect  enlivened  by  faith  cal 
receive  it  and  meet  the  demand.  By  reason  of  this  demand  and  for  other 
reasons,  the  intellect  has  a  right  to  the  Gospel,  a  right  from  God,  a  right 
to  it  in  its  integrity  and  purity.  Else  why  has  God  by  a  miracle  of  omnip- 
otence so  preserved  it,  and  commanded  an  imperishable  Church  to  proposes 
it?  What  are  our  high  seminaries  and  universities  and  our  world-renowned 
professors  and  our  long  and  extra  courses  of  theology  for  if  not  to  give 
us  men  who  will  teach  it  fully,  clearly,  acceptably?  By  this  teaching 
faith  grows,  and  with  it  the  intellect.  As  through  the  eye  of  the  body 
in  the  light  of  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  the  intellect  looks  out  on  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  by  day  and  by  night,  admiring  their  beauty,  and 
their  purpose,  and  reading  the  lessons  they  unceasingly  teach,  so  through 
the  eye  of  faith,  and  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  brighter  than  that  of  ten 
thousand  suns,  it  looks  out  on  a  new  creation,  grandest  of  all,  God's  own 
kingdom,  with  its  suns  and  moons  and  stars  revolving  in  their  orbits,  the 
triune  God,  the  Incarnation,  the  Atonement,  Jacob's  ladder,  the  couriers 
from  earth  to  heaven,  the  Church,  the  body  of  Christ  and  abode  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  all  the  forces  which  set  it  in  love ,  transfigure  it  into  a  pillar  of 
fire  for  the  guidance  of  the  human  race,  and  shower  manna  in  abundance 
all  over  the  desert.  To  make  the  intellect,  animated  by  faith,  a  lamp  on 
the  road  to  heaven,  to  light  it  up  with  religion,  and  science,  the  divine 
and  human,  to  harmonize  these  forces  and  urge  them  forward  on  their 
course,  this  is 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  11 

THE  WORK   OF   EDUCATION   VIEWED   FROM   THE    STANDPOINT   OF   CATHOLICS.. 

From  the  intellect  let  us  pass  to  the  will.  The  intellect  is  its  guide. 
A  good  will  follows  the  light  of  reason.  The  will  is  the  great  faculty  of 
the  soul;  it  is  the  queen  of  all  the  rest;  it  is,  so  to  speak,  the  power- 
house of  the  soul,  where  the  electric  forces  that  move  the  others  are 
generated;  it  is  free,  it  is  responsible  for  its  acts,  it  is  the  seat  of  virtue 
and  of  vice.  It  brought  death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woes,  and  gave 
God's  Son  a  body  in  the  womb  of  a  Virgin.  More  than  any  other  faculty 
it  marks  the  difference  between  man  and  man.  It  makes  saint  and 
sinner,  martyr  and  apostate  ;  it  sinks  to  the  pit  and  elevates  above  the 
stars.  At  the  great  assize  the  human  family  will  be  divided  into  two 
sections,  never  more  to  meet,  set  as  far  apart  as  hell  is  from  heaven. 
That  division  takes  place  here,  though  we  cannot  define  its  limits,  and  it 
is  the  will  of  man  that  makes  it.  Strength  of  the  will  does  not  lie  in 
independence,  obstinacy,  tenacity  of  purpose,  despotic  force,  self-asser- 
tion. No;  it  lies  rather  in  humility,  obedience,  love,  respect,  reverence, 
rectitude,  purity.  A  strong  will  loves  God,  obeys  Him,  respects  His 
authority  and  every  authority  that  emanates  from  His;  that  is,  every 
well-founded  authority.  It  respects  and  venerates  what  is  pure  and 
holy,  and  reverences  the  great  and  good  of  every  age  and  clime  who 
served  God  in  their  day,  blessed  their  kind  and  left  to  posterity  the 
bright  example  of  their  virtues.  Peter,  before  the  High  Priest,  when 
commanded  not  to  speak  at  all  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  answering :  "  If  it 
be  just  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hear  you  rather  than  God.  judge  ye.  For 
we  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard,"  furnishes 
an  instance  of  strength  of  will.  The  martyr  in  the  arena,  commanded 
by  Caesar,  or  in  his  name,  to  renounce  Christianity  and  sacrifice  to  the 
gods,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  terrors  of  that  place  of  torture,  answering 
"No"— 

IN  THE  VERY  TEETH  OF  TYRANNY, 

and  in  spite  of  bribes  and  threats  and  torments,  persevering  in  that 
answer  till  the  victorious  spirit  flies  home  to  God  to  enjoy  freedom  for- 
evermore,  is  an  example  of  strength  of  will,  of  love,  of  liberty  and  of 
God,  which  only  religion  could  produce.  To  promote,  foster  and  invi- 
gorate this  spirit  by  all  the  resources  available  therefor,  is  within  the 
province,  and  is  the  work  of  Christian  education.  The  will  is  the  home 
of  the  affections.  It  is  the  seat  of  that  Divine  gift,  love,  which  keeps  the 
affections  turned  on  God  and  on  the  neighbor  for  God's  sake.  It  is  the 
furnace  of  that  heavenly  fire,  which,  fanned  by  faith  and  fed  by  all  the 
forces  of  religion,  shoots  upward  to  Him  who  enkindled  it.  and  gaining 
new  strength  in  His  embrace  sweeps  down  and  out  over  land  and  water, 
clasping  in  its  bright  red  arms  friends  and  enemies  without  distinction, 
every  child  of  Adam  from  him  who  sits  in  the  chair  of  Peter  sending 
blessings  to  the  nations,  to  the  savage  in  the  jungle  voraciously  feeding 
on  quivering  Christian  flesh.  Such  a  faculty  needs  care,  supreme  care. 
Will-culture  is  preeminently  the  great  work  of  education.  Bright  intel- 
lects in  myriads  have  gone  down  to  hell,  a  good  will  never. 

Opposed  to  the  legitimate  growth  of  intellect  and  will,  stand  the 
appetites  of  the  lower  nature.  By  clouding  the  one  and  warping  the 
other,  they  aim  to  conti-ol  the  soul.  To  repel  these  assaults,  put  down 
rebellion,  faith  and  love  stir  up  and  strengthen  conscience,  a  tribunal 
set  up  by  God  to  judge  of  right  and  wrong,  before  which  the  pleadings 
of  passion  are  disregarded  and  the  suggestion  of  the  wicked  one  swiftly 
condemned.  Anarchy  thus  repressed,  and  order  maintained,  the  soul 
speeds  on  her  way  rejoicing. 

THE    FORMATION    OF    A    VIGOROUS     CONSCIENCE     IS     OF     THE     ESSENCE     OF 

EDUCATION. 

Where  is  this  religious  education  to  be  given,  and  by  whom  ?    At 


12  JATHOLIC  ED  UCATION  DA  Y. 

home  by  the  parents,  in  church  by  the  priest,  in  school  by  the  teacher, 
and  all  three  should  aid,  and  it  will  be  a  case  of  joy  if  their  united 
efforts  prove  successful.  They  who,  for  obvious  reasons,  are  opposed  to 
religious  instruction  in  the  school  and  dare  not  deny  the  duty  of  giving 
it  to  children  somewhere,  say  the  proper  places  for  it  are  the  home  and 
the  church.  This  is  a  miserable  subterfuge,  an  imaginary  expedient  to 
get  rid  of  a  difficult3r  by  disregarding  a  duty.  Religious  education  is  not 
given  at  home,  nor  will  it  be,  for  the  excellent  reason  that  parents  as  a 
rule  (there  is  question  here  for  a  general  provision)  have  neither  time 
nor  inciination  nor  ability  to  give  it.  The  bulk  of  the  people  are  neither 
rich  or  learned.  Fancy  a  poor  man,  laborer  or  mechanic,  with  little  if 
any  learning,  tired  after  a  hard  day's  work,  taking  up  the  catechism  in 
the  evening  late  when  the  chores  are  over  to  give  instruction  to  his  boy 
of  twelve  or  fourteen,  who  is  about  to  pass  from  the  ward  to  the  high 
school.  Where  is  the  boy  at  that  hour  ?  Who  will  find  him.  bring  him 
home  and  hold  him  during  this  imaginary  farce  ?  Go  call  the  man  of 
leisure  and  some  pretensions  to  letters  who  has  not  been  to  confession 
for  years,  neglects  Mass  on  Sundays,  eats  meat  on  Fridays  and  fast 
days,  from  his  cups  and  cards  and  other  amusements  to  teach  religion 
to  his  children.  What  mockery  !  When  you  consider  the  necessity,  and 
the  difficulty  and  the  magnitude  of  the  work  of  preparing  a  youth  for 
duties  of  manhood,  to  say  that  it  may  be  done  at  home  by  the  fathers 
and  the  mothers  of  the  masses  is  an  insult  to  reason,  it  is  cruel  trifling. 
Well,  sure'/,  the  church  is  the  proper  place  for  religious  instruction, 
and  the  priest  is  the  proper  person  to  give  it.  This  seems  plausable,  but 
is  it  a  provision  that  will  prove  adequate  and  satisfactory?  Let  us  see. 
When  is  the  instruction  to  be  given  ?  Not  on  a  week  day,  for  the  chil- 
dren are  at  school  or  at  work.  Sunday  i.>  the  only  day  on  which  it  can 
be  given,  and  between  the  end  of  High  Mass  and  Vespers  the  only  time. 

THE  SUNDAY  SERMON  IS  NOT  ADAPTED  TO  THE  CAPACITY  OF  SCHOOL 
CHILDREN. 

They  do  not  profit  by  it,  for  it  is  beyond  their  comprehension,  and 
When  there  is  mention  of  children  attending  schools  from  which  religion 
\S  excluded  if  they  happen  to  hear  it,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  as  a 
rule  they  care  little  about  it.  What  of  the  catachetical  instruction  in  the 
afternoon  before  vespers?  Very  many  priests,  pastors  of  congregations, 
have  no  assistance .  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  the  average  pastor  has  no  one 
to  assist  him.  In  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque  there  are  nearly  two  hundred 
priests  doing  missionary  work,  and  of  these  not  more  than  six  outside 
the  city  are  assistants.  It  is  quite  likely  that  the  same  is  true  to  some 
extent  of  many,  if  not  most  other  dioceses.  The  bulk  of  the  congregation 
of  one  of  these  pastors  lies  in  the  country  within  a  radius  of  six  or  more 
miles  of  the  town  or  village  in  which  he  resides.  On  Saturday  evenings 
the  priest  hears  confessions,  he  does  the  same  on  Sunday  morning  before 
and  after  first  Mass,  he  says  two  Masses,  sings  one,  preaches  a  sermon, 
baptizes  whatever  children  are  presented,  and  when  all  this  work  is  over, 
about  1  o'clock  or  later,  if  he  have  not  a  headache  or  a  fever  or  both  after 
the  long-  fast  and  labor  of  the  morning,  you  can  readily  realize  that  he  is 
not  in  a  favorable  mood  to  take  up  catachetical  instructions.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  he  cannot  have  the  children,  The  country  children  go  home  after 
Mass  with  their  parents  to  escape  a  long  fast  and  a  long  walk  in  the 
afternoon,  only  a  few  children  from  the  town  and  its  immediate  vicinity 
can  be  had  for  catechism.  The  fact  is,  as  a  rule,  and  it  is  facts,  not 
theories,  we  must  consider,  that  children  who  depend  on  the  priest  for 
religious  instruction  go  without  it,  and  many  of  them  otherwise  intelli- 
gent and  talented  will  not  know  enough  catechism  to  memory  at  the 
ages  of  fourteen,  sixteen  and  eighteen  to  secure  them  a  ticket  for  Confir- 
mation. The  priest  who  is  liked  well  enough  by  his  congregations  says 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  13 

he  cannot  have  the  children  for  instruction  on  week  days  nor  on  Sunday 
except  a  small  fraction  as  already  stated.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  fact 
stands  and  is  indisputable  that  the  children  of  the  people  as  a  body  are 
not  instructed  in  their  religion  by  their  pastors. 

As  to  the  Sunday  school  conducted  by  young-  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
it  is  not  worth  speaking  of.  A  moment's  reflection  will  suffice  to  realize 
of  how  little  value  it  is.  As  a  provision  for  a  great  work  it  is  simply 
ridiculous.  The  best  if  not  the  only  good  thing  done  there  is  to  hear  a 
memory  lesson,  but  the  memory  is  not  the  intellect,  nor  the  intel- 
lect the  soul,  and 

IT   18   THE   SOUL  WITH  ALL   ITS   FACULTIES   THAT  IS  TO  BE  EDUCATED. 

If  children  of  school  age,  say  from  seven  to  fourteen,  or  from  eight 
to  sixteen  years,  are  to  receive  a  religious  education  to  which  they  have 
a  Divine  right  on  many  heads,  the  school  is  the  place  in  which  to  give  it. 
To  prepare  Christian  youth  for  all  the  duties  of  Christian  manhood,  to 
case  them  in  a  Christian  mould  and  fashion  them  after  the  model  fur- 
nished by  religion,  to  make  another  Christ  out  of  human  nature  in  its 
present  state,  is  a  work  so  great,  so  noble  and  withal  so  difficult  that  to 
essay  it  with  a  fair  prospect  of  success,  time,  talent  and  favorable  oppor- 
tunity are  needed.  All  these  the  teacher  has  or  is  supposed  to  have. 
He  has  ability,  else  why  should  the  parents  and  the  Church  present  to 
him  the  child  and  delegate  to  him  their  God-given  authority.  After 
some  study  of  his  pupil  he  is  supposed  to  know  him,  his  talents,  his 
temper,  disposition,  habits,  the  strong  and  weak  points  of  his  nature. 
He  is  supposed  to  consider  well  his  supernatural  life  and  destiny,  the 
faculties  of  the  soul,  the  germs  of  the  virtues,  especially  the  theological, 
and  the  dangers  that  beset  them,  all  the  treasures  of  the  Church,  how  to 
prepare  for  them  and  communicate  them  so  as  to  prove  productive.  His 
is  not  the  task  to  carve  the  image  of  a  man  out  of  the  marble  or  put  his 
likeness  on  canvas  as  sculptors  and  painters  do,  but  to  build  up  out  of 
poor  human  nature  a  living,  breathing,  speaking,  active  image  of  God's 
Son  made  man.  For  this  work,  more  difficult  far  than  that  of  Eden,  the 
riches  of  heaven  and  the  forces  of  omnipotence  are  at  his  service,  and, 
under  God,  the  chief  agent  in  this  greatest  work,  in  the  accomplishment 
of  this  prodigious  feat  is  the  Christian  teacher  in  the  Christian  school. 

OF  THE  MODEL  BEFORE   HIM   THE   TEACHER  HIMSELF  SHOULD   BE    AS  FAB  AS 
POSSIBLE  A  FAULTLESS  COPY. 

He  has  time  for  the  work,  not  one  day  in  the  week  or  rather  one  poor 
hour,  but  five  day s  in  every  week  and  six  hours  of  every  day  for  seven, 
eight,  or  ten  years  as  the  case  may  be.  I  say  six  hours  of  every  day  he  is 
making  a  religious  impression  all  the  time.  Whatever  he  teaches  regard- 
ing man  or  nature  has  a  religious  aspect  and  a  religious  influence.  In 
teaching  history  and  science  he  is  teaching  religion  indirectly.  The 
world  without  God  is  not  a  fact,  it  is  a  fiction.  As  He  is  everywhere,  the 
healthy  eye,  the  Christian  eye  sees  Him  everywhere,  and  thus  every 
lesson  "taught  by  a  Christian  and  studied  by  a  Christian  furnishes  its  con- 
tribution to  the  formation  of  a  man. 

He  has  opportunities  that  are  golden.  He  has  youths  to  work  on. 
Youth  is  the  springtime  of  life,  the  season  of  sowing  and  planting.  The 
soil  is  at  its  best.  Youth  is  innocent,  pure,  loving,  confiding,  respectful 
docile,  most  susceptible  of  virtuous  impressions.  The  teacher  can  mould 
the  soul  of  youth  as  he  pleases,  it  is  like  wax  in  his  hands.  He  can  fill 
it  with  admiration  of  the  works  of  God,  of  His  Church,  of  saints,  heroes 
and  all  the  models  of  true  greatness  furnished  by  history.  From  admir- 
ation imitation  is  but  a  step.  If  he  does  not  form  Christian  character, 
who  will?  If  in  five  days  of  every  week  and  six  hours  a  day  for  seven, 
eight,  or  nine  years  such  a  man  with  his  ability,  opportunity,  and  many 


14  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

advantages  will  not  prepare  youth  for  manhood,  who  will?  Will  yon 
take  the  work  out  of  his  hands  and  give  it  over  to  parents,  laborers, 
brick-layers,  carpenters,  plasterers,  painters,  etc.,  etc.,  and  to  many, 
many  fathers  who  can  only  make  a  flying  visit  to  their  little  families 
once  a  week  or  once  a  month,  or  to  the  average  priest  who  says,  and  says 
truly  that  he  cannot  get  the  children  for  instruction? 

THIS  FORM  OF  INSANITY  SEEMS  TO  PREVAIL. 

Remove  religious  education  from  the  school  and  you  do  away  with  it 
altogether.  To  refer  it  to  the  home  and  the  church  and  the  Sunday- 
school  is  a  mock  provision  that  will  deceive  only  those  who  are  willing 
to  be  deceived.  Banish  religion  from  the  school  and  you  leave  the  intel- 
lect of  the  pupil  without  the  knowledge  of  God,  his  heart  without  the 
love  of  God,  his  will  without  motive  or  desire  to  obey  or  serve  God. 
Banish  religion  from  the  school  and  you  leave  the  supernatural  or  Divine 
life  of  the  soul  received  in  baptism — the  only  true  life,  the  only  life  that 
is  crowned  with  glory — without  the  nutriment  and  the  care  that  every 
kind  of  life  needs.  You  leave  the  germ  of  faith  and  love  which  should 
grow  up  and  acquire  strength  in  intellect  and  will  in  a  comatose  condi- 
tion; you  leave  the  soul  without  moral  or  religious  principles,  and  there- 
fore without  conscience.  Heaven  and  hell  and  purgatory  and  judgment 
are  but  names — words,  that  are  used  after  the  prevailing  fashion.  Mean- 
while, give  the  best  secular  education  you  can.  Fit  a  youth  as  best  you 
may  for  what  is  called  success  in  life,  for  a  career  of  prosperity. 
Teach  him  history,  and  the  sciences  and  the  arts,  social  and 
political  economy,  natural  and  mental  philosophy,  etc.,  etc. 
Sharpen  the  intellect,  enrich  the  imagination,  cram  the  mem- 
ory, and  what  do  you  do  but  give  light  and  strength  and  cunning, 
strong  mental  powers,  to  a  man  without  faith,  or  love,  or  conscience. 
That  is  like  giving  tools  to  a  burglar,  or  fire-arms  to  a  footpad.  You 
prepare  the  way  for  accomplishments  which  when  discovered  are  some- 
times sent  for  a  time  for  safe  keeping  to  state's  prison.  With  the  growth 
of  the  body  that  shoots  up  like  a  plant,  and  the  growth  of  the  soul  in 
secular  knowledge,  the  animal  propensities  gain  strength  daily.  Freed 
from  all  control  they  grow  apace.  What  is  true  of  one  child  is  true  of 
all.  They  have  the  same  nature  and  are  similarly  circumstanced.  These 
appetites  are  stimulated  by  association,  fomented  by  the  surroundings 
and  fed  by  the  five  senses.  The  sensational  novel,  the  columns  of  scan- 
dal in  the  daily  papers,  which  are  devoured  with  avidity,  the  low  theater, 
street  scenes,  indecent  pictures,  and  the  ways  of  the  world,  do  their 
work  in  contributing  to  their  growth.  They  crave  indulgence,  the  same 
desire  is  on  all  sides.  Why  should  they  not  be  gratified,  the  ways  of  the 
world  followed,  its  pleasures  enjoyed? 

THE  EVIL  ONE  IS   NEITHER  IDLE   NOR  IGXO3ANT. 

His  suggestions  succeed.  Every  indulgence  is  as  oil  on  the  flames  which 
blaze  more  fiercely.  Demands  for  pleasure  are  more  strong  and  frequent; 
repeated  acts  become  a  habit,  and  habit,  like  that  of  intemperance,  is  a 
tyrant  that  holds  its  victim  in  the  toils.  Thus  the  youth  of  eighteen  or 
twenty,  a  graduate  with  honor  of  some  high  school  or  college,  but  at  the 
same  time  the  slave  of  bad  habits,  without  faith  or  love  or  conscience 
passes  out  into  the  world,  into  the  farish  day  of  public  life,  associating 
with  the  multitudes  who  are  struggling  or  striving  for  the  good  things 
of  this  life,  with  scant  respect  for  the  Decalogue,  to  complete  his  education 
among  them  and  become  a  man  of  the  age. 

Is  this  to  be  the  type  of  the  coming  man,  the  father  and  head  of  the 
Christian  family,  the  proud  citizen  of  the  great  Republic?  Is  it  on  such 
as  he  we  base  our  hopes  of  our  country's  future,  its  prosperity,  its  pro- 
gress, its  civilization?  Progress  and  civilization,  which  are  the  outcome 
of  great  virtues,  never  were  and  never  will  be  the  product  of  such  factors. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION,  15 

Lecturers  subversive  of  religion  and  morality,  of  the  foundation  of 
society,  because  they  deny  or  question  the  existence  of  God,  which  forty 
years  ago,  if  heard  accidentally,  would  have  been  hissed  and  hooted 
with  virtuous  indignation  by  an  honest,  Christian  community,  are  now 
listened  to  with  pleasure  and  received  with  thunders  of  applause  by  tens 
•of  thousands  all  over  the  land.  Crimes  are  committed  to-day  that  excite 
no  surprise,  so  common  are  they,  which  in  times  within  our  recollection 
would  have  so  shocked  the  public  that  some  good  people  would  begin  to 
think  that  Antichrist  was  let  loose  and  the  end  of  the  world  was  at 
hand.  Witness  the  mania  for  suicide  as  the  climax  of  great  crime,  the 
-silly  reasons  for  its  commission  sometimes,  the  startling  methods  of 
self-destruction  and  their  horrid  originality.  Public  morality  does  not 
seem  to  be  improving,  nor,  due  regard  being  had  to  varying  population, 
does  crime  seem  to  be  decreasing.  And  yet  within  the  time  before 
mentioned,  schools,  high  and  low,  have  been  multiplied  by  the  hundreds, 
they  cover  the  land  and  billions  of  money  have  been  expended  on  their 
support.  Everything  that  can  be  thought  of, 

SAVE  THE  ONE  THING  NECESSARY, 

is  done  to  improve  them.  Themselves  and  the  system  on  which  they  are 
conducted,  are  lauded  to  the  stars  by  press  and  pulpit,  and  a  certain  class 
of  speakers  and  writers  point  to  them  with  pride  as  the  bulwark  of  the 
commonwealth.  What  is  the  matter  with  public  opinion  ?  How  explain 
facts  that  stare  us  in  the  face  ?  A  good  tree  does  not  produce  bad  fruit. 
Let  people  say  what  they  will  or  act  as  they  may,  education  without 
religion,  that  is  without  God,  is  not  a  good  tree,  it  is  a  body  without  a 
soul,  a  corpse. 

Even  in  the  department  of  secular  or  scientific  studies  it  is  defective. 
How  can  you  study  nature  properly,  if  you  put  out  of  it  nature's  God,  or 
the  lives  of  men,  if  you  make  no  account  of  Him  ?  Though  God  was 
never  absent  from  man  whose  biography  if  history,  not  even  for  a 
moment,  though  God  was  always  with  the  race  of  men,  with  the  indi- 
vidual, the  family,  the  communitv,  though  the  philosophy  of  history  is 
the  tracing  of  the  action  of  God  in  society  shaping  and  directing  its 
•course  without  detriment  to  free  will — though  God's  Son  on  the  cross 
redeeming  the  human  race  is  the  central  figure  in  history,  Jesus  Christ 
yesterday  and  to-day  and  forever,  the  very  soul  and  life  of  it  as  He  is  of 
humanity,  though  all  the  lines  of  this  history  of  the  nations  in  the  hands 
of  God  and  under  the  guidance  of  His  providence  tend  toward  Golgotha 
like  the  radii  of  a  circle  to  the  center,  or  the  lines  of  steel  on  which  the 
multitudes  from  east  and  west,  and  north  and  south  travel  to  Chicago, 
yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  there  is  not  a  word  about  God  and  his  Christ 
in  all  the  lessons  and  lectures  on  history.  Is  this  the  way  to  teach 
history?  Not  a  word  about  God  in  science.  Though  all  creatures  are  the 
work  of  His  hands,  though  nature's  laws  are  His  and  nature's  forces  are 
His,  though  His  finger  is  on  every  atom  of  matter  in  the  universe,  His 
blessing  on  every  seed,  His  power  and  providence  manifest  in  every 
"blade  of  grass  and  in  every  ear  of  corn,  yet  is  His  name  never  mentioned 
in  the  discussion  of  the  sciences  that  treat  of  plans  and  planets.  But 
enough.  Education  without  religion  is  not  a  good  tree,  on  what  side 
soever  you  view  it  it  is  found  wanting. 

THE  EDUCATION  OF  A  CHRISTIAN, 

a  child  of  God,  a  brother  and  coheir  of  Christ  should  be  religious.  Such 
education  if  given  at  all  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word  must,  save  in 
very  exceptional  cases,  be  given  in  the  school,  during  the  years  of  school- 
ing and  by  the  most  competent  teachers  that  can  be  had.  In  this  educa- 
tion the  family,  the  Church  and  the  State  have  the  deepest  interest.  Who 
•will  respect  or  obey  cordially  authority  in  Church  or  State  or  family,  if  he 


16  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAT. 

know  not  or  care  not  for  the  authority  of  God  from  which  it  emanate^ 
"There  is  no  power  but  from  God"  and  without  such  respect  and  obedi- 
ence what  becomes  of  the  foundation  and  super-structure  of  the  social 
edifice?  Where  there  is  a  common  interest  there  should  be  united  action. 
Instead  of  wasting  time  on  useless,  irritating  discussion,  parents,  priests 
and  rulers  should  consider  their  duty  to  God,  to  their  little  ones,  to  them- 
selves and  to  society,  and  do  it  promptly  and  manfully  by  uniting  in 
giving  to  the  youth  of  the  nation  that  truly  religious  education  to  which 
they  have  a  right  from  God.  If  any  one,  fond  of  flimsy  objections 
should  say  or  think  that  the  &oidy  of  religion  in  schools  retards  progress 
in  other  studies,  let  him  go  over  to  the  Exposition  grounds  and  examine 
for  himself  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit.  Growth  in  the  body  of 
Christ  is  in  light,  not  in  darkness. 

After  Mr.  Harrison  Wilde  had  rendered  Moszowski's  Tema  con 
Veriazioni  upon  the  organ,  the  Most  Rev.  P.  J.  Ryan,  D.  D.,  Arch- 
bishop of  Philadelphia,  was  presented  by  Archbishop  Feehan,  in  the 
following  language  : 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Archbishop  Ryan. 

of  Philadelphia. 

ARCHBISHOP  RYAN'S  ADDRESS: 

THE  VOCATION   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN  EDUCATOR. 

To  form  an  adequate  estimate  of  the  exalted  vocation  of  the  Chris- 
tian Educator  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  he  who  ii  called  to  this  position 
must  be  all  that  the  secular  educator  should  be,  in  knowlege  and  aptitude 
to  convey  it  to  others,  and  must,  in  addition  to  all  this,  be  qualified  for 
the  far  higher  education  of  the  human  soul  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and 
of  itself,  and  in  the  preparation  of  man  for  his  eternal  destiny.  The 
vocations  of  the  religious  and  secular  educators  have  much  in  common. 
Both  are  destined  to  dispell  ignorance,  to  enlighten  and  enlarge  the 
human  mind,  so  that  it  may  contemplate  truth  more  perfectly,  to  refine 
and  elevate  our  love  of  the  True,  the  Beautiful  and  the  Good .  These 
two  educators  are  thus  far  united  in  vocation  and  in  mission.  They 
ascend  the  mountain  of  God  together,  for  all  knowledge,  whether  relig- 
ious or  scientific,  is  holy,  for  God  is  master  in  the  temporal  as  in  the 
spiritual  order — God  of  the  starry  firmament  as  well  as  of  the  sanctuary. 
Behold  then  these  two  lovers  of  truth  ascending  the  mountain  together. 
At  a  certain  point  marked  by  a  cross  on  the  wayside,  the  secular  teacher 
stops  and  says  "Thus  far  may  I  go,  but  no  farther.  I  must  return  to 
bring  pupils  to  this  point  and  here  part  with  them."  "Do  not  go  back, 
but  give  me  thy  hand,"  says  the  religious  educator.  "  To  these  summits 
above  us,  bathed  in  celestial  light,  let  us  ascend  and  see  what  greater 
and  newer  things  our  God  has  made,  and  let  us  hear  his  voice  speaking  to 
us."  Education  to  be  perfect  must  consider  man  in  his  entirety,  must 
call  out  the  heart  power  as  well  as  the  intellect  power,  and  educate  the 
great  religious  element  within  as  real  as  either  and  partaking  of  both. 
We  must  not  omit  the  great  fundamental  principles  of  our  existence, 
why  we  were  made,  for  what  object  we  are  placed  in  this  world,  what  is 
our  future.  The  very  philosophy  of  our  being,  the  principle  which  deter- 
mines the  value  of  all  other  knowledge,  cannot  be  ignored  in  a  thorough 
education.  The  great  infinite  Being  who  placed  us  on  earth  and  our 
relations  to  him  ;  the  source  of  all  knowledge  and  all  good,  must  find  the 
supreme  place  in  education. 

His  existence  and  attributes  are  so  mingled  with  all  knowledge  that 
to  separate  them  and  lay  them  aside  for  a  distinct  study,  as  we  would 
arithmetic  or  geography,  is  an  impossibility.  If  we  exclude  religion 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION  17 

from  education  we  must,  of  course,  exclude  the  consideration  of  God. 
Who  is  the  being1  thus  excluded,  and  what  are  his  relations  to  human 
knowledge  ?  Cardinal  Newman,  in  a  passage  of  surpassing  eloquence, 
speaking  on  this  subject  in  one  of  his  university  lectures,  thus  describes 
the  Being  whom  the  secularist  would  exclude: 

"  To  Him  must  be  ascribed  the  rich  endowments  of  the  intellect,  the 
irradiation  of  genius,  the  imagination  of  the  poet,  the  sagacity  of  the 
politician,  the  wisdom  (as  Socrates  calls  it)  which  now  rears  and  dec- 
orates the  temple,  now  manifests  itself  in  proverb  and  parable.  The 
old  saws  of  nations,  the  majestic  precepts  of  philosophy,  the  luminous 
maxims  of  law,  the  oracles  of  individual  wisdom,  the  traditionary  rules 
of  truth,  justice  and  religion,  even  though  embedded  in  corruption  or 
alloyed  with  the  pride  of  the  world,  betoken  His  original  agency  and 
His  long-suffering  presence.  Even  where  there  is  habitual  rebellion 
against  Him  of  profound,  far-spreading  social  depravity,  still  the  under- 
current, or  the  heroic  outburst  of  natural  virtue,  as  well  as  the  yearn- 
ings of  the  heart  after  that  which  it  has  not,  and  its  presentiment  of  its 
true  remedies,  are  to  be  ascribed  to  the  author  of  all  good.  Anticipa- 
tions or  reminiscences  of  His  glory  haunt  the  mind  of  the  self-sufficient 
sage  and  of  the  Pagan  devotee  ;  His  writing  is  upon  the  wall,  whether 

of  the  Indian  fane  or  of  the  porticoes  of  Greece He  speaks 

amid  the  incantations  of  Balaam,  raises  Samuel's  spirit  in  the  witches' 
cavern,  prophesies  of  the  Messiah  by  the  tongue  of  the  sybil,  forces 
Python  to  recognize  His  ministers,  and  baptizes  by  the  hand  of  the  mis- 
believer. He  is  with  the  heathen  dramatist  in  his  denunciations  of  in- 
justice and  tyranny  and  auguries  of  divine  vengeance  upon  crime. 
Even  upon  the  unseemly  legends  of  a  popular  mythology  He  casts  His 
shadow,  and  is  dimly  discerned  in  the  ode  of  the  epic,  as  in  troubled 
water  or  fantastic  dreams.  All  that  is  good,  all  that  is  true,  all  that  is 
beautiful,  all  that  is  beneficent,  be  it  great  or  small,  be  it  perfect  or 
fragmentary,  natural  as  well  as  supernatural,  moral  as  well  as  material, 
comes  from  Him." 

Behold,  then,  how  the  Christian  educator  rounds  and  perfects  educa- 
tion by  teaching  man  what  may  be  learned  of  the  great  Infinite 
Educator,  who  planted  at  once  and  developes  all  that  is  great  and  good 
in  our  nature,  and  replies  to  the  soul's  questionings  concerning  man, 
his  origin  and  destiny. 

It  is  also  the  vocation  of  the  Christian  educator,  by  the  great  truths 
which  he  teaches,  to  restrain  human  passion,  and  thus  by  acting  on  the 
heart  of  man  to  clarify  his  intellect  and  make  him  at  once  the  best 
scholar  and  the  best  citizen.  There  is  more  intimate  connection 
between  head  and  heart  than  the  generality  of  men  imagine.  The 
unrestrained  passions  of  the  heart  send  up  mists  from  its  valleys  that 
rest  on  the  headlands.  Men  cannot  see  truth  through  the  prejudices 
which  passion  generates.  It  is  the  sacred  office  of  religion  to  dispe^ 
these  mists.  Hence  we  find  the  great  pagan  philosopher,  Pythagoras, 
bringing  his  pupils  away  from  the  world  and  its  distractions,  and  in 
chastity,  mortification  and  prayer  to  the  gods,  communicating  the 
great  truths  of  philosophy.  This,  though  an  extreme  measure,  incul- 
cates a  great  truth — the  influence  of  the  state  of  the  heart  on  the 
intellect.  "What  has  piety  to  do  with  learning?"  men  may  ask. 
"  Some  of  the  most  learned  men  have  been  any  thing  but  saints.  The  fact 
that  they  are  not  bound  down  by  the  trammels  of  religion  makes  them 
freer  to  soar  into  the  regions  of  speculation  and  theory,  and  no  monkish 
chronicles  or  unscientific  Bibles  can  call  them  back."  But,  as  I  have 
said,  this  freedom  from  the  just  restraint  of  the  passions  does  darken 
the  soul  by  prejudice.  It  is  false  to  say  that  the  most  learned  men  have 
been  those  who  ignored  religion.  Did  Plato,  Socrates  and  Pytha- 
goras, did  Cicero  and  Pliny  and  Seneca,  did  Augustine  and  Thomas 


18  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

Aquinas  and  Lord  Bacon  and  Copernicus  and  hundreds  of  others  whose 
names  stand  so  high  in  the  history  of  intellectual  progress,  ignore  the 
influence,  the  truth,  the  beauty  and  the  goodness  of  religion  ?  If  others 
there  were  who  were  great  without  religion,  what  might  they  have 
been  under  its  influence  ?  And  it  is  false  to  say  that  the  intellectual 
liberty,  or  rather  license  of  speculation  unrestrained  by  any  influence, 
isi  conducive  to  truth,  just  as  it  is  false  to  say  that  liberty  unrestrained 
by  any  command — divine  or  human — is  truest  liberty. 

Who  has  speculated  more  boldly  than  St.  Thomas  Aquinas?  Who 
has  presented  more  powerfully  the  objections  of  infidelity  and  error? 
The  men  who  held  such  opinions  were  unable  to  express  and  urge  them, 
as  this  intellectual  giant  could  do  for  them.  Why?  Because,  free  from 
the  darkness  of  prejudice,  he  could  see  the  amount  of  truth  mixed  with 
their  errors,  and  then,  being  absolutely  certain  of  the  truth  of  religion, 
he  knew  with  the  same  certainty  that  there  could  be  nothing  to  contra- 
dict in  the  region  of  science  and  true  philosophy.  The  last  man  of  earth 
to  fear  the  progress  of  scientific  and  philosophic  investigation  is  the 
Catholic,  and  the  better  Catholic  he  is  and  the  more  thoroughly  instructed, 
the  more  fearless  he  should  be.  All  truth  is  one,  and  from  God.  He 
cannot  speak  one  thing  in  nature  and  reason,  and  another  in  revelation. 
If,  therefore,  I  am  absolutely  certain  of  my  religious  truths,  I  am  as 
absolutely  fearless  of  scientific  truth.  But  if  I  have  only  opinions,  more 
or  less  vague,  on  religious  subjects,  I  may  fear  that  some  day  scientists 
may  discover  something  to  undermine  them.  The  same  is  true  of  opin- 
ions in  the  natural  order,  and  if  I  have  an  opinion  that  the  moon  is 
inhabited,  I  should  not  wonder  if  science  proved  the  contrary;  but  I  have 
no  fear  that  science  is  about  to  prove  that  two  and  two  are  not  four,  for 
of  this  I  am  certain. 

Now,  I  think  it  can  be  safely  asserted  that  no  class  of  religionists  are 
more  certain  of  the  truths  they  profess  and  teach  than  Christian,  Catholic 
educators.  I  am  not  here  inquiring  into  the  grounds  for  the  certitude, 
but  simply  stating  the  fact.  Hence,  such  educators  must  be  the  last  to 
fear"  scientific  revelations. 

Another  and  most  important  part  of  the  vocation  of  the  Christian 
Educator  is  that  of  teaching  the  great,  restraining  doctrines  of  our  religion 
which  help  to  form  the  law-abiding  citizen  as  well  as  the  good  Christian. 
One  of  the  many  delusions  of  the  age  is  that  education  of  itself  is  enough 
to  form  the  moral  man,  by  elevating  and  refining  our  tastes,  giving 
wholesome  thought-food  to  the  intellect,  thereby  excluding  what  is 
coarse  and  vicious,  and  filling  the  heart  and  imagination  with  pure  and 
beautiful  ideals.  No  doubt  all  these  things  help,  but  they  are  far  from 
being  sufficient.  Education  will  refine  even  vice  itself,  but  perhaps  it  is 
more  fatal  in  its  refined  than  in  its  gross,  repulsive  condition. 

No  secular  education  can  strike  at  the  root  of  evil  as  religion  does. 
"Quarry  the  granite  rock  with  razors  or  moor  the  vessel  with  a  thread  of 
silk,  then  may  you  hope,  wilh  such  keen  and  delicate  instruments  as 
human  knowledge  and  human  reason  to  contend  against  these  giants, 
the  passion  and  the  pride  of  man,"  says  Cardinal  Newman.  Experience 
confirms  what  the  great  Cardinal  asserts.  Greece  avid  Rome  in  the  days 
of  their  highest  culture  were  vicious  to  the  core — elegantly  vicious,  if  you 
please,  but  supremely  vicious. 

"Whatever  maybe  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education 
on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,"  says  George  Washington  in  his  inau- 
gural address,  "reason  and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that 
national  morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principles."  No, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  morality  requires  sacrifice,  sacrifice  requires  a 
motive,  and  religion  alone  can  furnish  adequate  motives  for  all  kinds  of 
temperaments.  Religion  must  furnish  motives  stronger  than  those  that 
move  to  sin  in  order  that  a  man  may  rationally  decide  for  the  right 
against  the  wrong,  for  the  pure  against  the  impure.  Hence  religion 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  19 

must  not  be  mere  sentimentalism  or  probability.  It  must  be  founded  in 
our  rational  nature  and  appeal  with  irresistible  force  to  a  power  within 
us  stronger  than  passion.  Its  truths  must  be  clear  and  convincing1,  and 
man  must  be  educated  in  them.  This  is  the  office,  supreme  and  all- 
important  to  the  interests  of  the  individual,  the  family  and  human 
society,  of  the  Christian  Educator.  Of  course,  I  shall  be  told  that  this  is 
not  properly  the  office  of  the  mere  educator.  The  parent  and  the  priest 
can  alone  enter  the  sanctuary  gates  of  the  heart ;  and  the  home  and  the 
Sunday-school  are  the  places  for  Christian  education.  I  say,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  that  these  are  sacred  and  appropriate  schools,  but  I  say  that 
experience  clearly  proves  that  they  are  not  sufficient,  that  when  you 
take  from  the  great  body  of  parents  three  classes — those  who  have  not 
the  time,  those  who  have  not  the  ability,  and  those  who  with  time  and 
ability,  have  not  the  inclination,  very  few  will  be  left  to  attend  to  the 
vital  duty  of  religious  education.  The  Sunday-school  held  once  a  week 
is  wholly  insufficient  and  very  precarious.  No  child  could  learn  arith- 
metic or  grammar  by  one  weekly  lesson,  and  yet  the  all-important 
subject  on  which  time  and  eternity  depend  is  supposed  to  be  left  to  this 
precarious  mode  of  teaching.  Are  chastity  and  honesty  and  obedience 
to  law  less  important  than  arithmetic  and  grammar  ? 

But  it  may  be  still  further  urged,  let  us  by  all  means  have  the  Chris- 
tian Educator,  or  rather,  to  render  the  title  less  sectarian,  the  Moral 
Instructor — the  man  who,  rising  above  all  sectarianism,  teaches  only  the 
great  moral  principles  upon  which  all  men  agree,  who,  eliminating  dog- 
mas, confines  himself  to  morals  alone.  This  vague  general  talk  has  done 
great  harm  to  morality.  I  have  shown  that  dogmas  of  religion,  absolu- 
tely certain  and  well  inculcated,  are  essential  to  give  motive  to  self- 
sacrifice,  and  hence  to  morality.  As  well  expect  the  flower  and  fruit 
•without  the  stem  or  root  as  expect  morality  without  the  doctrines  that 
give  it  motive  and  power.  In  unsectarian  moral  education  the  teacher 
is  supposed  to  avoid  touching  on  any  doctrine  which  might  clash  with 
the  faith  of  his  pupils  or  with  that  of  their  parents.  Let  me  suppose,  for 
illustration,  a  congress  of  these  youths  taking  your  places  in  this  hall. 
They  are  sharp  nineteenth,  nearly  twentieth  century  young  people  com- 
bining Yankee  acuteness  with  Chicago  push.  I,  a  quiet  non-sectarian 
moral  instructor  from  placid  Pennsylvania  and  friendly  Philadelphia, 
appear  before  them,  giving  them  permission  to  object  to  anything  like 
sectarianism,  which  may  perhaps,  unconsciously  appear  in  my  moral 
instruction,  and  to  ask  questions  in  explanation.  I  begin  my  address, 
''My  dear  young  friends,  fully  impressed  with  the  fact  that  I  must  avoid 
in  my  discourse  any  doctrine  which  may  clash  with  the  convictions  of  you 
or  your  parents,  I  shall,  first  of  all,  treat  of  a  subject  on  which  Pagans, 
Jews  and  Christians  of  all  denominations  entirely  agree.  I  mean  the 
voice  within  us  that  tells  us  that  some  things  are  right  and  some  things 
wrong.  This  is  the  voice  of  conscience,  which  is  the  voice  of  God.  "But," 
interrupts  a  smart  young  pupil  amongst  my  auditors,  "Who  is  God? 
What  is  God?  Is  He  a  person  or  only  an  invisible  power,  as  my  father 
thinks,  and  conscience,  is  it  not  the  memory  of  perhaps  a  punishment 
received  for  doing  wrong,  as  we  see  in  the  lower  animals  when  they  have 
been  chastised  and  afterwards  act  as  if  conscious  of  guilt  when  they  do 
something  for  which  they  had  been  chastised?  Have  animals  consciences, 
sir?" 

"I  perceive,"  says  the  moral  instructor,  "that  we  have  some  atheists 
here:  now,  I  come  to  instruct  American  Christian  youth.  Let  the  athe- 
ists, if  such  there  be,  retire.  They  require  special  treatment,  and  alone. 
Now,  my  dear  Christian  young  men,  I  shall  speak  to  you  in  a  non-secta- 
rian manner."  "Christian  young  men,"  cries  out  a  pale,  intellectual  young 
man,  "my  father  is  a  taxpayer  and  a  Hebrew,  and  he  does  not  believe, 
of  course,  in  Christianity.  He  thinks  Christ  at  the  very  best,  to  have 
been  an  enthusiast,  who  fancied  himself  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  If  this 


20  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

instruction  is  to  be  non-sectarian  and  intended  for  all  taxpayers,  it  cannot 
be  Christian.''  "Well,  young  gentlemen,"  says  the  bewildered  non-sec- 
tarian  teacher,  "I  see  the  point,  but  this  is  a  Christian  country,  and  as  I 
cannot  be  with  Christ  and  Annas  and  Caiphas  at  the  same  time,  let  the 
Jewish  boys  leave;  they  also  require  special  treatment.  Now,  thank 
Heaven,  I  have  young  American  Christian  boys  to  teach,  boys  who  honor 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  God."  "Hold!"  says  a  voice  with  a  strong  New  Eng- 
land ring,  "If  by  Son  of  God  you  mean  that  He  was  God.  equal  to  His 
Father,  the  Great  Almighty,  I  object,  for  my  parents  and  I  are  Unitari- 
ans, from  Boston,  and  I  did  not  expect  to  have  sectarian  teaching  incul- 
cated in  a  purely  non-sectarian  school."  Another  crowd  is  dispersed,  and 
the  moral  instructor,  not  yet  entirely  demoralized,  proceeds  witn  his  lec- 
ture. "As  I  told  you,  conscience  declares  that  some  things  are  right  ana 
some  things  wrong,  and  that  we  shall  be  rewarded  for  doing  the  right 
and  punished  for  the  wrong. 

Some  believe  that  the  punishment  of  a  really  bad  man  will  be  eter- 
nal, but  as  I  am  to  be  non-sectarian,  I  will  not  enter  on  that  subject. 
"But,  sir,"  interrupts  a  youth  in  the  crowd,  "it's  a  mighty  important 
subject  to  know  something  about."  "  Well,  replies  the  instructor,  "  sup- 
pose we  say  the  punishment  is  eternal."  "  Then,"  says  the  pupil,  "  that 
is  sectarian  doctrine,  for  my  father  is  a  Universalist  preacher  and  thinks 
and  teaches  that  the  doctrine  is  monstrous  and  contrary  to  all  that  we 
know  of  God's  mercy."  "  Well,  then,  suppose  we  say  the  punishment  is 
just  temporal  and  just  proportioned  to  the  crime,  and  after  this  tempor- 
ary hell  God  will  receive  the  soul  into  heaven."  "  Temporary  hell,"  cries 
out  one  in  the  audience,  "  I  declare  that  most  sectarian  doctrine,  for  a 
temporary  hell  where  souls  suffer  for  some  time  before  they  enter  heaven 
sounds  mighty  like  what  Roman  Catholics  call  purgatory."  By  this  time 
the  poor  moral  instructor  begins  to  feel  something  like  the  pains  of  purga- 
tory, with  a  fear  that  he  may  get  farther  south,  if  these  youngsters  so 
torment  him.  I  might,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  continue  this  examination 
until  the  hall  of  the  moral  instructor  would  become  vacant,  as  some  one 
would  be  found  to  object  to  every  dogmatic  utterance  of  his.  In  vain  will 
he  cry  out,  "  Why,  young  men,  the  very  Pagans  believed  in  God  and  his 
providence  and  future  rewards  and  punishments.  Can  I  not  teach  this 
much?  "Yes,  sir,"  some  one  answered,  "if  you  propose  to  make  us 
young  Pagans.  But  the  world  is  progressing.  Dogmatism,  which,  as  some 
one  has  happily  said,  is  only  puppyism  fully  matured,  has  had  its  day, 
and  we  must  think  for  ourselves  and  act  out  our  own  nature  as  we  please. " 
Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  what  is  to  become  of  a  generation  thus 
unrestrained  by  the  great  religious  element  within,  and  the  great  God 
above  them  ?  With  a  mother's  instinct,  the  Catholic  Church,  who  knows 
the  human  heart,  who  has  been  looking  into  it  for  nearly  two  thousand 
years,  sees  and  feels  the  danger,  and  makes  every  sacrifice  to  avert  it. 
Hence  she  offers  her  religious  orders  of  teaching  men  and  women  in 
every  part  of  the  world,  who  in  poverty  and  chastity  and  obedience 
give  themselves  to  teach  not  only  the  intellect,  but  the  heart,  and  thus 
save  humanity  from  its  own  fierce  passions.  She  appreciates  the 
sublime  vocation  of  the  Christian  educator.  If  it  be  noble  for  the  painter 
or  the  sculptor  to  reproduce  on  canvas  or  in  marble  some  great  work  of 
God.  what  of  him  who  fashions  the  young  soul,  and  impresses  more 
vividly  on  it  the  very  image  of  God.  who  points  out  the  glories  of  the 
starry  worlds  above  us.  and  fears  not  to  soar  higher  to  the  God  of  these 
worlds  of  light  ?  The  Christian  educator  who,  in  teaching  the  history 
of  humanity  and  its  civilization,  points  to  the  great  central  Figure  of 
both — the  glory  of  our  humanity  and  the  founder  of  our  civilization — 
Jesus  Christ.  He  fears  not  the  charge  of  sectarianism  when  speaking  of 
Him,  his  Lord  and  his  God.  He  hangs  the  image  of  Him  Crucified  on 
the  wall  of  the  school-room,  and  points  to  it  as  the  symbol  of  "  the 
wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God. " 


WORLD'S  COL Uyt&IAN  EXPOSITION.  21 

Look  at  that  gentle,  consecrated  virgin,  the  Sister-teacher,  with  her 
young1  pupils  around  her.  She  speaKs  to  them  of  the  truths  of  human 
Science,  teaches  them  most  diligently  what  is  necessary  to  be  known  to 
fit  them  for  their  position  in  life,  and  then,  as  her  heart  glows  and  her 
eye  brightens  and  her  voice  is  tremulous  with  emotion,  she  speaks  of 
Him  -whom  she  loves,  to  whom  and  to  whose  little  ones  she  has  given  her 
young  heart  and  bright  intellect.  She  speaks  of  love  and  loyalty 
towards  Him — of  purity,  of  mastery  of  the  passions.  She  is  herself  the 
living  sermon  which  must  leave  its  indelible  impress  on  the  hearts  of 
her  pupils.  The  Catholic  Church,  with  a  maternal  instinct  for  the  pre- 
servation ol  the  spiritual  life  of  her  children,  knows  no  sacrifice  too 
great  to  be  made  for  their  religious  instruction.  You  behold  the  result. 
Thousands  cf  school-houses  surmounted  by  the  cross,  and  second  only 
in  importance  to  our  churches,  are  seen  throughout  the  land.  Many 
reLgious  orders  of  men  and  women  are  devoted  to  the  same  worki  You 
beUoid  at  this  Columbian  Exposition  some  of  the  visible  results  of  this 
remarkable  self-sacx'ince  for  the  cause  of  education.  You  see  how 
charity  can  do  more  than  gold. 

Therefore,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  sum  up  what  I  have  said  to  you; 
because  the  vocation  of  the  Christian  educator  is  to  the  human  intellect 
and  includes  all  that  is  glorious  in  the  vocation  of  the  purely  seculai 
teacher,  because  in  addition  to  all  this  it  has  a  mission  to  the  human 
heart,  to  the  great  religious  element  in  man,  to  man  in  his  entirety, 
because  it  elevates  him  at  once  to  the  plane  of  the  supernatural,  and  by 
restraining  passion,  makes  him  the  best  individual  and  the  best  citizen; 
because  it  clarifies  and  strengthens  conscience,  which  in  a  country  like 
ours,  where  external  control  is  so  gentle,  should  act  as  a  strong  internal 
ruler;  because  unsectarian  generalities  and  mere  sentiment  can  never 
affect  the  passions  so  as  to  really  master  them,  and  only  the  truths 
taught  by  the  Christian  educator  can  effect  this;  therefore,  am  I  not 
safe  in  concluding  that  the  vocation  of  the  Christian  educator  in  this 
free  land,  and  in  this  progressive  nineteenth  century,  is  one  of  supreme 
importance  to  the  individual,  to  the  nation,  and  to  humanity  ? 

The  band  then  rendered  a  medley  of  American  airs  by  Catlin. 

Archbishop  Feehan,  in  introducing  Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien, 
said: 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  the  Hon.  Morgan  J. 
O'Brien,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  who  will  speak  to  you 
upon  "What  Catholics  have  done  for  Education  in  the  United 
States." 

ADDRESS    OF    HON.    MORGAN    J.     O'BRIEN,   SUPREME    COURT, 
NEW    YORK    STATE. 

WHAT  CATHOLICS  HAVE  DONE  FOB  EDUCATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Among  the  manifestations  of  God's  creative  power  in  this  world 
man  occupies  the  first  place,  not  alone  that  he  is  the  greatest  and  highest, 
but  principally  because  of  his  moral  nature  and  ultimate  destiny. 

This  idea  of  his  position  and  destiny  is  the  characteristic  distinction 
between  his  status  under  a  Pagan  and  under  a  Christian  civilization. 
Under  the  former,  where  the  State  was  everything  and  the  individual 
nothing,  man  had  no  rights  which  the  State  need  respect. 

The  Christian  idea  of  individual  responsibility  and  glorious  destiny 
has  not  only  fixed  the  relative  rights  of  a  citizen  to  ward  his  government, 
but  has  covered  our  land  with  asylums  for  the  sick  and  aged,  infirm  and 
decrepit,  which  were  unheard  of  under  a  Pagan  civilization. 


CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

The  progress  made  in  the  inarch  of  civilization  is  in  nothing-  more 
marked  than  in  the  recognition  of  individual  rights  and  duties.  Man's 
past  and  present  reads  like  a  book  on  astronomy.  Once  astronomy  con- 
sidered the  stars  as  mere  fixed  points  of  light,  placed  in  space  and  with- 
out relation  to  other  heavenly  bodies  ;  now  it  studies  them,  determines 
their  size,  movements,  and  the  revolution  of  their  planets.  Astronomy 
now  knows  that  each  star  has  its  relative  place,  performs  its  particular 
functions  under  given  laws,  gives  out  its  light  to  illumine  earth  and 
space  and  aids  in  producing  that  life  and  beauty  which  make  up  the  har- 
mony of  ten  thousand  worlds. 

So  since  the  Pagan  times  when  death  was  thought  to  be  annihilation, 
we  know  that  man's  use  and  function  is  to  be  witness  of  the  glory  of 
that  God,  who  is  the  creator  of  these  stars  and  numberless  worlds,  and  to 
advance  that  glory  by  his  reasonable  obedience  and  resultant  happiness. 

In  determining,  therefore,  the  benefits  of  any  system,  either  of 
religion  or  education,  it  must  be  judged  not  alone  by  its  effects  or  results 
upon  man  in  his  connection  with  what  transpires  about  him  here,  but 
also  by  its  influence  upon  his  ultimate  destiny. 

This  dual  relation  to  time  and  eternity,  though  susceptible,  in  the 
abstract,  of  separate  treatment  and  consideration,  cannot,  in  the  con- 
crete, be  dissevered,  any  more  than  can  the  body  and  soul. 

Man's  rights  and  duties,  whether  considered  as  an  individual,  as  a 
member  of  the  family,  or  that  greater  society  known  as  the  State,  cannot 
be  correctly  determined  without  bearing  this  fact  constantly  in  mind. 
What  changes  this  wrought  in  men's  lives,  what  transformations  effected 
in  nations,  is  most  strikingly  shown  by  contrasting  Pagan  and  Christian 
civilization.  The  problem  of  life,  the  mystery  of  death,  unknown  to 
Pagan  people,  and  the  source  of  perplexity  to  the  greatest  sages  and 
philosophers  were  solved,  and  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the  poorest 
and  most  illiterate  in  Christendom.  No  longer  left  to  the  caprice  of 
passion,  this  knowledge  elevated  man's  dignity  and  position,  and  no 
longer  left  to  journey  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave  in  doubt  and  uncer- 
tainty, he  became  infused  with  new  blood,  inspired  with  new  hopes,  and 
stood  firmer,  erect  on  God's  footstool,  with  eyes  ever  fixed  on  his  eternal 
home. 

It  would  be  both  interesting  and  instructive  to  trace  the 
influence  that  this  knowledge  of  his  dual  relation  to  the  here  and 
the  hereafter  exerted  upon  man's  condition  and  action,  crystallizing 
in  that  Christian  civilization  which  is  now  the  heritage  of  all.  It  would 
exceed,  however,  the  object,  scope  and  expected  limits  of  this  paper,  which 
will  deal  with  it  so  far  only  as  may  be  essential  to  answer  the  question 
presented  for  our  consideration,  viz. :  What  have  the  Catholics  done  for 
education  in  the  United  States? 

There  can  be  no  question  of  more  vital  importance  to  the  American 
people  than  this :  How  are  children,  who,  within  a  few  years  are  to  be 
trusted  with  the  responsibility  of  citizenship,  and  the  destinies  of  the 
nation  to  be  educated  ?  The  growth,  development  and  prosperity  of  the 
State  depends  on  the  intelligence  of  the  people. 

Educational  institutions  may  be  divided  into  primary  and  secondary; 
the  former  embraces  public,  parochial  and  similar  schools,  devoted  to 
elementary  education,  •while  secondary  institutions  comprise  colleges 
and  universities.  Leaving  out  of  view  the  religious  feature,  which  we 
will  discuss  hereafter,  and  contrasting,  from  a  secular  standpoint,  Cath- 
olic colleges  and  universities  with  other  denominational  or  non-sectarian 
colleges,  so-called,  we  are  forcibly  struck  with  how  favorable,  taking  the 
past,  is  the  comparison.  Without  means,  without  subsidies,  without 
rich  or  influential  friends,  amidst  trials  and  tribulations  that  would  have 
excused  failure,  they  have  grown,  flourished  and  multiplied,  until  to-day, 
we  possess  colleges  and  universities  where  every  ambition  for  the  most 
advanced  higher  education  can  be  satisfied.  The  abundant  money  and 


WORLD'S  COL  UMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  23 

resources  of  other  colleges  is  equalized  by  the  superiority,  as  a  rule,  of  the 
faculty  of  Catholic  colleges. 

But  when  we  come  to  consider  our  parochial  as  compared  to  the  pub- 
lic schools,  then  the  results  are  remarkable.  That  the  public  schools,  in 
their  appointments,  in  their  completeness  and  in  their  system  and  methods 
of  instruction,  are  superior,  must  be  conceded.  But  it  should  be  remem- 
bered, that  though  the  parochial  school  dates  back  forty  years,  it  has 
only  been  within  the  past  twenty  years  that  Catholics  have  been  in  a 
position  to  devote  to  their  advancement  either  time,  money  or  effort. 
Yet  the  statistics  show  that  there  are  between  700.000  and  800,000  in  our 
parochial  as  against  seven  to  eight  millions  in  the  public  schools.  In 
addition,  there  are  many  orphanages,  children's  homes  and  similar  insti- 
tutions, whose  inmates  receive  a  Catholic  elementary  training.  So  that, 
if  we  take  the  number  of  children  of  school  age,  it  will  be  found,  taking 
our  entire  population,  that  the  per  centage,  as  between  Catholic  and  pub- 
lic schools,  is  greater  in  favor  of  Catholic. 

When  we  remember  that  this  involves  the  double  burden  of  building 
and  maintaining  our  own  schools,  besides  contributing,  in  the  way  of  tax- 
ation, to  public  instruction,  the  result  is  not  only  extraordinary,  but  is 
evidence  of  a  deep-seated  and  sincere  belief  in  the  necessity  of  Catholic 
Schools  and  Catholic  Education. 

We  could  continue  our  comparison  and  show  that  the  education  thus 
provided,  regarded  solely  as  secular  education,  equips  the  pupil  with  as 
good  a  mental  training  and  intellectual  equipment  to  contend  for  a 
successful  position  in  life,  as  that  furnished  by  other  schools,  public  or 
private.  But  no  idea  of  comparison,  antagonism  or  competition,  or  even 
ambition  to  provide  a  better  secular  education,  induced  the  establish- 
ment of  the  various  Catholic  schools,  colleges  and  universities  through- 
out our  country.  We  recognize  the  necessity  and  utility  of  public 
schools  and  public  instruction.  These  are  essential  for  the  safety  and 
permanence  of  our  country,  needful  to  make  intelligent  citizens,  and, 
for  those  who  are  indifferent  or  opposed  to  religion  and  education  going 
hand  in  hand,  or  are  opposed  to  religion,  or  who  are  indifferent  to  both 
the  education  and  religion,  and  would  neglect,  were  it  not  for  the  State, 
the  obligation  imposed  upon  them  as  parents  to  properly  educate  their 
children,  as  well  as  those  who,  with  means,  ability  and  disposition,  are 
able  to  provide  a  thorough  religious  training  otherwise,  the  public  schools 
are  highly  necessary  and  beneficial.  It  is,  therefore,  a  mistake  to  assert 
that  Catholics  are  opposed  to  public  schools.  Gladly  would  we  avail 
ourselves  of  their  great  advantages,  willingly  would  we  lay  down  the 
burden  of  maintaining  separate  schools,  if  this  could  be  done  without 
the  sacrifice  of  principle.  If  conducted  after  the  plan  of  the  National 
School  System  of  Ireland,  or  upon  the  denominational  plan  of  Canada, 
which  permits  religious  training,  then  could  we  conscientiously  give  up 
our  own  schools.  We  recognize  their  necessity,  efficiency  and  useful- 
ness for  classes,  some  of  which  have  been,  and  others  which  might  be, 
enumerated,  but  they  do  not  come  up  to  the  requirements  of  what,  in  a 
Catholic  view,  is  essential  to  a  true  and  sound  education.  Not  the  mind 
alone,  but  the  heart,  and  the  whole  man.  must  be  trained,  because  we 
accept  alone  as  the  true  definition  that  given  by  Webster,  according  to 
whom  to  educate  is  "to  instil  into  the  mind  principles  of  art,  science, 
morals,  religion  and  behavior."  "To  educate  in  the  arts  is  important, 
in  religion  indispensable."  As  said  Our  Holy  Father,  "  He  who,  in  the 
education  of  youth,  neglects  the  will,  and  concentrates  all  his  energies 
on  the  culture  of  the  intellect,  succeeds  in  turning  education  into  a 
dangerous  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  wicked.  It  is  the  reasoning  of 
the  intellect  that  sometimes  joins  with  the  evil  propensities  of  the  will, 
and  gives  them  a  power  which  baffles  all  resistance." 

It  is,  therefore,  in  the  language  of  Cardinal  Manning,  that  we  insist: 
"that  a  Christian  child  has  a  right  to  a  Christian  education,  and  a  Catho- 


24  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY- 

lie  child  to  a  Catholic  education."  There  is  nothing  new  in  this  defini- 
tion of  education,  which  has  not  only  been  consistently  maintained  by 
Catholics  under  every  form  of  government,  but  has  received  the  sanction 
and  endorsement  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  Protestant  writers  and 
thinkers  who  have  spoken  of  the  dangers  attending  education  without 
religion. 

Although  we  have,  considering  the  difficulties,  obstacles  and  lack  of 
means,  just  cause  for  pride  in  the  number  of  our  schools,  colleges  and 
universities,  providing  as  they  do,  for  fully  eight  hundred  thousand 
pupils,  with  well  equipped  and  disciplined  teachers  and  professors,  who 
have  sent  forth  young  men  who  have  successfully  battled  in  every  walk 
and  profession  of  life  for  the  world's  highest  honors,  it  is  not  in  any  or 
all  of  these  that  we  find  our  chief  pride  and  glory,  or  on  which  we  rest 
our  just  claim  to  the  gratitude  of  our  fellow-countrymen  in  what  we  have 
done  for  education. 

Though  we  had  for  lack  of  means,  been  powerless  to  accomplish 
what  has  been  achieved,  nevertheless,  the  principle  which  has  stimulated 
us  to  spend  millions  of  dollars,  to  sacrifice  the  life  and  ambition  of  thous- 
ands of  our  Catholic  teachers,  to  assume  the  burden  of  a  double  taxation 
would  carry  us  on,  stimulate  us  with  the  zeal  and  courage  to  carry  to  a 
successful  issue  a  work  that  must  redound  in  the  greatest  benefits  to 
the  individual  and  the  permanent  welfare  of  our  country.  It  has  never 
been  questioned  but  that  the  safety  of  a  Republic  rests  upon  the  virtue 
of  its  citizens,  just  as  monarchies  are  sustained  by  strong  central 
governments,  supported  by  large  standing  armies,  and  in  which  the  gov- 
erning principle  is  force.  The  world  knows  but  two  principles  of  gov- 
ernment, one  the  power  of  the  sword,  sustained  by  the  hand  that  wields 
it,  the  other  the  power  of  law,  sustained  by  a  virtuous  and  intelligent 
public  opinion.  "Or,  differently  expressed,  there  is  the  principle  of  force 
and  the  principle  of  love." 

Whilst  intelligence,  therefore,  is  a  necessity,  and  tends  to  promote 
virtue  and  eradicate  vice,  besides  qualifying  a  man  for  citizenship,  it  still 
remains  true  that  virtue  is  essentially  based  on  religion.  There  may  be 
individuals  peculiarly  endowed,  who  may  be  exceptions,  but  it  can  be 
truly  stated,  as  a  rule,  that  intelligence  may  make  a  brilliant,  but  can 
never  make  a  virtuous  people.  As  well  may  we  expect  a  tree  torn  up  by 
the  roots,  and  thrown  on  the  wayside  to  grow  and  blossom,  as  to  expect 
that  virtue,  separated  from  religion,  can  survive.  The  ages  and  nations 
that  produced  a  Plato,  an  Aristotle  and  a  Cicero  were  noted  for  the  intel- 
ligence, not  alone  of  a  few,  but  of  the  entire  people.  But  what  of  their 
virtue?  No  picture  brush  could  paint,  or  pen  describe,  could  ever  color 
the  frightful  moral  condition  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the  two  greatest  and 
most  intelligent  nations  of  antiquity.  The  history  of  those  nations,  as 
well  as  the  study  of  all  the  civilizations  known  to  man,  bear  striking 
testimony  to  that  oft  quoted,  but  profound  expression  of  Washington, 
the  Father  of  our  Country,  who,  in  his  farewell  address,  said:  '•  What- 
ever may  be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education  on  minds  of 
peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that 
national  morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principle," 

And  our  own  beloved  Cardinal  Gibbons,  in  his  admirable  book,  "  Our 
Christian  Heritage,"  justifies  the  summary  that  "  every  philosopher  and 
statesman  who  has  discussed  the  subject  of  human  governments  has 
acknowledged  that  there  can  be  no  stable  society  without  justice,  no 
justice  without  morality,  no  morality  without  religion,  no  religion  with- 
out God."  And  in  this  place  I  cannot  forbear  quoting  from  the  same 
eminent  author  his  eloquent  description  of  religion  and  its  salutary  and 
far-reaching  influences:  "Religion  is  anterior  to  society  and  more 
enduring  than  governments,  it  is  the  focus  of  all  social  virtues,  the  basis 
of  public  morals,  the  most  powerful  instrument  in  the  hands  of  legisla- 
tors, it  is  stronger  than  self-interest,  more  awe-inspiring  than  civil 


WORLDS  <JOL  UMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  25 

threats,  more  universal  than  honor,  more  active  than  love  of  country — 
the  surest  guarantee  that  rulers  can  have  of  the  fidelity  of  their  sub- 
jects, and  that  subjects  can  have  of  the  justice  of  their  rulers  ;  it  is  the 
curb  of  the  mighty,  the  defense  of  the  weak,  the  consolation  of  the 
afflicted,  the  covenant  of  God  with  man,  and,  in  the  language  of  Homer, 
it  is  "  the  golden  chain  which  suspends  the  earth  from  the  throne  of  the 
eternal." 

Religion,  however,  it  may  be  asserted,  is  the  proper  theme  for  the 
church  or  home,  but  has  no  place  in  the  school.  That  churches  and  the 
teaching  of  Christian  homes  do  much  to  foster  and  promote  religion  must 
be  conceded,  but,  generally  speaking,  churches  are  more  potent  in  main- 
taining religious  convictions  already  formed  than  successful  in  the  incul- 
cation of  religion  in  children.  Hence  their  greater  utility  for  adults 
than  for  children.  The  benefits  of  a  Sunday-School  or  of  home  training 
cannot  be  over-estimated,  but  what  impracticable  difficulties  are  there 
in  the  way  of  their  ever  being  so  arranged  as  to  produce  the  desired 
results,  for  the  great  mass  of  our  children,  either  because  of  the  small 
time  devoted  each  week  in  the  Sunday  School  or  the  limited  number  that 
ever  receive  a  thorough  religious  training  at  home . 

That  churches,  Sunday-schools  and  home  influence  have  not  been  as 
far-reaching  as  demanded  by  the  religious  wants  of  the  people  or  nation, 
may  be  conclusively  shown  by  dwelling  for  a  moment  on  the  past  and 
present  religious  condition  of  our  country .  Those  who  founded  our 
colonies,  as  well  as  our  Revolutionary  forefathers,  were  religious 
men.  Physically  rugged  and  hardy,  they  \vere  imbued  with  strong 
religious  convictions  that" influenced  their  every  act.  They  came  over  a 
trackless  ocean,  and  cut  a  way  through  impenetrable  forests,  and  through 
their  religion,  intelligence  and  courage,  established  society  and  govern- 
ment and  laws,  and,  after  finally  throwing  off  a  foreign  yoke,  laid  deep 
the  foundations  of  a  constitutional  republic  that  is  seemingly  destined  to 
be  the  foremost  nation  of  the  world.  Are  we  acting  up  to  the  spirit,  the 
principles,  the  traditions  of  the  past?  Are  we  advancing  or  retrograding? 
To  assert  that,  having  advanced  morally  to  a  certain  point,  we  can  then 
remain  stationary,  is  to  utter  an  absurdity,  for  a  nation  can  no  more 
remain  morally  passive  than  can  a  man;  he  is  bound  to  go  on  and  up  ward 
or  to  go  on  and  downward. 

That,  in  material  prosperity,  we  have  made  giant  strides  is  apparent. 
Our  towns,  cities  and  states  have  increased  and  multiplied.  Men  have 
amassed  wealth  running  into  the  millions  and  hundreds  of  millions.  Our 
corporations  are  striding  a  continent,  but  are  we  not  equally  accursed 
by  incipent  pauperism  and  discontent,  do  we  not  know  that  thousands 
are  deprived  of  the  very  neeessaries  of  life,  deprived  of  the  benefits  of 
education,  religion  and  civilization,  deprived  of  the  very  blessings  which 
our  Constitution  guarantees,  and  which  God  seemingly  intended  for 
every  man,  woman  and  child  in  our  land? 

Has  not  agnosticism,  materialism,  infidelity  and  other  forms  of  irre- 
ligion  been  as  rapidly  augmented  as  our  national  prosperity?  Has  not 
polygamy,  under  the  form  of  Mormonism,  or  lax  divorce  laws,  alarm- 
ingly increased?  Have  we  the  same  spirit  of  public  or  private  virtue 
that  prevailed  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic?  Have  not  immorality, 
gambling,  intemperance,  breaches  of  private  and  public  trust,  become 
prevalent  among  our  citizens? 

The  fact,  therefore,  stands  prominently  forth  that  virtue  has  de- 
creased in  proportion  to  the  destruction  of  the  religious  sentiment  among 
our  people,  and  it  requires  no  prophet  to  tell  what  must  be  the  inevita- 
ble end  if  some  check  to  the  rapid  inroad  of  irreligion  be  not  found. 
Kingdoms,  empires  and  republics,  some  of  which  in  territorial  aggrand- 
izement were  larper  than  our  own,  some  obtaining  an  intellectual  su- 
premacy which  yet  commands  the  admiration  of  the  world,  have,  at 
times,  glistened  along  the  past  only  to  be  extinguished  and  to  fade  as 


26  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DA  Y. 

atterly  as  the  vivid  glories  of  the  sunset.  Shall  our  country,  whose  glory 
and  prosperity  are  linked  with  every  fibre  of  our  hearts,  whose  founda- 
tions were  laid  so  deep  and  strong,  wrhich  through  the  heroism  anl 
patriotism  of  our  fathers  has  given  to  the  world  a  government  so  ad- 
justed as  to  satisfy  the  highest  and  noblest  demands  of  social  and  civil 
life,  is  this,  through  our  indifference  or  folly,  to  repeat  the  history  of 
nations  which  have  fallen  to  rise  no  more?  We  believe  that  more  of 
man's  destiny  has  been  committed  to  our  country  than  to  any  other 
nation  in  Christendom. 

But  we  know  that  nations,  like  men.  may  live  to  the  fullness  of 
their  time,  or  perish  prematurely  for  want  of  guidance  or  through  in- 
ternal disorders.  Viewing,  therefore,  the  causes  which  threaten  our 
national  existence,  most  if  not  all  of  which  are  directly  traceable  to 
moral  decadence  among  our  people,  may  we  not  profitably  inquire  into 
the  remedy  for  these  evils?  That  these  have  grown  and  increased,  in. 
spite  of  the  influence  of  churches,  and  the  possibility  of  children  being 
given  a  religious  training  at  home,  is  evident  from  the  present  social 
conditions. 

That  they  could  not  be  so  alarmingly  increased,  augmented  or  prev- 
alent, were  our  people  as  virtuous  now  as  in  the  past,  we  think 
equally  demonstrable.  It  is  conceivable  that  even  a  highly  educated 
and  intelligent  people  may  be  both  corrupt  and  immoral,  as  shown  in 
the  history  of  Greece  and  Rome,  but  it  is  a  contradiction  in  terms  to 
assert  that  any  people  with  deep-seated  religious  convictions,  based  on 
Christ's  teachings,  can  ever  be  any  but  a  virtuous  people.  Catholics 
regard,  therefore,  the  proper  religious  training  of  their  children  as 
essential,  not  only  for  moral  perfection  in  the  individual  and  in  the 
family,  but  equally  necessary  to  the  formation  of  virtuous  and  patriotic 
citizens.  Catholics  regard  the  teachings  of  religion  as  of  paramount 
importance  to  the  individual  and  the  State,  and,  to  that  end.  have 
earnestly  and  conscientiously  labored  to  adopt  the  most  effective  means 
of  securing  it. 

We  rightly  view  youth  as  the  seed-time  of  life.  If  the  ground  i& 
then  tilled  and  watered  and  sown  with  good  seed  the  perennial  flowers 
of  religion  and  virtue  will  bloom  in  the  summer's  sun,  and  their  sweet- 
ness and  perfume  continue  until  winter's  snow  shall  linger  and  be  dis- 
solved in  the  lap  of  an  eternal  spring. 

Experience,  human  nature,  the  necessity  of  first,  as  lasting  im- 
pressions, all  teach  that  the  seat  of  all  that  is  good  and  bad.  the  source 
of  virtue  as  well  as  vice — the  human  heart — shall  receive  the  same  con- 
tinuous, devoted  and  consistent  training  as  the  human  mind.  The  error 
of  delaying  this  work,  or  having  it  imperfectly  done,  is  fraught  with 
such  terrible  consequences  to  the  individual,  the  family  and  the  State, 
that  Catholics  regard  religious  as  superior  in  its  claims  to  mere  mental 
training.  If  we  would,  therefore,  ask  what  have  Catholics  done  for  edu- 
cation, we  would  answrer,  though  wre  might  point  with  pride  to  the 
number  and  character  of  our  schools,  colleges  and  universities,  that  we 
have  joined  in  holy  wedlock  religion  and  education  in  conformity  to  the 
eternal  decrees  and  fitness  of  things ;  that  we  have  produced  teachers 
who  have  consecrated  their  lives  to  the  work  of  the  Divine  Master, 
laboring  to  lift  not  only  our  minds  but  our  hearts,  who  have  struggled  to 
emancipate  us  from  the  encroachments  of  a  debasing  materialism,  who 
daily  teach  us  there  is  something  in  life  higher,  better  and  more  import- 
ant than  commerce  and  wealth,  than  poetry,  eloquence  and  song,  that 
spiritual  life  which  holds  us  responsible  for  what  we  may  do  while  here 
and  accountable  at  last  to  the  final  Judge. 

In  our  schools,  therefore,  there  is  taught  all  that  is  taught  in  others 
and  something  more.  They  teach  not  only  the  geography  of  this,  but  of 
the  world  beyond. 

How  important  and  beneficial  such  an  education  is,  both  to  the  in- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  27 

dividual  and  the  State,  I  have  endeavored  imperfectly  to  outline.  The 
underlying  principle  that  distinguishes  Catholic  education  is  equally  im- 
portant to  every  other  Christian  denomination. 

All  professing  Christians,  be  they  Catholic  or  not.  value  the  ines- 
timable blessings  conferred  by  religion  in  developing  the  men  who 
hewed  out  of  impenetrable  forests  a  country,  a  government  and  a  Con- 
stitution that  is  the  envy  of  the  world,  and  which,  in  its  integrity,  if 
preserved,  assures  not  only  to  the  present  but  to  ages  unborn  the 
divine  rights  of  civil-  and  religious  liberty.  Our  great  achievements,  our 
phenomenal  growth,  our  long  list  of  illustrious  heroes,  were  the  result 
of  the  religious  spirit  abiding  in  our  people,  and  which  found  expression 
"in  an  admirable  public  conscience,  rich  in  maxims  of  sublime  morality, 
in  laws*  of  justice  and  e'quity,  in  sentiments  of  honor  and  dignitj',  in  a 
profound  respect  for  man  and  all  that  belongs  to  him,  in  a  tendency  to 
improve  the  condition  of  the  many,  to  protect  the  weak  and  succor  the 
unfortunate,  in  the  indelible  stamp  which  it  has  affixed  on  all  our  laws 
and  all  our  institutions,  and  which  has  given  us  a  civilization  superior 
to  that  of  all  other  civilizations,  ancient  or  modern." 

The  weakening  of  this  spirit,  which  we  believe  has  occurred,  is  a 
national  calamity,  and  the  evils  that  must  inevitably  follow,  if  not 
already  apparent,  is  due  to  the  original  vigor  and  strength  as  it  existed, 
and  which,  thus  far,  it  has  been  impossible  to  wholly  obscure  or  destroy. 

If  religion,  then,  was  the  fruitful  product  of  so  much  good,  what 
other  remedy  so  effective  can  be  suggested  for  renewing  the  original 
energy  of  the  nation?  And,  in  what  manner  can  this  be  more  effectu- 
ally accomplished  than  by  properly  training  our  youth?  Feeling,  as  we 
do,  that  time  and  the  sense  of  justice  that  ever  abides  in  the  American 
people  will,  sooner  or  later,  bear  testimony  to  the  sincerity  and  value  of 
the  principle  for  which  Catholics  contend,  we  will  patiently  bear  our 
present  burdens,  subject  ourselves  to  the  misrepresentation  of  those  who 
will  not  understand  us,  and  continue  to  uphold  the  principle  that  we 
shall  not  sacrifice  the  moral  to  the  mental  \vell  being  of  our  youth. 

This  idea,  or  principle,  which  we  believe  will  finally  meet  with  the 
assent  and  approval  of  all  thoughtftil  and  right  minded  men,  is  the 
Catholic  contribution  to  education.  This  does  not,  let  us  repeat,  place 
itself  in  antagonism  to  our  public  schools,  nor  does  it,  in  any  way,  include 
the  right  of  the  State  to  teach  religion.  The  latter  would,  to  that  extent, 
be  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  to  which  in  this  country,  where  religi' 
ous  freedom  is  guaranteed,  we,  as  American  Catholics,  are  unalterably 
opposed. 

The  objection  that  this  principle  is  opposed  to  the  State  is  an  old 
one,  and  was  answered  by  Christ  himself,  \vhen,  in  the  Temple,  he  took 
the  Roman  coin,  and  enunciated  the  cardinal  and  guiding  principle  of 
civic  rights  and  duties,  by  requiring  tribute  to  Caesar  "of  things  that  are 
Csesar's  and  to  God  the  things  that  are  God's." 

That  some  will  be  found  who,  opposed  to  all  religion,  will  not  regard 
our  contribution  to  education  as  valuable  we  know,  but  for 
those  who  believe  in  Christianity,  be  they  Catholic  or  Protestant,  no 
logical  reason  can  be  suggested  why  they  should  oppose  the  principle  for 
which  we  contend. 

When  we  find  arranged  against  Christianity  all  the  forces  of  irreli- 
glon — forces  most  powerful  and  unrelenting — having  a  single  bond  of 
union,  hostility  to  religion,  should  the  time  of  Christians  be  taken  up  in 
bitter  strife  among  themselves,  instead  of  directing  their  strength 
against  the  common  enemy?  What  a  striking  parallel  in  our  present 
attitude  and  that  so  graphically  described  by  Scott  in  his  "Talisman"  of 
the  spirit  that  filled  the  allied  Christian  princess  before  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem. 

After  years  of  preparation,  after  months  of  long  and  dreary 
marches,  after  suffering  and  untold  hardships,  with  ranks  already 


"28  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DA  Y. 

decimated  by  the  assaults  of  the  eneny,  they  stood  before  the  city  of 
their  God,  which  they  had  sworn  should  be  wrested  from  the  Saracen's 
hands.  Instead  of  marching  on  the  city,  which  the  rank  and  file  were 
anxious  to  do,  they  spent  the  time  in  vainly  discussing-  as  to  who  among 
them  was,  by  right  of  precedence,  entitled  to  lead  the  Christian  hosts. 
After  days  thus  spent  by  Richard  the  lion  hearted,  Philip  of  France, 
and  Leopold  of  Austria,  in  useless  wrangling,  the  debate  was  happily 
terminated  by  their  uniting  in  a  sentiment  which  we  now  adopt  as 
our  own,  and  which  led  the  Christian  hosts  to  victory:  "In  the  face 
of  our  common  enemy,  let  our  quarrels  be  those  of  the  past — to-day  let 
«ach  lead  his  own,  and  hereafter  let  him  take  precedence  who  shall  carry 
furthest  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  the  Banner  of  the  Cross." 

The  Hon.  Thomas  J.  Grargan,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  was  introduced 
by  Archbishop  Feehan  in  the  following  words  : 

The  Hon.  Thomas  J.  Gargan,  of  Boston,  will  now  address  you, 
ladies    and    gentlemen,    on   "Patriotism — a   Sequence   of   Catholic 
Education. " 
ADDRESS    OF    THOMAS    J.    GARGAN,    OF    BOSTON,    MASS.,    AT 

CHICAGO,  SEPTEMBER  2,  1893. 
SUBJECT  :    CATHOLICITY  AND  PATRIOTISM. 

I  have  been  invited  to  speak  to  you  on  "Catholicity  and  Patriotism," 
and  what  more  appropriate  time  than  this  to  speak,  when  vre  are  cele- 
brating the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  great  Catholic  discoverer 
who  made  this  Republic  possible,  and  in  this  city,  where  the  courage  of 
our  Catholic  fellow  citizens,  acting  as  peace  officers  during  the  anarch- 
istic disturbances,  was  put  to  its  supremest  test  to  uphold  and  maintain 
th?  doctrine  of  the  founders  of  our  constitution,  "That  this  should  be  a 
government  of  laws  and  not  of  men."  Catholicity  and  patriotism  seem 
to  me  synonymous  terms.  What  do  we  mean  by  Catholic?  We  mean 
universal,  whole,  liberal,  not  narrow  minded.  What  is  the  end  and  aim 
of  Catholicity?  The  happiness  and  eternal  welfare  of  mankind.  What 
is  Patriotism?  Love  of  country.  The  passion  which  aims  to  serve  one's 
country.  What  is  the  end  and  aim,  then,  of  patriotism?  The  prosperity 
and  welfare  of  one's  country.  It  is  true,  the  end  of  Catholicity  is  the 
welfare  of  all  mankind,  while  patriotism  is  defined  to  be  the  welfare  of 
one's  country;  yet  they  are  not  inconsistent,  for  Catholicity  teaches  that 
we  are  to  "Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God 
the  things  that  are  God's."  In  other  words,  we  owe  our  duty  and  alle- 
giance in  all  temporal  matters,  to  properly  instituted,  authorized  and 
organized  government.  We.  as  Catholics  and  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  yield,  in  our  love  and  devotion  to  the  country  and  its  institutions, 
to  no  other  organization  or  body  of  men:  and  we  may  be  pardoned  if  at 
this  time  we  indulge  somewhat  in  retrospection. 

De  Toqueville,  in  his  Democracy  of  America,  and  Bryce  in  his 
American  Commonwealth,  agree  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  had  its  origin  in  the  New  England  town  meeting,  where  exists 
to-day  the  best  form  of  Democratic  government ;  yet  the  idea  of 
the  town  meeting  came  from  Catholic  Normandy,  where  it  was  the 
custom  from  the  earliest  history  of  the  church  after  the  last  mass  on 
Sunday,  when  the  congregation  was  dismissed,  to  assemble  on  the 
common  or  green  in  front  of  the  church  and  discuss  the  questions  of 
new  roads,  and  to  fix  the  local  rates  and  taxes,  and  to  debate  all  matters 
appertaining  to  the  material  welfare  of  the  people  of  the  parish.  The 
Normans,  after  the  conquest,  established  this  same  custom  in  England, 
and  the  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay  colonists  brought  over  this 
idea  to  America.  And  thus  we  have  in  this  Catholic  custom  the  germ  of 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  29 

pur  whole  system  of  Democratic  government,  the  foundation  stone  on 
which  our  Union  is  builded. 

Need  I  recall  to  you  the  early  history  of  our  country,  or  the 
events  which  led  up  to  the  American  Revolution  and  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  ?  We  cannot  forget  that  Magna  Charta,  won  from  King- 
John,  of  England,  was  the  precursor,  of  that  declaration,  and  that  the 
great  charter  of  England  was  won  .by  the  Catholic  Archbishop  Langton, 
who  on  the  field  of  Runnymede  administered  the  oath  by  which  the 
barons  and  two  thousand  knights,  esquires,  and  followers  bound  them- 
selves "to  conquer  or  die  in  defence  of  their  liberties."  The  same 
liberties  which  were  afterwards  proclaimed  and  set  forth  in  the  immortal 
declaration  and  the  bill  of  rights.  That  the  subject  should  be  secure  in 
his  person,  liberty,  and  property ;  that  he  should  not  be  deprived  of 
either  without  due  process  of  law ;  that  the  courts  should  no  longer 
follow  the  person  of  the  king,  but  be  held  in  some  certain  place  con- 
firmed to  all  cities  and  towns,  the  enjoyment  of  their  ancient  liberties- 
according  to  the  terms  of  their  charters  and  reaffirmed  the  rights  of  trial 
by  jury.  Thus,  five  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence  the  spirit  of  catholicity,  as  expressed  by  Arch- 
bishop Langton,  compelled  King  John  to  grant  larger  liberties  to  the 
people  of  England.  The  great  charter  was  the  dawn,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  the  full  noon  of  liberty's  day.  In  the  events  preceding 
the  birth  of  the  United  States,  the  Catholics  of  the  colonies  were  true 
patriots  mindful  of  the  teachings  of  catholicity.  Catholic  Maryland,  the 
first  of  the  colonies  to  grant  civil  and  religious  liberty  to  all  settlers, 
gave  aid  and  comfort  to  Massachusetts  in  her  agitation  against  taxation 
without  representation,  and  early  in  the  struggle,  Father  John  Carroll, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Baltimore,  went  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to  Canada 
to  secure  aid  of  the  French  colonists,  a  mission  which  would  have  been 
successful  in  adding  Canada  to  our  Union  if  it  were  not  for  some  New 
England  Burchards  of  those  days.  In  one  of  the  colonial  congresses, 
prior  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  much  was  said  about  the 
doctrine  of  the  divine  rights  of  kings,  when  a  Catholic  patriot  arose  and 
said  :  "  What  about  the  divine  rights  of  the  people,"  and  anybody  who- 
reads  carefully  the  proceedings  of  the  congresses  and  conventions  must 
be  struck  with  the  wisdom  of  the  utterances  and  the  catholic  spirit  of  the 
men  who  framed  this  government  of  ours.  A  government  which  Lord 
Brougham  said  :  ' '  Was  the  wisest  and  best  government  ever  devised  by 
the  ingenuity  of  men." 

The  framers  of  our  government  were  not  mere  theorists  and  experi- 
menters. They  were  men  who  had  thought  seriously  and  soundly  upon 
the  great  problems  before  them.  They  were  men  not  unfamiliar  with 
the  teachings  of  the  early  Catholic  philosophers  and  doctors,  for  when 
they  proclaimed  the  doctrine  that  all  government  rests  upon  the  consent 
of  the  governed,  they  had  to  sustain  such  authorities  as  Saint  Thomas. 
Aquinas,  the  great  doctor,  who  says  "that  the  ruler  has  not  the  power 
of  making  law  except  in  as  much  as  he  bears  the  power  of  the  multi- 
tude." And  Sir  Thomas  More,  in  spite  of  King  Henry  VIII.,  maintained 
that  the  King  held  his  crown  by  Parliamentary  title,  and  Suarez  taught 
"Whenever  civil  power  is  found  in  one  man  or  legitimate  prince  by  ordin- 
ary right  it  came  from  the  people  and  community,  either  proximately  or 
remotely ;  it  cannot  be  otherwise  possessed  so  as  to  be  just,"  and  Bellar- 
mine  says :  "Divine  right  gave  the  power  to  no  particular  man ;  it,  there- 
fore, gave  the  power  to  the  multitude."  Is  there  a  Catholic  who  can. 
read  without  a  patriotic  thrill  the  original  document  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  ?  While  venerating  the  memory  of  all  who  did  and 
dared  so  much  that  this  government  of  ours,  founded  upon  manhood,  suf- 
frage, might  exist,  we  recall  with  affection  the  memory  of  Charles  Car- 
roll, who  aifixed  "of  Carrollton"  to  his  signature  in  that  instrument  that 
there  might  be  no  mistake  as  to  his  identity  and  that  he  might  bear  the 


30  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

full  consequences  of  his  act,  believing1  that  if  death  were  to  be  the 
penalty  for  his  devotion  to  a  righteous  cause,  "The  fittest  place  for  man 
to  die  is  where  he  dies  for  man." 

It  would  be  invidious  in  me  to  single  out  na  ties  to  show  the  patriot- 
ism of  Catholics  during  those  seven  eventful  yea*  s  of  toil  and  battle  for 
the  independence  of  our  country.  Washington  >;.«-e  testimony  in  his 
letter  to  his  Catholic  fellow-countrymen  to  their  bravery  and  fidelity  to 
the  American  cause,  and  to  erase  the  names  and  deeds  of  Catholics  from 
the  history  of  our  struggle  to  become  a  nation,  would  be  to  erase  from 
the  annals  of  our  country's  history  some  of  its  brightest  pages.  During 
all  this  critical  period,  after  the  peace  of  Versailles  and  preceding  the 
formation  of  the  Federal  Constitutions,  the  patriotism  of  the  Catholics 
of  the  United  States  was  conspicuous.  Nor  was  it  less  so  during  the 
war  of  1312,  where  notably  our  victories  upon  the  sea  placed  us  in  the 
front  rank  of  naval  powers.  Nor  could  there  have  been  a  more  complete 
answer  to  the  slanders  against  Catholics  as  patriots  than  was  afforded  in 
the  war  against  Mexico,  a  so-called  Catholic  nation — a  war  that  was  in 
many  of  the  States  an  unpopular  war ;  yet  the  Catholics  followed  the 
flag  of  their  country  on  every  battlefield,  from  Reseca  de  la  Palma  to 
the  City  of  Mexico,  and,  while  there  are  many  Catholic  names  worthy  of 
mention,  I  recall  only  the  name  of  General  Shields,  conspicuous  for 
bravery  and  gallantry  not  only  in  Mexico,  but  in  our  late  war,  a  Catholic 
patriot,  the  hero  of  two  wars  and  one  who  has  had  tha  distinguished 
honor  of  having  served  the  United  States  as  Senator  from  three  States 
in  the  Union. 

Faithful  in  three  great  struggles  for  the  maintenance  of  their  country's 
honors,  where  should  we  expect  to  find  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States 
in  that  great  conflict  which  threatened  the  destruction  of  the  Union? 
Perhaps  if  the  framers  of  the  Declaration  of  independence  had  not  omit- 
ted that  clause  in  the  Declaration  intending  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade,  civil  war  might  have  been  averted;  a  clause  which  Mr.  Jefferson 
said  was  struck  out  in  compliance  to  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and 
not  without  tenderness  to  some  of  our  northern  brethren,  vrho.  although 
they  had  very  f  ew  slaves  themselves,  were  very  considerable  carriers  of 
them  to  others;  yet,  when  that  conflict  came, much  as  it  was  deplored,  while 
many  recognized  that  the  logic  and  the  law  and  the  constitution  leaned 
in  the  direction  of  the  legal  existence  of  slavery,  the  logic  and  the  law 
went  down  before  the  appeal  to  humanity:  and  when  one  of  the  States 
of  the  Union  committed  that  supreme  act  of  folly,  firing  on  the  flag  of  our 
country,  the  uprising  of  the  people  of  the  North  was  almost  universal; 
Catholic  and  non-Catholic  forgot  all  differences  of  politics  and  creed  in 
the  common  danger  that  threatened  us.  The  Puritan  and  the  Catholic 
marched  shoulder  to  shoulder;  and  on  every  battlefield  of  the  late  war 
where  battle  was  fought  or  blood  was  shed,  the  Catholic  soldiers  fought, 
and  bled,  and  died,  with  a  courage  and  heroism  not  surpassed  by  any 
others;  and  they  have  bequeathed  a  rich  legacy  of  patriotism  to  poster- 
ity, and  have  left  memories  and  traditions  to  their  children  and  children's 
children,  with  which  history  will  indissolubly  bind  them  to  the  soil  for- 
ever; and  the  names  of  such  brave  Catholic  soldiers  as  Sheridan,  Rose- 
cranz,  Shields,  Mulligan,  and  Corcoran,  will  be  remembered  so  long  as 
men  love  and  are  ready  to  die  for  the  flag  of  their  country;  and  so  long 
as  will  spring  in  human  hearts  a  responsive  throb  at  the  rehearsal  of 
brave  deeds,  their  fame  will  be  secure  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
Not  only  on  the  field  of  battle,  but  in  the  councils  of  the  country  did 
Catholics  furnish  abundant  evidence  of  patriotism.  The  clergy  and  the 
laity  vied  with  each  other,  and  the  late  Mr.  Seward.  our  Secretary  of 
State,  under  Mr.  Lincoln,  told  me,  a  few  years  before  his  death,  that  no 
greater  service  was  rendered  by  any  one  man  for  his  country  than  had 
been  rendered  by  the  late  Archbishop  of  New  York,  on  his  diplomatic 
mission  to  France  in  the  early  days  of  the  rebellion;  a  patriotic  service 


WORLD'S  COL  UMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  31 

for  which  thvi  '.ountry  would  always  be  grateful,  and  which  could  never 
be  repaid. 

Nor  will  the  American  people  forget  the  piety  and  devotion  of 
the  Catholic  priests,  the  chaplains  in  the  field,  who  shared  in  the  dangers 
and  hardships  of  the  camp  and  the  battlefield,  administering,  under  the 
hottest  fire  of  battle,  the  last  consolation  of  religion  to  the  dying.  No 
march  was  too  long,  no  cold  too  severe,  no  sun  too  hot.  to  deter  these  sol- 
diers of  the  cross,  and  they  have  added  a  new  lustre  to  the  name  of 
Catholics.  Nor  should  we  be  unmindful  of  those  noble  women  of  the 
Catholic  sisterhoods,  "Angels  of  Mercy,"  as  the  soldiers  of  all  creeds  and 
of  no  creed  call  them;  who  in  the  field  and  in  the  hospitals  soothed  and 
comforted  the  sick  and  wounded  and  whispered  words  of  hope  and  com- 
fort to  the  dying  soldier,  actuated  by  that  same  spirit  of  love  which 
inspired  the  divine  mother  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  of  her  son,  where, 
nearly  two  thousand  years  ago,  for  the  eternal  instruction  of  the  gener- 
ations, the  human  law  nailed  the  divine.  With  such  examples  and  such 
evidence  before  us  that  Catholicity  and  patriotism  in  this  country  have 
walked  together  hand  in  hand,  what  is  our  duty  as  Catholics  and  patriots 
in  our  day  and  generation?  We  may  not  live  in  times  when  our  services 
are  called  for  on  the  battlefield,  yet  we  must  remember,  that  every  priv- 
ilege that  we  enjoy  has  been  obtained  by  battle  of  some  kind.  What  are 
the  dangers  that  coniront  this  Republic?  Can  a  government  founded 
upon  manhood  suffrage  be  maintained  if  the  voters  are  not  educated, 
and  know  nothing  of  the  origin  and  early  history  of  our  government? 
Can  it  be  maintained  if  in  the  system  of  education  the  youth  receives  no 
moral  training?  Will  it  live  if  men  of  education  and  property  stand 
aloof,  and  by  their  silence  and  inaction  allow  ignorance  and  corruption 
to  dominate? 

To  quote  Jeremy  Taylor  "I  cannot  but  think  as  Aristotle  (liber  6)  did 
of  Thales  and  Anaxagoras  that  they  may  be  learned  but  not  wise,  or, 
wise  but  not  prudent  when  they  are  ignorant  of  such  things  as  are  pro- 
fitable to  them.  For  suppose  they  know  the  wonders  of  nature,  and  the 
subtleties  of  metaphysics  and  operations  mathematical,  yet  they  cannot 
be  prudent  to  spend  themselves  wholly  on  unprofitable  and  ineffective 
contemplation."  Are  there  not  grave  questions  affecting  the  future  of 
our  Country  requiring  the  active  participation  of  Catholics  and  Patriots? 
Is  there  no  menace  and  danger  to  our  form  of  government  in  the  concen- 
tration of  population  in  the  great  cities  of  the  Union?  Are  we  notcreatr 
ing  the  causes  or  do  some  of  them  already  exist  that  produced  the  French 
Revolution?  I  am  not  a  pessimist;  I  am  willing  to  trust  the  common 
people  who  saved  this  Union  in  the  dark  days  from  1861  to  1865.  Corrup- 
tion has  not  vitiated  the  masses;  it  has  to  some  extent  poisoned  our  leg- 
islative bodies;  we  ought  therefore  as  Catholics  and  Patriots  to  begin  our 
reforms  there;  carefully  scrutinize  all  expenditures-of  the  public  moneys; 
watch  the  actions  of  corporations,  wrho  by  their  very  organizations  are 
grasping  and  desirous  of  controlling  municipal  bodies  and  legislatures. 
We  know  that  much  of  the  discontent  and  unrest  has  arisen  in  our  Coun- 
try since  the  advent  of  great  corporations.  While  the  people  have  been 
benefited  by  cheap  and  rapid  transit,  and  many  articles  have  been  made 
cheaper  by  the  co-operation  of  capital;  yet  since  the  displacement  of 
the  individual  employer,  the  individual  laborer  has  been  correspondingly 
depressed  and  degraded;  under  individual  employers  there  was  a  personal 
sympathy  with  the  employe;  this  has  been  lost  under  the  corporation 
system.  The  man  feels  that  he  is  looked  upon  as  a  mere  piece  of  machin- 
ery, of  no  use  except  to  earn  dividends  for  stockholders,  who  live  in 
cities,  towns,  and  even  countries  far  distant  from  his  own,  and  in  many 
instances  endeavor  to  escape  their  fair  share  of  taxation  and  place  the 
burden  on  the  working  man. 

In  the  last  thirty  years  have  we   not   looked  on   in  silence  and  indif- 
ierence  when    corporations    have    succeeded    in  inducing  legislatures 


32  vATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAT. 

to  grant  them  power  to  increase  their  capital  without  adding  any  value 
to  their  original  plant:  have  we  not  permitted  the  creation  of  fictitious 
indebtedness,  and  upon  these  fictitious  values  the  masses  of  the  people 
have  been  called  upon  to  pay  interest  in  the  increased  cost  of  all  the 
necessaries  of  life?  Is  there  not  cause  for  the  present  condition  of  our 
country  deeper  than  the  depression  of  silver,  requiring  the  thoughtful 
consideration  of  every  patriot?  Patriotic  duty  demands  that  we  should 
visit  all  persons  found  guilty  of  dishonesty  in  public  office  with  the 
severest  penalties,  and  render  them  incapable  of  holding  positions  of 
public  trust.  Let  the  quality  of  our  condemnation  be  not  strained,  but 
be  visited  on  him  that  gives  as  well  as  on  him  that  takes  the  bribe. 
Ours  is  the  age  of  thought.  We  are  living  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
contury,  when  every  appeal  to  the  enlightened  conscience  of  the  people 
receives  thoughtful  consideration.  I  have  yet  to  meet  with  an  intelli- 
gent and  thoughtful  non-Catholic  American  citizen,  who  has  read  the 
Encyclical  letter  of  Our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII.,  on  the  Labor  question, 
who  has  not  expressed  his  unqualified  approval  of  its  spirit  and  senti- 
ments, and  has  not  hesitated  to  say  that  a  Catholic  who  followed  the 
advice  and  teachings  could  not  be  anything  but  a  patriot  and  a  good 
American  citizen. 

We  observe,  then,  that  the  Catholic  cause  progressess  and  the  world 
moves.  As  Catholics  and  patriots  it  is  our  duty  to  keep  step  with  the 
march  of  the  age.  We  must  jealously  guard  our  institutions  and  the 
principles  of  our  government.  Let  us  remember  that  the  chief  provis- 
ions of  our  constitution  are  absolute  freedom  of  religion,  the  right  of 
the  citizen  to  keep  and  bear  arms,  compensation  for  private  property 
taken  for  public  uses,  trial  by  jury  according  to  the  common  law,  and 
that  all  powers  not  delegated  by  the  United  States  nor  prohibited  by  the 
constitution  to  the  States  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively  or  to 
the  people  thereof.  Catholicity  and  patriotism  command  us  to  maintain 
and  uphold  these  principles.  Catholicity,  which  declares  that  all  men 
are  equal  in  the  sight  of  God.  will  not  refuse  to  acknowledge  that  all 
citizens  are  equal  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  Let  us  not  forget  that  self- 
government  politically  depends  upon  self-government  personally.  Law 
has  not  an  atom  of  strength  unless  public  opinion  endorses  it.  We  must 
do  our  share  to  arouse  that  proper  public  spirit  necessary  to  insure  the 
perpetuity  of  OUT  institutions.  ''I  have  an  ambition."  said  Lord  Chatham; 
"it  is  the  ambition  of  delivering  to  my  posterity  those  rights  of  freedom 
which  I  have  inherited  from  my  ancestors."  Such  an  ambition  should 
be  ours.  We  can  never  pay  the  debt  to  the  generations  that  have  pre- 
ceded us,  but  the  generations  to  come  will  hold  us  responsible  for  the 
sacred  trust  delegated  to  our  keeping.  May  the  generations  to  come  be 
able  to  say  truthfully  of  us,  as  we  now  say  of  those  who  preceded  us  in 
their  day  and  generation,  they  deserved  well  of  their  country  and  their 
God. 

The  RT.  REV.  J.  L  SPALDING,  D.  D. .  Bishop  of  Peoria  and 
President  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit  then  addressed  the  audience 
as  follows: 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  make  an  address.  After  the  discourses 
which  you  have  heard,  anything  I  might  say  would  be  superfluous. 

I  wish,  however,  as  having  had  the  privilege  of  taking  an  active  part 
in  bringing  about  the  succes  of  the  Catholic  exhibit  in  the  Columbian 
Exposition,  to  say,  that,  though  its  success  is  due,  of  course,  to  the  pre- 
lates who  first  set  the  enterprise  afoot  and  to  the  orders  who  so  gladly 
availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  bring  their  work,  as  far  as  such 
a  thing  can  be  done,  before  the  great  American  public, — I  wish  to  say 
that  its  success,  nevertheless,  is  due  to  Brother  Maurelian  more  than  to 
any  other  man.  And  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  saying  this,  more  than  (or 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION  33 

any  other  reason,  that  I  have  presumed  to  present  myself  before  this 
audience. 

I  will  say  that  I  am  persuaded  that  our  Catholic  educational  system 
is  great  proof  of  the  vitality  of  our  religion  here  in  the  United  States, 
more  than  anything  else  we  have  done  or  are  doing.  The  sacrifices  we 
make,  and  the  success  with  which  we  meet,  in  giving  to  nearly  a  million 
of  Catholic  children,  an  education  which  is  at  once  intellectual,  moral, 
physical,  and  religious,  proves  the  living  force  of  our  faith.  We  do  that 
at  the  sacrifice  of  money;  we  do  it  because  the  people — the  multitude 
of  Catholics  are  in  sympathy  with  us. 

It  is  the  fashion  to  talk  as  though  bishops  and  priests  exercised  an 
almost  omnipotence  over  the  people.  I  tell  you  where  a  mighty  achieve- 
ment, such  as  the  Catholic  educational  system  of  the  United  States, 
exists,  it  does  not  exist  through  the  power  of  the  priesthood  alone;  it 
exists  because  the  great  heart  of  the  people  beats  God-ward. 
The  people  stand  back  of  us.  The  hundreds  of  thousands  of  young 
women,  who  go  forth  from  happy  homes,  turning  away  from  worldly 
love  and  domestic  bliss,  go,  believing  that  it  is  a  God-like  thing  to 
rear  children  for  Heaven,  even  as  it  is  a  holy  thing  to  bring  them  forth 
to  be  citizens  and  patriots  here  on  earth. 

This  system  of  ours  is  an  opportunity  of  our  religious  life.  What 
does  "America"  mean?  It  means  boundless  opportunities.  That  is  the 
only  meaning  I  have  for  America.  If  it  be  better  than  any  other  land ,  it 
id  because  here  is  a  fuller  opportunity  to  bring  forth  whatever  makes 
man  God-like — what  makes  him  intelligent,  moral,  religious,  praying, 
true,  loving,  beautiful  and  fair — opportunity.  That  is  America. 

Freedom  is  but  an  opportunity  to  make  one's  self  a  man  or  a  womaa. 
Wealth  is  but  opportunity  for  larger  life.  Physical  strength  is  but  op- 
portunity to  to  bring  out  the  spirit  of  man,  which  is  like  God. 

Here  (holding  in  right  hand  a  cablegram)  the  wires  have  flashed 
across  the  ocean  the  glad  tidings  that  Home  Rule  has  passed. 

What,  in  the  name  of  God,  is  Home  Rule  but  opportunity  for  Ire- 
land and  Irishmen  to  come  out  before  the  world  and  free  themselves? 

But  I  am  not  going  to  make  a  speech. 

I  wish  to  have  the  privilege  of  introducing  to  this  audience  Mrs. 
Isabella  Beecher  Hooker,  who  is  to  greet  you  in  the  name  of  the  Lady 
Managers  of  the  World's  Fair. 

MRS.  ISABELLA  HOOKER'S  ADDRESS. 

Holy  fathers— beloved  sisters— of  the  Holy  Mother  Church  :  I  greet 
you  first  in  my  own  name,  because  I  come  of  a  family  that  believes  in 
freedom — in  the  right  of  speech,  in  the  right  of  thought,  and  in  that  deep 
love  for  religion  and  morality  for  which  this  mother  church  is  found 
throughout  the  centuries.  If  our  Board  of  Lady  Managers  were 
in  session  I  am  sure  they  would  have,  in  a  body,  officially,  welcomed  you 
to  the  gates  of  this  beautiful  White  City. 

Mrs.  Hooker  concluded  her  remarks  with  the  following  lines: 

"  I  think  when  I  read  that  sweet  story  of  old, 

How  Jesus  came  among  men ; 
How  he  took  little  children  as  lambs  to  his  fold, 

I  wish  I  had  been  with  Him  then. 
*«  I  wish  that  His  hands  had  been  placed  on  my  head; 

That  His  arms  had  been  thrown  around  me; 
That  I  might  have  seen  His  kind  looks  when  He  said: 

'Let  the  little  ones  come  unto  Me.' 
"  But  still  to  His  footstool  in  prayer  I  may  go, 

And  ask  for  a  share  of  His  love ; 
For  if  I  thus  earnestly  seek  Him  below, 
I  shall  see  Him  and  hear  Him  above. 


34  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

PROTEST  AGAINST  EXHIBITING  INDECENT  PICTURES. 

During  the  fall  of  1892,  some  daily  papers  published  illustrations  and  descrip- 
tions of  certain  sensational  and  objectionable  paintings,  and  stated  that  they  were 
to  be  exhibited  at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition. 

The  subject  called  for  the  following  article  from  the  pen  of  Right  Reverend 
J.  L.  Spalding,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  Peoria,  and  was  published  in  the  "  Sunday  Post," 
Chicago,  January  1, 1893: 


Pure  Morals  at  World's  Fair. 

This  is  true  liberty,  when  free-born  men, 
Having  to  advise  the  public,  may  speak  free; 
Which  he  who  can,  and  will,  deserves  high  praise; 
Who  neither  can,  nor  will,  may  hold  his  peace; 
What  can  be  juster  in  a  state  than  this? 

— EURIPIDES. 

Ours  is  the  busiest  of  all  ages  and  we  are  the  busiest  people  of  the  age.  As  a 
result,  the  wealth  of  the  world  is  now  greater  than  ever  before,  and  we  are  rapidly 
becoming  the  richest  nation  in  the  world.  What  ends  do  our  diligence  and  our 
money  serve?  They  seem  to  enable  us  to  become  more  diligent  and  to  get  more 
money.  We  are  made  the  slaves  of  business  and  toil,  and  our  wealth  stifles  the  no- 
bler faculties,  shutting  us  out  from  the  true  intelligence  and  from  the  gentle  usages 
which  make  life  pleasant  and  sweet.  In  the  midst  of  national  prosperity  there  is  an 
increasing  dearth  of  men  and  women  who  are  exalted  by  knowledge  and  virtue,  who 
stand  forth  conspicuously  as  the  intellectual  and  moral  leaders  whose  speech  and 
example  enlarge  and  refine  the  life  of  the  multitude.  The  feverish  and  absorbing 
pursuit  of  money,  while  it  has  established  a  great  and  growing  inequality  of  posses- 
sion, seems  to  make  the  rich  and  the  poor  equal  in  hardness,  in  narrowness  in  dis- 
content and  unintelligence.  Our  schools,  which  have  helped  to  make  us  shrewd,  and 
keen-witted,  have  failed  to  give  us  faith  in  high  ideals  or  a  sense  for  beauty  or  a  love 
of  culture. 

Our  material  progress  is  a  marvel  to  all  men;  our  efforts  to  develop  a  nation  of 
nobler,  purer,  more  enlightened  human  beings  than  have  ever  existed  elsewhere  have 
been  disappointing.  This,  however,  is  our  mission,  if  we  have  a  missi  n,  and  it  is  en- 
couraging to  know  that  the  best  among  us  feel  this  to  be  so.  Hence,  when  they  turn 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  35 

their  thoughts  to  a  national  enterprise,  such  as  the  Chicago  Columbian  Exposition, 
they  are  less  concerned  to  know  what  its  effect  upon  trade  and  manufacture  will  be 
than  what  will  be  its  religious,  moral  and  intellectual  influence. 

Considered  from  a  financial  point  of  view,  it  will  stimulate  what  does  not  need 
stimulation,  but  it  will  not  help  to  solve  any  social  problem  grjwinjf  out  01  inequali- 
ties in  the  distribution  of  wealth.  If  it  is  to  lead  to  good  results  it  must  exercise  an 
intellectual  and  moral  influence  on  the  millions  by  whom  it  will  be  visited.  Return- 
ing to  their  homes,  scattered  throughout  the  land,  they  should  carry  with  them  new 
and  fresh  thoughts,  deeper  impulses  to  high  and  pure  life.  The  gathering  of  vast 
multitudes  in  a  great  city  inevitably  leads  to  immorality  of  various  kinds.  What  is 
unavoidable  we  accept  without  protest,  but  we  have  the  right  to  demand  that  the  mu- 
nicipal authorities  of  Chicago  provide  for  the  bodily  health  and  well-being  of  its  vis- 
itors by  employing  whatever  means  hygiene  and  sanitation  may  suggest;  and  still 
more  that  they  remove,  as  far  as  possible,  all  temptation  to  wrong-doing.  During  the 
Fair  the  city  should  be  cleaner  than  it  ever  has  been,  and  its  moral  atmosphere 
should  be  purer.  It  will  be  crowded  with  the  human  beasts  of  prey  who  make  a  liv- 
ing by  pandering  to  man's  greed  and  sensual  passions,  and  hence  the  laws  of  decency 
and  order  should  be  enforced  with  more  than  ordinary  vigilance  and  severity.  The 
amusements  offered  to  the  public  outside  the  Exposition  grounds  should  be  of  an 
elevating  character,  and  the  exhibition  of  the  bodies  of  women  in  a  condition  more 
suggestive  and  more  degrading  than  that  of  nudity,  should  be  forbidden.  Steps 
should  also  be  taken  to  put  a  stop  to  the  disgusting  disfigurement  of  the  city  through 
the  posting  of  indecent  pictures,  which  tend  to  destroy  both  taste  and  morality.  In 
this  exposition  Chicago  will  be  taken,  first  of  all,  as  a  type  of  western  life  and  civili- 
zation, and  she  must  have  a  care  that  those  who  have  persuaded  themselves  that  the 
West  is  coarse,  vulgar  and  material,  shall  not  be  confirmed  in  this  opinion. 

Chicago  is  the  metropolis  of  a  progressive,  powerful  and  aspiring  people,  and 
there  should  be  found  nothing  in  it  to  remind  us  of  the  border  town  or  mining  camp, 
whose  chief  institutions  are  the  saloon,  the  gambling  hell  and  the  brothel.  As  to 
the  exposition  itself,  the  directors  and  managers  have  repeatedly  assured  the  public 
that  it  is  to  have  an  educational  value;  that  its  influence  will  be  for  good,  both  mor- 
ally and  intellectually.  If  this  is  to  be  made  true,  they  must  refuse  to  be  guided  by 
French  standards,  in  the  art  exhibit  at  least,  and  in  the  character  of  amusemenss 
they  offer  visitors.  The  Paris  exposition  of  1889.  in  these  two  matters,  certainly  wat 
a  source  of  corruption.  Many  of  the  paintings  were  fit  to  be  hung  only  in  a  temple 
of  Venus,  and  the  lascivious  dances  which  were  performed  every  day  in  the  Rue  de 
Caire  and  in  the  theater  on  the  grounds  could  be  tolerated  only  among  a  people  giv- 
en over  to  the  worship  of  the  goddess  Lubricity.  Art  ceases  to  be  art  when  it  be- 
comes cynical  and  profligate,  when  it  appeals  to  sensual  instinct,  and  not  to  the  eoul. 
To  permit  the  paintings  of  a  certain  French  school  to  be  shown  in  the  exposition 
bull  lii^s  would  be  an  insult  to  every  pure  woman.  Nothing  should  be  found  there 
before  which  a  true  man  may  not  stand  without  blushing  by  the  side  of  his  mother 


36  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

or  sister.  The  great  weight  of  enlightened  opinion  favors  the  opening  of  the  exposi- 
tion on  Sundays,  but  if  the  laborers,  with  their  wives  and  daughters,  are  to  be  in- 
vited to  inspect  paintings  and  dances  which  one  would  not  think  it  possible  to  find 
outside  of  the  low  haunts  of  debauchery,  then  no  one  who  has  at  heart  the  welfare 
of  his  fellowtuen,  his  country's  good,  can  desire  that  the  gates  of  the  exposition  be 
kept  open  Sunday  or  any  other  day. 

Would  not  the  efforts  to  induce  Congress  to  take  the  Sunday  clause  from 
its  souvenir  money  grant  be  more  likely  to  prove  effective  if  the  assur- 
ance were  given  by  the  managers  that  the  Exposition  shall  in  no  way 
whatever  be  made  to  subserve  the  interests  of  the  great  goddess,  Lubric- 
ity? The  motive  of  the  Fair  directors  in  wishing  to  open  the  gates  of 
Jackson  Park  on  Sundays,  has,  of  course,  nothing  to  do  with  the  lawfulness 
and  propriety  of  such  a  proceeding.  If  it  is  right  to  visit  the  Fair  on  any  day 
it  is  right  to  visit  it  on  Sunday;  and  if  the  American  people  are  once  persuaded  that 
whatever  is  objectionable  to  the  moral  sense  will  be  kept  away  they  will  not  insist 
on  closing  the  Exposition  against  the  toiling  masses  on  the  only  day  of  the  week  on 
which  they  have  leisure.  The  manifest  indifference  of  some  of  the  members  of  the 
board  of  the  education  exhibit  has  awakened  the  suspicion  in  a  great  many  minds 
that  the  whole  business  will  be  conducted  in  a  petty  shop-keeping  spirit,  without 
regard  to  its  intellectual  and  moral  influence.  The  attractions  of  the  Columbian 
Exposition  will  surely  be  great  enough  without  such  pitiful  adjuncts  as  dance  halls, 
and  obscene  pictures. 

Let  the  religious  and  enlightened  minds  of  the  country  turn  their  attention  to 
this  matter;  let  them  insist  that  the  Exposition  shall  be  such  that  it  will  be  alto- 
gether good  for  man,  woman  and  child  to  see  it,  and  then  there  will  be  no  sufficient 
reason  why  it  should  not  be  visited  on  any  and  all  days.  Those  who  observe,  easily 
perceive  that  the  danger  which  threatens  our  national  life  more  than  any  other,  is  not 
drunkenness,  but  sexual  immorality.  Renan,  uttering  the  thought  of  the  whole 
French  infidel  school,  has  said  that  nature  cares  nothing  for  chastity,  thereby  imply- 
ing that  it  is  more  or  less  a  matter  of  indifference.  Matthew  Arnold  says,  in  reply,, 
that  whatever  nature  may  or  may  not  care  for,  human  nature  cares  for  chastity, 
and  that  the  worship  of  the  great  goddess  Lubricity  is  against  human  nature — it  is 
ruin.  "  For  this,"  he  continues,  "  is  the  test  of  its  being  against  human  nature,  that 
for  human  societies  it  is  ruin." 

Impurity  is  not  the  only  vice,  but  more  than  any  other  vice  it  stunts  and  mars 
what  is  high  and  harmonious  in  man;  it  robs  the  mind  of  noble  thoughts,  the  heart 
of  sweet  love;  it  leads  to  hardness  and  insolence,  to  dishonesty  and  brutality;  it 
feeds  the  beast  in  man  and  starves  his  soul.  When  a  people  hearken  to  false  proph- 
ets, proclaiming  that  chastity  is  of  no  importance,  it  is  lost  beyond  recovery.  What 
its  representatives  are  ready  to  do  when  opportunity  is  given  we  may  learn  from  the 
disgusting  disclosures  of  the  Panama  Canal  scandal.  It  were  idle  to  deny  that  the 
worship  of  the  impure  goddess  threatens  to  bring  calamities  upon  us.  Who  can  read 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  37 

the  advertisements  in  some  of  our  most  widely  circulated  newspapers,  who  can  look 
upon  the  bill-boards  of  our  cities,  reeking  with  vulgarity  and  obscenity,  who  can 
watch  the  proceedings  of  the  divorce  courts,  who  can  stroll  through  the  streets  at 
night  without  being  made  aware  that  the  sense  of  chastity  is  dying  or  dead?  To  add 
to  the  danger  the  reformers  and  zealots,  shutting  their  eyes  to  this  cankerlike  and 
all-pervading  evil,  sit  complacently  astride  some  prohibition  of  the  Sabbath  hobby- 
horse, predicting  woe  if  a  glass  of  wine  is  sold  or  the  gates  are  open  on  Sunday. 

If  the  Columbian  Exposition  is  to  be  a  blessing  and  not  a  curse,  its  managers 
must  see  that  it  is  kept  pure  and  clean  from  even  the  suspicion  of  pandering  to  the 
worship  of  the  goddess  Lubricity.  If  it  leave  us  less  moral,  less  chaste;  if  it  lead  us 
deeper  into  what  Huxley  calls  the  rank  and  steaming  valleys  of  sense,  then,  though 
it  should  bring  us  billions  of  money,  there  will  be  hopeless  loss. 


The  repeated  announcement  that  improper  paintings  were  to  be  exhibited, 
caused  the  following  form  of  protest  to  be  circulated  for  signatures: 


SOLEMN    PROTEST. 

Against  Exhibiting  Indecent  Pictures  at  the  "World's  Fair,  Chicago, 
1893.  This  Protest,  with  Signatures,  to  be  Presented  to  the 
Art  Committee  in  Chicago,  March  1,  1893. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  February,  19, 1893. 

To  the  Officers  and  Members  National  Commission,  Executive  Committee,  Council 
of  Administration  and  Art  Committee,  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  1893: 

Free  from  the  mercenary  motives  that  may  prompt  interested  persons,  and 
actuated  by  a  desire  to  keep  our  moral  atmosphere  as  untainted  and  fresh  as 
possible,  we  are  impelled,  for  the  sake  of  all  that  has  moral  worth  in  our  national 
existence,  and  in  the  name  of  Religion  and  her  daughters,  Art  and  Piety,  to  enter 
SOLEMN  PROTEST  against  the  proposed  exhibition  at  the  World's  Fair  of  the  nude 
and  lewdly  suggestive  subjects  that  have  been  made  the  theme  for  the  brush  and 
chisel  of  talented  men,  who  have  thus  prostituted  the  gifts  to  which  high  Heaven 
has  made  them  heir. 


38  CA  THOLIC  ED  UCA  TION  DA  Y. 

COLU3IBIAX   LIBRARY    OF    CATHOLIC   AUTHORS. 

An  appeal  was  made  to  Catholic  authors  and  publishers  to  contribute  to  the 
establishment  of  a  complete  library  of  Catholic  authors  in  print  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. 

The  time  was  too  limited  to  complete  the  collection.  About  three  thousand 
volumes  were  contributed.  Eight  hundred  and  fifty -five  authors  whose  names  are 
known  are  represented  in  this  library.  Of  three  hundred  and  thirty-nine  volumes 
the  names  of  authors  or  translators  are  unknown. 

The  Jesuit  Fathers  of  London,  Rev.  H.  J.  Coleridge  and  Rev.  John  Morris, 
sent  128  volumes  of  which  the  Jesuit  Fathers  are  authors. 

There  are  in  the  collection  a  number  of  French,  Latin,  German,  Spanish,  and 
Italian  books.  There  are  225  autograph  letters  from  authors  and  publishers,  the 
result  of  correspondence  concerning  the  Columbian  Library.  Many  of  the  volumes 
were  contributed  by  authors.  The  following  publishers  deserve  credit  for  gener- 
ously contributing  their  publications. 

J.  S.  Hyland  &  Co.,  Chicago,  111.;  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York  City;  Art  and 
Book  Co.,  London,  Eng.;  Benziger  Bros..  New  York  and  Chicago;  Brown  &  Nolan, 
Dublin,  Ireland;  Catholic  Publication  Society,  New  York;  W.  J.  Cahill,  London, 
Eng.;  Robert  Clark  &  Co.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  F.  De  Richmont,  Watertown,  N.  Y.; 
P.  F.  Fletcher,  London.  Eng.;  M.  H.  Gill  &  Son,  Dublin,  Ire.;  I.  J.  Griffin,  Philadel- 
phia. Pa.;  St.  Anselm's  Society,  London,  Eng.;  Burns  &  Oates,  London,  Eng.;  Black- 
wood  &  Sons,  London,  Eng.;  Denis  Lane,  London,  Eng.;  Straker  &  Sons,  White- 
friers,  Eng.;  John  Hodges,  London,  Eng.;  P.  F.  Cunningham  &  Sons,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.;  McMillin  &  Co.,  New  York  and  London;  Catholic  Truth  Society,  St.  Paul, 
Minn.;  Catholic  Truth  Society,  London,  Eng.;  Patrick  Fox.  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  Harper 
&  Sons,  New  York;  Hoffmann  Bros..  Milwaukee,  Wis.;  B.  Herder,  St.  Louis,  Mo.; 
W.  H.  Allan  &  Co.,  London,  Eng.;  Kegan  Paul,  Trench.  Trubner  &  Co.;  H.  L.  Kilner 
&  Co.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Lee  &  Shepherd,  Boston,  Mass.:  McGrath  &  Sons,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.;  J.  B.  McDevitt.  Dublin,  Ireland;  McClurg  &  Co.;  Chicago,  111.;  Frank 
P.  Murphy,  Baltimore,  Md.;  David  Nutt,  London.  Eng.;  P.  O'Shea,  New  York.; 
Rev.  John  E.  O'Brien,  Cambridge,  Mass.;  F.  Pustet  &  Co.,  New  York.;  Porter  & 
Coates,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Sealy,  Byrnes  &  Walker,  London,  Eng.;  D.  &  J.  Sadiier, 
New  York;  Sullivan  Bros.,  Dublin,  Ireland;  C.  L.  Webster  &  Co.,  New  York,  and 
Fredrick  Warne  &  Co.,  London,  Eng. 

The  following  magazines  were  sent  in  sets  or  parts  of  sets: 

"St.  Joseph's  Advocate,"  "Georgetown  College  Journal,"  "Records  oJ:  xhe 
American  Catholic  Historical  Society/'  "Quarterly  Bulletin  of  the  American  Cath- 
olic Historical  Society,"  "  Researches  of  the  American  Catholic  Historical  Society," 
"  Der  Armen  Seelen  Freund,"  "Messenger  of  the  Sacred  Heart,"  "Pilgrim  of  O'ur 
Lady  of  Lourdes,"  "The  Dublin  Review,"  "St.  Joseph's,"  "The  Marygold,"  "The 
Rosary,"  "St.  Franziskus  Bote,"  "  Poor  Soul's  Advocate,"  "The  Month,"  "Annals 
of  Our  Lady  of  the  Sacred  Heart,"  "The  Little  Eee,"  ';  Ave  Maria,"  "Notre  Dame 
Scholastic,"  "Sacred  Heart  Review,"  "Annals  of  St.  Joseph,"  "Catholic  Reading 
Circle  Review,"  "The  Owl,"  "Catholic  Youth's  Magazine,"  "Catholic  Family 
Annual." 

The  Columbian  Library  of  Catholic  Authors  has  been  placed  with  the  "Cath- 
olic Historical  Collections  of  America,"  at  Notre  Dame,  Ind.,  and  will  form  part  of 
the  "Catholic  Reference  Library  of  America."  The  original  idea  of  a  complete  col- 
lection of  Catholic  Authors  will  thus  be  carried  out,  as  there  are  already  in  this 
Reference  Library  of  Notre  Dame  thousands  of  rare  volumes  of  which  copies  could 
not  be  securei  during  the  brief  period  of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  Chi- 
cago, 1893. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  39 

APPRECIATION  OF  EXHIBITS. 

The  kind  words  of  appreciation  received  from  the  World's  Fair  Officials,  Ed- 
ucators, Foreign  Commissioners,  the  Press  and  Visitors,  is  a  source  of  gratification 
and  of  enc'uragement  to  the  Projectors,  Managers,  Patrons  and  Pupils  of  all  our 
Catholic  schools. 


Letter  from  Director-General  Geo.  R.  Davis,  Commissioner. 

WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION. 
OFFICE  OF  THE 

DIRECTOR-GENERAL    OF   THE    EXPOSITION. 

5(M  Rand-McNally  Building.  » 

CHICAGO,  ILL.,  U.  S.  A.,  April  17, 1894. 
BROTHER  MAURELIAN, 

Secretary  and  Manager  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit, 

World's  Columbian  Exposition. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  have  the  honor  of  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  copy  of  the  catalogue  of 
the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit,  which  you  were  kind  enough  to  send  me,  and  beg 
leave  to  compliment  you  on  the  complete  and  attractive  form  in  which  it  has 
been  issued. 

I  embrace  this  occasion  to  also  express  my  appreciation  of  your  most  satis- 
factory management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit  in  its  deal- 
ings with  the  Exposition.  Considering  the  extent  of  interests  involved,  it  has  been 
conducted  with  noteworthy  smoothness  and  order— thanks  to  your  own  excellent 
judgment  and  executive  ability,  and  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  the  distinguished 
Catholics  throughout  the  world,  who  lent  their  powerful  influence  and  aid. 

Occupying  about  one-sixth  of  the  entire  space  set  apart  for  educational  pur- 
poses, in  the  department  of  Liberal  Arts,  and  embracing  subjects  in  range  from  the 
kindergarten  to  the  university,  the  exhibit  constituted  a  complete  representation  of 
the  Catholic  educational  institutions  of  the  country,  and  also  contained  much  that 
was  interesting  from  abroad.  It  has  been  seen  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  visi- 
tors from  abroad,  and  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  marked  successes  of  the  expo- 
sition. 

The  efforts  put  forth  to  secure  this  result  were  in  the  highest  degree  gratifying 
to  the  management.  Indeed,  the  flattering  interest  evinced  toward  the  entire  expo- 
sition by  His  Holiness  in  Rome,  has  been  the  cause  for  great  congratulation,  and  the 
favorable  disposition  of  the  Vatican,  manifested  in  various  ways,  has  been  regarded 
as  an  important  factor  in  furthering  our  own  efforts  and  contributing  to  the  general 
success  of  the  undertaking. 

Wishing  you  a  long  life  of  continued  usefulness  and  successful  achievement, 
I  have  the  honor  to  remain,  with  great  respect,  Yours  very  truly, 

GEO.  R.  DAVIS.  Director-General 


40  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 


Letter   from    Right    Reverend   J.   L.  Spalding,  D.    D.,  Bishop   of 

Peoria,  and   President  of  the  Catholic  Educational 

Exhibit,  to  Brother   Maurelian,  Secretary 

and   Manager. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER  MAURELIAN:  Your  final  report,  made  to  me,  as  President 
of  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit,  at  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  is  evi- 
dence of  the  intelligence  and  earnestness  with  which  this  enterprise  has  been  under- 
taken and  brought  to  end.  Of  your  zeal  and  unflagging  interest  in  the  work,  the 
success  of  which  depended,  in  so  large  a  measure  upon  you,  I  need  not  speak.  To 
have  done  well  is  enough,  is  more  than  praise.  The  ends  for  which  the  Exhibit 
was  made  have  been  attained.  It  was  made  possible  by  the  generous  co-operation 
of  those  who  are  engaged  or  interested  in  Catholic  Education,  in  whatever  part  of 
the  country,  and  had  it  done  nothing  more  than  show  how  united  these  willing 
workers  are,  the  gain  would  not  be  small.  In  presenting  the  results  of  their  labors 
to  the  world,  in  so  far  as  this  ia  possible  in  an  Exposition,  they  proved  their  confi- 
dence in  the  worth  of  what  they  are  doing  and  their  desire  to  submit  its  value  to  the 
test  of  enlightened  criticism.  Not  to  know  our  educational  work,  our  system  and 
methods,  is  henceforth  inexcusable.  No  one  now,  who  respects  himself,  will  affirm 
that  our  parish  schools  are  inferior  to  the  public  schools,  or  that  our  teachers 
in  appealing  to  the  heart,  the  conscience  and  the  imagination,  lose  sight  of  the 
importance  of  quickening  and  training  the  mental  faculties.  In  the  Catholic  Di- 
rectory for  3894,  768,498  pupils  are  reported  as  attending  our  parochial  schools, 
and  the  number  is  rapidly  increasing.  When  we  consider  that  our  school  system 
is  a  work  of  conscience,  which  involves  a  very  large  expenditure  of  money  and 
labor,  it  may  be  held  to  be,  from  a  moral  standpoint,  the  most  important  fact  in 
our  national  life.  For  various  reasons  it  is  worthy  the  attention  of  enlightened  and 
patriotic  minds.  It  is  the  only  elementary  education  in  the  United  States  which 
holds  to  the  traditional  belief  that  the  morals  of  a  people  can  be  rightly  nour- 
ished and  sustained  only  by  r  ligious  faith.  Whether  a  purely  secular  system  of 
education  will  not  prove  fatal  to  reli  ious  faith  is  as  yet  a  matter  of  doubt,  it 
being  in  no  way  doubtful  that  the  basis  of  popular  government  is  popular  virtue. 
What  Catholics  then  are  thus  doing  deserves  consideration,  though  it  be  looked 
at  as  an  experiment  or  as  a  survival  of  what  is  destined  soon  to  pass  away.  Indeed, 
the  best  people  in  America,  if  the  case  be  presented  simply  as  it  is  here  presented  feel 
an  interest  akin  to  sympathy  in  Catholic  schools:  and  our  position  is  really  altogether 
plain  and  simple.  We  believe  that  religion  is  an  essential  element  of  human  life,  and 
therefore  of  human  education,  and  we  establish  and  maintain  schools  in  which  we 
strive  to  put  this  belief  into  practice. 

We  do  this  as  a  matter  of  conscience,  and  without  ulterior  views.  In  this 
country,  at  least,  Catholics  claim  and  exercise  a  large  freedom  of  opinion,  and 
hence  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  among  them,  men  who  have  plans  and  schemes  for 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  & 

the  overcoming  of  whatever  difficulties;  but  the  church  is  not  responsible  for  their 
views  and  does  not  commit  itself  to  them.  If  here  and  there  a  compromise  has 
been  proposed  with  the  purpose  of  getting  support  from  the  public  moneys,  or  ag- 
itation for  a  system  of  denominational  schools  has  been  recommended,  this  has  beer- 
done  by  individuals,  who  have  never  succeeded  in  gaining  a  numerous  following 
The  Church  has  contented  itself  with  urging  the  establishment  and  support  of  par- 
ish schools.  Double  taxation  for  education  is,  of  course,  a  grievance;  but  the  Cath- 
olics of  the  United  States  believe  in  free  schools  for  all,  and  since  the  religious 
condition  of  the  country  is  such  that  denominationalism  could  not  be  introduced 
into  the  State  schools,  without  risk  of  ruin,  they  are  willing  to  bear  the  burthen  of 
a  double  school  tax;  and,  with  few  exceptions,  they  have  no  desire  to  introduce 
this  question  into  politics.  What  they  have  been  doing  with  constantly  increasing 
•success,  they  are  content  to  continue  to  do  —  to  build  and  maintain  their  own  schools. 

Among  the  good  results  springing  from  the  Catholic  Exhibit,  not  the  least,  is 
the  impression  we  have  received  of  the  extent  and  efficiency  of  our  parish  school 
system.  We  thence  derive  new  zeal  and  confidence.  The  revelation  of  what  we 
have  done  becomes  a  promise  and  a  prophecy  of  what  we  shall  do.  We  feel  the 
work  is  great  enough  and  holy  enough  to  command  our  best  efforts.  We  resolve  to 
•concentrate  them  upon  the  upbuilding  of  a  system  of  more  effective  religious  edu- 
cation, persuaded,  that  we  thus  most  surely  promote  the  interests  both  of  the  Church 
and  the  State.  This  is  our  task,  and  anything  that  might  divert  us  from  fulfilling  it, 
is  to  be  put  aside  as  evil.  We  love  our  religion  and  our  country  well  enough  to  be 
glad  to  make  sacrifices  for  both. 

Another  result  of  the  Exhibit  is  a  better  acquaintance  of  Catholic  teachers 
with  one  another,  and  with  the  various  methods  of  our  schools.  The  bringing 
together  the  work  of  the  different  orders  and  of  numberless  individuals  has  been 
an  objective  lesson  of  real  value.  Our  labor  and  expense  would  not  have  been  in 
vain  had  e  done  nothing  else  than  give  to  the  members  of  our  religious-teaching 
orders  a  unique  opportunity  to  study  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Schools.  Nothing  in 
the  World's  Fair  appeared  to  me  more  beautiful  or  more  inspiring  than  the  groups 
of  Catholic  sisters,  to  be  seen  at  all  times,  in  the  booths  of  the  Exhibit,  wholly 
intent  upon  learning  whatever  there  was  to  be  learned.  From  that  little  space  a 
spirit  of  enthusiasm,  a  desire  for  excellence,  has  been  carried  throughout  the  land, 
into  the  schoolrooms  of  a  thousand  cities  and  towns.  Many  a  one  who,  in  some 
remote  village,  felt  lonely  and  half  discouraged  in  what  seemed  to  be  unavailing 
•work,  became  conscious  of  belonging  to  a  great  army  of  men  and  women  who  bring 
strength  to  souls  and  light  to  minds.  The  whole  country,  in  fact,  is  indebted  to  us; 
for  the  zealous  and  energetic  efforts  of  the  managers  of  the  Catholic  Exhibit  had 
not  a  little  to  do  with  the  appropriation  of  the  large  sums  of  money  and  the  allot- 
ment of  the  great  space,  devoted  to  educational  matters,  at  the  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion. Your  report,  my  dear  Brother,  is  a  fitting  memorial  of  a  noble  and  fruitful 
work.  Affectionately  and  sincerly  yours, 


PEOBIA,  July  19,  1894.  President  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit. 


42  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DA  Y. 


All  then  rose  and  sang  the  Te  Deum  (Holy  God,  We  Praise 
Thy  Name),  to  an  organ  accompaniment  by  Mr.  Harrison  Wilde, 
after  which  the  audience  adjourned  to  visit  the  Catholic  Educa- 
tional Exhibit  in  the  southeast  gallery  of  the  Manufactures  and  Liberal 
Arts  Building. 

On  the  stage  were  the  following  prelates,  clergy  and  persons  : 

Mt.  Rev.  P.  A.  Feehan,  Chicago.         Rev.  Bro.  fernery,  F.  S.  C.,  Assistant 
Mt.  Rev.  P.  J.  Ryan,  Philadelphia.        Provincial  Christian  Brothers. 
Mt.  Rev.  J.  J.  Hennessy,  Dubuque.    Rev.  Bro.  Felix,  F.  S.  C.  ,Vice-Presi- 
Mt.  Rev.  F.  J.  Katzer,  Milwaukee.         dent  Christian  Brothers'   College, 
Rt.    Rev.     J.    Lancaster    Spalding,      St.   Louis,  Mo. 

Bishop    of    Peoria  and  President  Rev.  P.  J.   Muldoon,  Chancellor  of 

Catholic  Educational  Exhibit.  the  archdiocese  of  Chicago. 

Rt.  Rev.  M.  J.  Burke,  St.  Joseph,  Mo.  Ex-Gov.    Hoyt,    of    the    Bureau    of" 
Rt.  Rev.  J.  Janssens,  Belleville,  111.      Awards. 

Rt.   Rev.    Silas  Chatard,  Vincennes.  Dr.  S.  H.  Peabody,  chief  of  Liberal 
Rt.  Rev.  Thos.  Heslin,  Natchez.  Miss.      Arts. 

Rt.  Rev.  C.  B.  Maes,  Covington,  Ky.  Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,  New  York. 
Rev.  Canon  Bruchesi,   Commissioner  Hon.  Thomas  Gargan,  Boston. 

for  the  Province  of  Quebec,  Cath-  Hon.  Jno.  Hyde,  Chicago. 

olic  Educational  Exhibit.  Prof.    J.  E.  Edwards,    Notre  Dame 

Rev.  Father  McGuire,  Chicago,  rector     University. 

St.  James'  school.  John  D.  Crimmins.  New  York. 

Rev.  Brother  Maurelian,  F.  S.  C.,  Sec-  Rev.  Andrew  Morrissy,  Pres.  Notre 

retary  and  Manager  Catholic  Edu-     Dame  University,  Notre  Dame,  Ind. 

cational  Exhibit.  Gen.  John  Eaton. 

Rev.  Bro.  Paulian,  F.  S.  C.,  president  Mrs.  Isabella  Beecher  Hooker  and 

Christian    Brothers'     College,    St.      Mrs.    Mulligan,  of   the   Board   of" 

Louis,  Mo.  Lady  Managers. 

A  very  large  number  of  the  Reverend  Clergy,  Brothers  of  Teach- 
ing Orders,  and  about  900  members  of  the  various  sisterhoods  were 
in  the  Auditorium. 

An  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  names  of  all  of  the  Reverend 
clergy  present.  The  following  names  were  obtained: 

Rev.  F.  X.  Antill,  C.  M.,  Chicago,  111.  Rev.  P.  J.  McDonney. 

Rev.  B.  Baldi,  O.  S.,  Chicago,  111.  Rev.  C.  A.  McEvoy,  O.  S.  B. 

Bro.  Baldwin,  F.  S.  C.,  Chicago,  111.  Rev.  S.  P.  McDowell,  Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Balthasard,  Quebec,  Can.  Rev.  Thos.  McLaughlin,  Whitehall* 

Rev.  F.  J.  Barry.  N.  Y. 

Rev.  M.  E.  Begley,  Boston,  Mass,  Rev.  P.  A.  McLaughlin,  Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  Alphonsus  Bergeur,  O.    S.  ,F.  Rev.    Thos.    McMillan,   New  Yor" 

Quincy,  111.  N.  Y. 

Rev.  A.  L.  Bergeron,  Chicago,  ill.  Rev.  D.  J.  McNamee,  Aurora,  111. 

Rev.    Alfred    Belanger,   C.    S.    V.  Rev.  C.  Mahe,  Lake  Providence,  La. 

Chicago,  111.  Rev.  Bede,  Maler,  O.  S.  B.,  St.  Mein- 
Bro.  Bernard  Leimkuhler,  Dayton.       rad's  Abbey,  Ind. 

O.  Rev.  Thos.  F.  Mangan,  Joliet,  111. 

Rev.    Mariames    Beyerle,.  O.    S.    B.  Bro.  Max,  Chicago,  111. 

Decatur,  Ala.  Rev.  M.  Mea.gher. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION. 


43 


Rev.  P.  L.  Biermann,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  B.  Biermann,  Newport,  Ky. 
Rev.  Francis  Bobal,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  G.  Boll,  Crete,  Neb. 
Rev.  J.  B.  Bourassa,  Pullman,  111. 


Rev.  Bro.  Geo  Meyer,  S.  M. ,  Daytonr 

O. 

Rev.  Jos.  Molitor,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  N.  J.  Mooney,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  P.  C.  Moormann,  Chicago,  111. 


Rev.  J.    A.    M.  Brosseau,  Montreal,  Rev.  E.  M.  Nattini,  Council  Bluffs, 

Can. 

Rev.  P.  R.  Bulfin,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  P.  F.  Burke,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Rev.  Edm.  Byrnes. 
Bro.  Calixtus,  F.  S.  C. 
Kev.  T.  F.  Galligan,  Chicago,  111. 


la. 
Rev.  Maximilian  Neumann,  O.  S.  F., 

Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  P.  Prokop  Neuzil,  O.  S.  B. 
Rev.  M.  Nevin. 
Louis  E.  Newell,  S.  J.,  Chicago,  111. 


Rev.  Louis  A.  Campbell,  Austin,  111.    Rev.  Pius  Niermann,  O.  S.  F.,  Chi- 


Rev.  J.  J.  Carroll,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  J.  P.  Carroll,  Dubuque,  la. 
Rev.  J.  J.  Cassidy,  Brooklyn,  la. 
Rev.  J.  F.  Clancy,  Woodstock,  111. 
Rev.  P.  A.  Clancy. 
Rev.  N.  Chartieu,  Canada. 
Rev.  J.  Chundelak,  Omaha,  Neb. 


cago,  111. 

Rev.  P.  Nolte,  O.  S.  F.,  Chicago,  I1L 
Rev.  J.    Van  den  Noort,    Putnam, 

Conn. 

Rev.  A.  Numicki,  South  Chicago,  I1L 
Rev.  M.  J.  O'Dvvyer. 
Rev.  T.  F.  O'Gara,  Wilming-ton. 


Rev.   P.    P.  Cooney,   C.  S.   C.  Notre  Rev.  Thos.  O'Neil,  S.  J. 


Dame,  Ind. 
Rev.  M.  J.  Corbett,  S.  J.,  Chicago. 
Rev.  R.  Coyle,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 
Rev.  M.  T.  Crane,  Avoca,  Pa. 
Rev.  H.  Crevier,  O.  S.,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  John  H.  Crowe, 
Rev.  Delisle,  Quebec. 
Rev.  Dr.  DeParadis,  Coal  City,  111. 
Rev.  J.  J.  Denison,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  Jno.  Dogherty,  Norfolk,  Va. 
Bro.  Domuan,  F,  S.  C. 
Rev.  M.  J.  Dorney,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  N .  Dreher,  Chicago,  111. 


Rev.  A.  O'Neill,  S.  J.,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.   Jos.  H.  O'Niell,  Philadelphia, 

Pa. 
Rev.  Denis  T.  O'Sullivan,  Woodstock, 

Md. 

Rev.  M.  O'Sullivan,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  W.  J.  Peil,  Manitowoc,  Wis. 
Rev.  H.  Picherit,  Vicksburg,  Miss. 
Bro.  Pius,  F.  S.  C.,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.    F.    S.    Plante,     Minneapolis, 

Minn. 

Rev.  V.  E.  Richmond. 
Rev.  M.  J.  Regan,  C.  S.  C. 


Rev.  Thos.  Drum,  A.  D.  M. ,  Mullinga,  Rev.    P.    H.    Riley,  Cambridgeport, 


Ireland. 
Rev.  E.  J.  Dunn,  Chicago,  111. 


Mass. 
Rev.  D.  J.  Riordan,  Chicago,  111. 


Rev.  J.  F.  Durin,  W.  De  Pere,  Wis.    Rev.  E.  V.  Rivard,  C.  S.  S.,  Bourbatt 


Rev.  C.  J.  Eckert,  Chester,  111. 

Bro.  Ed  ward,  F.  S.  C. 

Rev.  Jno.  Egan,  Belwood,  111, 


nais,  111. 

Rev.  Ant.  Rossbach,  Cassville,  Wis. 
Rev.  A.  Rousseau. 


Bro.  Fidelian,  F.  S.  C.,  Chicago,  111.   Rev.  Jos.  Ruesing,  West  Point,  Nebv 


Rt.  Rev.  Mgr.  Fetu,  Quebec,  Can. 
Rev.  Jno.  S.  Finn,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  Bro.  Fink,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  P.  Fischer,  Chicago.  111. 
Rev.  C.  P.  Foster,  Joliet,  111. 


Rev.  F.  J.  Saxer,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  J.  M.  Schafer,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev,  A.  P.  H.  Schacken,  Patterson, 

N.  J. 
Bro.  Bernard  Schub,  Chicago,  111. 


Rev.  J.  E.  Foucher,  C.  S.  V.  Quebec,   Rev.     Benj.     Schmittdiel,    Monroe, 


Can. 
Rev.  Cyrille  Fournier,  C.  S.  V. 


Mich. 
Rev.  Thos.  Scully,  Boston,  Mass. 


Rev.  T.  J.  A.  Freeman,  S.   J.,  New    Rev.  Jos.  Selinger,  D.  D. 


York. 
Rev.  J.  Friolo. 


Rev.  Jas.  Sheil. 

Rev.  T.  E.  Shields,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 


Rev.  Jas.  A.  Gallagher,  Clinton,  la.   Rev.  A.  Snigurski,  Chicago,  111. 
Rev.  J.  B.  Galvin,  Boston,  Mass.         Rev.  J.  R.  Slatterly.  Baltimore,  Md. 

Rev.  E.  M.  Smith,  Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  Anthony  B.Stuber.Cleveland,O» 


Rev.  G.  C.  Gamache,  Detroit,  Mich. 

Rev.  J.  Gernest,  Southbridge. 

Rev.  Geo.  Geigler,  D.  D.  West  Bur-   Rev.  J.  J.  -Sullivan,  California. 

lington,  Iowa. 
Rev.  Jos.  Glenon,  Hyde  Park. 


Rev.  A.  J.  Thiele. 

Rev.  D.  A.  Tighe,  Chicago. 


44  CA  THOLIC  ED  UCATION  DA  Y. 

Rev.  J.  J.  Gormully,  Renovo,  Pa.        Rev.  M.  Tatu,  Quebec,  Can. 

Rev.  F.  E.  Hannigan,  New  York.        Rev.  August  Tolton,  Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Hamel.  Rev.  B.   Torka,   O.    S.    F.,    Harbor 

Rev.  Wm.  Ilein,  O.  S.  B.  Chicago,  111.      Springs,  Mich. 

Bro.  Geo.  Heintz.  Rev.  F.  J.    Van  Antwerp,   Detroit, 

Rev.  G.  D.  Heldmann,  Chicago,  111.         Mich. 

Bro.  Henry,  S.  M.  Chicago,  111.  Rev.  H.  G.  Van  Pelt.,  Chicago,  111. 

Rev.  W.  S.  Hennessy,  Chicago,  111.      Rev.  E.  J,Vattermann,  Ft.  Sheridan, 

Rev.  N.  J.  Hitchcock,  Chicago,  111.         111.,  (U.  S.  Army). 

Rev.  M.  J.    Hoban,  Scranton,  Pa.       Rev.  Dominie  Wagner,  St.  Joseph, 

Rev.  J.  E.  Hogan,  Harvard,  111.  Mo. 

Rev.  P.  N.  Jaegar  O.  S.  B.  Rev.  John  A.  Waldron,  Dayton,  O. 

Rev.  Alex.    Jacovits,   Greek    Priest,  Rev.  J.  T.  Walsh,  Stanford,  Conn. 

Streator,  111.  Bro.  Mart.  Werheburg,  Chicago,  111. 

Bro.  John,  S.  M.  Bro.  Willebrord,  O.  S.  B.,  Muscogee, 

Bro  Joseph,  F.  S.  C.  Ind.  Ty. 

Bro.  Julius,  F.  S.  C.  Rev.  J.  H.  O'Neil,  Philadelphia. 

Bro.  Justinian,  Chicago,  111.  Rev.    J.  B.  Galvin,  Boston. 

Bro.  Albert  Kaiser,  Chicago,  111.          Rev.  J.  Chundelak,  Omaha,  Neb. 
Bro.  John  Kautz.  Rev.  J.  P.  Carroll,  Dubuque,  la. 

Rev.  H.  B.  Kelley,  Marengo,  111.          Rev.J.  A.  Balshsard,  Quebec,  Can. 
Rev.  Chas.  S.  Kemper,  Nat'l  Military  Rev.  J.  E,  Foucher,  Quebec,  Can. 

Home,  Ohio.  Rev.  V.  Chartier,  Quebec,  Can. 

Rev.  John  F.  Kemper,  Adair,  la.          Rev.     John     T.    Walsh,    Stamford, 
Rev.  W.  Kockuik,  O.  S    B.  Chicago,      Conn. 

111.  Rev.  D.  F.  Dunn,  Depere,  Wis. 

Bro.  Chas.  Koetzner,  Chicago,  111.       Bro.  Abban,  F.  S.  C. 
Bro.  Jos.  A  Kress,  Chicago,  111.  Bro.  Adjutor,  F.  S.  C.,  Chicago. 

Rev.  A.  La  Chance.  Bro.  Adjutor,  F.  S.  C.,  New  York. 

Rev.  D.  I.     Lanslot,   O.  S.  B.  Paw- Bro.  Ambrose,  F.  S.  C.,  Chicago. 

huska,  O.  T.  Bro.  Andrew,  F.  S,  C.,  Chicago. 

Rev.  D.  J.  Larkin,  Dayton,  Tenn,      Bro.  August,  Chicago. 
Bro.  Jos.  Lattner,  Chicago,  111.  Bro.  Quintinian,  New  York. 

Rev.  Bro.  Leo,  F.  S.  C.,  Feehanville,  Rev.  J.  McCarthy. 

111.  Rev.  Canon  McCarthy,  Ottawa,  Can 

Rev.  J.  S.  La  Sage,  Brighton  Park,  Rev.  C.  McCarthy,  Cahvicireen,  Ire- 
Ill,  land. 
Rev.    M.  J.  Lochemes,   St.  Francis,  Rev.  R.  F.  Sylvester,  O.  S.  F.,Super- 

Wis.  ior,  Wis. 

The  train  conveying  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Bishop 
Phelan,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  other  distinguished  prelates,  arrived  too 
late  to  enable  them  to  attend  the  exercises,  very  much  to  their  regret. 

Very  many  letters  were  received,  explaining  that  previous 
engagements  would  prevent  their  arriving  in  Chicago  in  time  for  the 
exercises,  and  expressing  regret  at  being  unable  to  attend.  Among 
those  whose  letters  are  on  file  are  the  following: 

Mt.  Rev.  P.  W.  Riordan,  D.D.,  arch-Rt.  Rev.  John  Phelan,  D.D.,  bishop 

bishop  of  San  Francisco.  of  Pittsburg. 

Mt.    Rev.    J.    B.    Saltpointe,    D.D.,  Rt.    Rev.    Stephen    Vincent    Ryan, 

archbishop  of  Santa  Fe,  N.  M.  C.M.,  D.D.,  bishop  of  Buffalo. 

Rt.    Rev.    Henry     Joseph     Richter,  Rt.  Rev.  J.  O'Sullivan,  D.D.,  bishop 

D.D.,   bishop    of    Grand     Rapids,      of  Mobile. 
Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Geo.  McCloskey,  D.D.,  Rt.    Rev.    James   Augustine   Healy, 

bishop  of  Louisville.  D.D.,  bishop  of  Portland. 

Rt.  Rev.    Denis  M.    Bradley,    D.D.,  Rt.  Rev.  Ignatius  Frederick  Horst- 

bishop  of  Manchester.  man,  D.D.,  bishop  of  Cleveland. 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  *5 

Mt.    Rev.    John    Joseph    Williams,  Rt.    Rev.    Thos.     D.    Beaven,    D.D.t 

D.D.,  archbishop  of  Boston.  bishop  of  Springfield. 

Mt.    Rev.    Francis    Janssens,    D.D  ,  From  Canada: 

archbishop  of  New  Orleans.  Cardinal  Tachereau,  archbishop  of 

Rt.  Rev.  John  J.   Kain,  D.D.,  coad-     Quebec. 

jutor  archbishop  of  St.  Louis.  Mt.  Rev.  L.  M.  Begin,  archishop  of 

Mt.  Rev.  Michael  A.  Corrigan,  D.D.,      Cyrene. 

archbishop  of  New  York.  Mt.  Rev.  C.  E.  Fabre,  archbishop  of 

Rt.    Rev.    Henry    Cosgrove,     D.D.,      Montreal. 

bishop  of  Davenport.  Mt.  Rev.  J.  T.  Duhamel,  archbishop 

Rt.     Rev.     Theophile     Meerschaer,     of  Ottawa. 

D.D.,  vicar  apostolic  of  Indian  Ty.  Rt.    Rev.    L.   C.  Morean,   bishop   of 
Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Gabriel,  D.D.,  bishop      Hyacinthe. 

of  Ogdensburg.  N   Y.  Rt.    Rev.    Max    Decelle,    bishop    of 

Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Rademacher,  D.D.,      Druzipora. 

bishop  of  Nashville.  Rt.  Rev.  A.  A.  Bloris,  bishop  of  St. 

Rt.  Rev.  M.  F.  Burke,  D.D.,  bishop     Germain  de  Rimouski. 

of  St.  Joseph.  Rt.   Rev.  L.   F.  Laflache,   bishop  of 

Rt.    Rev.    Richard    Scannell,    D.D.,    Three  Rivers. 

bishop  of  Omaha.  Hon.  L.  P.  Petterer,  secy.  Province 

Rt.  Rev.  James  Ryan,  D.D.,  bishop    of  Quebec. 

of  Alton.  Mgr.  E.  U.  Archambault,  Montreal. 

Bro.  Justin,  New  York.  Abbe  Roulian,  Quebec. 

Vicar-General  F.  Bourgeault,  Montreal,  and  other  Rev.  Clergy  sent 
letters  of  regret,  that  they  were  unable  to  attend  and  of  expressed  as- 
surance of  full  sympathy  with  the  great  cause  of  Catholic  education. 

Many  prelates  and  clergy  called  at  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit 
and  expressed  regret  that  they  had  not  been  able  to  attend. 

PRESS  NOTICES. 


EDUCATION  DAY  AND  THE  CONGRESS. 

THE  NEW  WORLD  this  week  devotes  a  large  amount  of  its  space  to 
reports  of  the  two  great  Catholic  events  of  this  and  last  week,  Catholic 
Education  day  and  the  Catholic  Columbian  Congress.  We  regret  that 
we  cannot  devote  more  space  to  them  than  is  at  our  disposal.  Catholic 
Education  Day  was  celebrated  on  last  Saturday,  and  the  Catholic 
Congress  opened  on  Monday  of  this  week.  There  has  already  been  one 
Catholic  Congress  in  the  United  States — the  present  one  is  tha  second. 
But  Catholic  Education  Day  was  never  before  celebrated  in  the  United 
States — nor  in  any  other  country.  It  would  be  impossible  this  year  but 
for  the  existence  of  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit,  and  this  exhibit 
would  be  impossible  but  for  the  World's  t'air.  No  one  can  tell  when  a 
World's  Fair  will  again  be  held  in  the  United  States,  but  Catholic 
Congresses  may  be  held  as  often  as  our  Catholic  people  determine  to 
have  them. 

This  will  explain  the  priority  and  preference  we  give  to  the  report 
of  Catholic  Education  Day  in  this  issue  of  THE  NEW  WORLD.  But 
another  and  stronger  reason  justified  us,  which  is  this:  Catholic  Educa- 
tion Day  was  the  celebration  of  the  success — may  we  not  say  triumph? — 
of  Catholic  education  in  the  United  States.  It  was  the  celebration  of 
the  triumph  of  our  Catholic  schools,  and  by  our  Catholic  schools  we 
mean  every  one  of  our  Catholic  educational  institutions,  from  the 
kindergarten  to  the  university.  It  is  by  our  Catholic  schools,  Catholic 
congre  ses  are  made  possible.  Without  our  Catholic  schools  there  could 
not  be  a  Catholic  congress  in  the  United  States.  Our  people  would  be 
so  uneducated,  so  ignorant,  that  they  could  not  conceive  of  n  Catholic 
congress,  or  they  would  be  so  indifferent  to  the  needs  of  the  Ohurch  in 
our  country,  so  jde-Catholicized,  let  us  say,  that  they  would  n*  u,r  think 
of  holding  a  Catholic  congress. 


46  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DA  Y. 

The  Catholic  Congress  that  is  now  in  session  in  Chicago  is  the  resu.ii> 
the  consequence,  the  fruit  of  Catholic  education.  The  men  who  conceived 
it  and  the  men  who  are  now  directing-  it.  as  well  as  those  who  compose  it, 
are  men  who,  all  of  them  are  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Catholic  education; 
and  many,  if  not  most  of  them,  received  in  Catholic  parochial  schools, 
colleges  and  universities  the  talents,  the  abilities  and  the  spiritual  force 
which  they  display  in  this  great  Catholic  Congress. 

We  devote  to  reports  of  the  Catholic  Congress  as  much  space  as  pos- 
sible this  week,  and  we  hope  to  devote  to  it  much  more  next  week.  But 
we  make  the  statement  candidly,  that,  notwithstanding  its  great  impor- 
tance, we  would  exclude  every  line  of  it  from  our  columns  this  week. 
were  it  necessary  to  do  so  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  report  of  Catholic 
Education  Day .  The  proceedings  of  last  Saturday  within  the  grounds 
of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  in  the  presence  of  more  than  eight 
thousand  of  the  Catholic  elite  of  the  United  States,  was  the  greatest,  the 
most  imposing  and  impressive  manifestation  of  the  love  of  American 
Catholics  for  education  that  this  country  has  ever  seen.  And  besides 
this,  it  was  a  declaration,  in  the  presence  and  hearing  of  our  non-Catholic 
fellow-citizens,  that  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  demand  Christian 
education,  and  that,  regardless  of  cost  to  them,  they  will  have  no  other 
education,  except  when  forced  by  circumstances  of  direct  necessity. 

What  stores  of  strength  and  spirits  the  teachers  of  our  Catholic 
schools  took  home  with  them  from  Festival  Hall  last  Saturday  cannot  be 
measured,  even  by  themselves.  How  the  hearts  of  the  pastors  must  have 
been-  cheered,  and  how  their  determination  to  do  more  and  more  for  the 
Christian  education  of  our  children  must  have  been  strengthened  by  the 
glorious  manifestation  they  witnessed  of  the  determination  of  the  Cath- 
olic laity  of  the  United  States  to  be  loyal  to  the  principle  of  relisrion  in 
•education! — Editorial  New  World,  Chicago. 


AN  AUTHORITATIVE  EXPRESSION. 

The  Parliament  of  Religions  was  prefaced  yesterday  with  Catholic 
Education  Day.  The  hierarchy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  presided 
in  Festival  Hall  over  an  imposing  scene,  the  audience  comprising  large 
numbers  of  the  teaching  communities,  men  and  women,  of  that  church, 
assembled  in  public  and  in  common  with  the  laity  for,  undoubtedly,  the 
first  time  in  the  long  history  of  the  creed  to  which  they  belong.  The 
speakers  were  Archbishop  Feehan,  of  Chicago;  Archbishop  Hennessy, 
of  Dubuque;  Archbishop  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia:  Bishop  Spalding,  of 
Peoria,  and  two  eminent  laymen,  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  New  York,  and  a  gallant  soldier  and  polished  advocate  of  Bos- 
ton, Thomas  J.  Gargan. 

It  will  not  be  contended  that  the  concurrent  speech  of  these  hierarchs 
and  laymen  is  lacking  in  any  note  to  make  it  absolutely  authoritative 
on  the  attitude  of  their  Church  on  any  questions  in  which  Americans  or 
the  times  are  concerned.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  occasion  should 
voice  the  determination  of  the  hierarchy  on  the  school  question:  and, 
judging  by  the  enthusiasm  and  applause  of  the  audience,  the  laity  are 
in  indivisible  accord  with  their  leaders.  There  was  but  one  strain 
directed  toward  the  public  schools  of  the  country — one  of  kindness:  and 
only  one  concerning  the  parochial  schools  of  the  Catholic  communion — 
that  of  invincible  resolution  to  maintain  them  in  their  present  complete 
detachment. 

There  was  frank  affirmance  of  indefinite  content  to  pay  the  double 
taxation  now  borne;  but  by  neither  reserve  nor  intimation  was  it  indi- 


WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION.  47 

cated  that  any  portion  of  State  money  would  ever  be  sought  to  help 
perpetuate  the  separate  school  system.  All  the  speeches  and  the  music 
were  rife  with  ardent  devotion  to  American  institutions. 

The  oratory,  as  might  have  been  expected,  was  characterized  by 
breadth  of  learning  and  embellished  with  the  graces  of  culture. 

— Editorial  Chicago  Herald,  September  3,  1893. 


At  the  conclusion  of  the  formal  ceremony  an  invitation  will  be 
•extended  to  all  present  to  go  to  the  exhibit  in  the  Manufactures  Bulding. 
It  is  located  in  the  east  gallery  and  takes  up  half  of  the  entire  sec- 
tion on  the  west  side  of  the  great  floor.  Here  Brother 
Maruelian  and  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose  will 
receive  the  visitors  and  take  them  through  the  display, 
explaining  the  various  methods  of  instruction  and  school  work  exhibited. 
The  specimens  of  work  done  by  the  children  to  be  seen  in  this  department 
are  worthy  of  particular  notice.  If  the  visitors  manage  to  get  through 
the  exhibit  in  the  half  day  that  is  left  them  after  the  ceremony  they  will 
have  done  better  than  any  one  has  yet  been  able  to  do  and  they  will 
secure  a  fund  of  information  that  will  give  them  food  for  thought  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  Plans  are  being  made  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
educators  and  churchmen  on  the  grounds  in  the  evening,  and  it  is  prob- 
able many  of  them  will  remain  for  the  night  attractions  on  the  grounds. 
-^-Chicago  Evening  Post,  Sept.  1,  1893. 

,  No  more  notable  gathering  of  the  priesthood  ever  faced  a  speaker 
than  that  which  Archbishop  Feehan  saw  when  he  arose  to  greet  the 
audience  at  nine  o'clock.  Festival  Hall  was  crowded  with  Catholic 
clergy  and  laymen,  and  in  the  center  were  several  hundred  sweet-faced 
sisters  of  charity. — Chicago  Herald. 

Speaking  of  Bishop  Spalding's  remarks  the  Chicago  Herald  writes: 
As  the  Bishop  thundered  forth  these  impassioned  sentences  the  mighty 
audience  rose  to  its  feet  and  cheered  to  the  echo.  The  speaker  checked 
himself  as  the  demonstration  began,  and  when  the  applause  died  away 
he  declared  that  he  had  not  intended  to  make  a  speech,  and  abruptly 
retired  to  his  seat.  The  remarks  and  the  demonstration  they  elicited 
were  a  fitting  climax  to  a  memorable  day. 

Archbishop  Corrigan  in  referring  to  the  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit 
said:  What  do  we  find  in  that  educational  exhibit?  I  trust  you  have  all 
made  a  special  business  to  examine  the  magnificent  display  of  our 
schools  and  academies  in  the  World's  Fair.  That  exhibit  speaks  volumes 
of  itself  for  the  self-sacrifice  and  enthusiastic  devotion  of  the  teachers 
of  our  Catholic  faith,  of  our  sisters,  of  our  brothers,  who  have  toiled 
day  after  day  to  accomplish  such  results,  and  all  this  without  State  aid, 
in  the  midst  of  many  difficulties,  sowing  in  tears  that  they  might  reap 
in  joy.  The  results  speak  for  themselves.  [Cheers.]  St.  John,  in  one 
of  his  homilies,  said:  "Great,  indeed,  is  the  power  of  the  painter, 
wonderful  the  profession  of  the  sculptor,  of  those  who  make  the  picture 
canvas  breathe,  and  the  marble  instilled  with  the  glow  of  life:  and  yet 
nobler  far  is  he  who,  from  unformed  materials,  fashions  and  models  the 
soul  to  lineaments  of  virtue."  And  this  is  what  is  being  done  all  our 
country  over  by  our  teachers.  [Applause.] — Chicago  Herald. 

The  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit  in  the  Liberal  Arts  Building  is 
very  extensive.  The  drawing  from  casts  and  the  plaster  bas-relief 
work  in  many  of  the  booths  are  excellent.  The  example  of  illuminated 
text  work  shown  in  the  California  section,  the  work  of  the  pupils  and 
teachers  of  the  Convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  is  exquisite,  and  excels 
any  work  of  the  same  character  exhibited  in  the  Columbian  Exposition. 
The  system  of  map  drawing  continues  to  be  taught  in  all  Catholic 
schools;  the  specimens  displayed  are  well  drawn  and  colored  with 


48  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DA  Y. 

pretty  effect.  The  profile  maps,  the  work  of  young  children,  are  most 
interesting1.  The  lingerie  from  the  various  convents  is  undoubtedly  the 
best  at  the  Fair. — Art  Critic  in  Chicago  Herald. 

CATHOLIC  EDUCATION  DAY. 

The  committee  charged  with  the  arrangements  of  Catholic  Educa- 
tion Day,  in  connection  with  the  Columbian  Exposition,  which  is  fixed 
for  September  2,  could  hardly  have  chosen  two  more  qualified  speakers 
for  the  subjects  they  are  to  present,  than  Abp.  Ryan,  who  is  to  speak  on 
"The  Vocation  of  the  Christian  Educator,"  and  Abp,  Hennessy,  whose 
theme  is  "The  Catholic  View  of  Education." 

Both  of  these  distinguished  divines  have  a  national,  aye,  more  than 
a  national  reputation  for  eloquence:  and  what  is  more  to  the  purpose, 
both  have  proven  themselves  staunch  friends  of  Catholic  education  and 
parochial  schools.  The  pages  of  the  current  American  Catholic  Quarterly 
bear  testimony,  in  addition  to  the  many  previous  similar  evidences  he 
has  given  of  the  high  regard  in  which  the  Philadelphia  preJ  ate  holds  the 
Catholic  school  and  the  Catholic  teacher;  and  what  better  proof  of  Arch- 
bishop Hennessy's  qualifications  to  present  the  Catholic  view  of  educa- 
tion can  be  asked  than  is  contained  in  the  simple  fact  that  since  he 
assumed  charge  of  the  Dubuque  dio,cese  its  parochial  schools  have 
increased  in  number  from  two  to  one  hundred! 

The  committee  in  charge  of  this  Catholic  Education  Day  have  also 
done  well  in  providing  for  addresses  which  shall  show  how  the  Catholic 
idea  of  education  has  benefitted  and  is  still  benefitting  this  country,  by 
imparting  to  so  large  an  element  of  the  rising  generation  moral  as  well 
as  intellectual  instruction,  and  by  imbuing  them  with  a  patriotic  love  of 
their  land  and  its  noble  institutions.  Such  addresses  cannot  fail  to 
remove  many  of  the  prejudices  wTith  wThich  a  certain  class  of  non-Catho- 
lics regard  the  parochial  schools,  and  to  effectively  silence  the  slander- 
ous statements  sedulously  circulated  about  those  institutions  by  the  A. 
P.  A.  calumniators. — Catholic  Columbian,  Sept.  2,  '93. 


CONCLUSION. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  express  heartfelt  thanks  for  the  generous  aid 
and  co-operation  by  which  I  have  been  enabled  to  carry  out  the  difficult 
work  assigned  me. 

To  you,  my  very  dear  Bishop,  I  am  profoundly  grateful  for  your  kind, 
prudent,  and  wise  direction  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  Catholic  Educa- 
tional Exhibits. 

I  also  offer  sincere  thanks  to  the  Most  Reverend  and  Right  Reverend 
Prelates,  the  Reverend  Clergy,  the  Religious  Teaching  Orders,  the  Officials 
of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  and  National  Commission,  the  Laity, 
the  Press,  and  all  the  Catholic  Institutions  of  Learning  who  have  in  any 
way  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  Exhibits. 

I  have  always  regarded  it  a  very  high  privilege  to  serve  the  cause  of 
Christian  education. 

Asking  your  blessing,  I  remain, 

Very  sincerely  and  gratefully, 


Secretary  and  Manager,  Catholic  Educational  Exhibit. 


UCSB  LIBRARY 


662  538    8 


